Court Opinion

ID: 9533862
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:35:07.516598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:12.138112
License: Public Domain

*575NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with the majority’s treatment of the jurisdictional issue presented by this case; however, because I believe that this Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Bethea, 474 Pa. 571, 379 A.2d 102 (1977), is not limited to constitutional errors, I must dissent.
The majority concedes that the trial court erred in giving Appellant credit for the absence of a criminal record twice in the sentencing procedure. Op. at 571-72. Notwithstanding that fact, the majority holds that the Commonwealth is not entitled to relief because “[t]he application of our decision in Bethea is limited to the narrow category of cases in which a trial court impermissibly penalizes a defendant for exercising constitutional rights.” Op. at 574.
Although the impermissible factor considered in Bethea was constitutional in nature, ie., the defendant’s exercise of his right to trial, I do not perceive a need to limit the remedy of vacating a sentence only to those wrongs that implicate a constitutional question. Accordingly, I believe that Bethea stands for the proposition that both a defendant and the citizens of this Commonwealth share an equal right to demand that a trial judge properly follow the sentencing guidelines when imposing sentence and consider only those aggravating and/or mitigating factors that are permissible pursuant to the sentencing guidelines. “[I]t is essential to the sentencing process, not only that the sentence imposed be just, but that it be perceived as just, by the victim, the offender, and the community generally.” Commonwealth v. Puchalski, 310 Pa.Super. 199, 207, 456 A.2d 569, 573 (1983). When a trial judge fails to properly follow the guidelines, an appellate court is mandated to point out this error, vacate the sentence and remand the case back to the sentencing judge for sentencing consistent with the guidelines.
The constraints imposed on an appellate court in reviewing a sentence are laid out in 42 Pa.C.S. § 9781(c):
*576(c) Determination on appeal. — The appellate court shall vacate the sentence and remand the case to the sentencing court with instructions if it finds:
(1) the sentencing court purported to sentence within the sentencing guidelines but applied the guidelines erroneously;
(2) the sentencing court sentenced within the sentencing guidelines but the case involves circumstances where the application of the guidelines would be clearly unreasonable; or.
(3) the sentencing court sentenced outside the sentencing guidelines and the. sentence is unreasonable.
In all other cases the appellate court shall affirm the sentence imposed by the sentencing court.
The controlling portion of the statute for the case at bar is section 9781(c)(3) because the trial court departed from the guidelines. Appellant maintains that even if Bethea applies to a sentence, the Superior Court is still required to make a separate finding of unreasonableness under section 9781(c)(3), which provides that the Superior Court shall vacate and remand a sentence if it finds that “the sentencing court sentenced outside the sentencing guidelines and the sentence is unreasonable.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9781(c)(3). However, since “a sentence based in part on an impermissible consideration is not made proper simply because the sentencing judge considers other permissible factors as well” a separate finding of unreasonableness is unnecessary. See Bethea, 474 Pa. at 580, 379 A.2d at 106.
Moreover, by vacating a sentence when a judge has relied on an impermissible factor in sentencing, we reaffirm our long-standing principle that the trial court is in the best position to fashion the most appropriate sentence:
Traditionally, it has been recognized that the trial court is granted broad discretion in the determination of sentence. Deference is accorded to the trial court’s pronouncement because of the perception that the trial court is in the best position to determine the proper penalty for a particular *577offense based upon an evaluation of the individual circumstances before it. Even with the promulgation of the sentencing guidelines, which was intended to structure the exercise of the sentencing power, that power is, notwithstanding, a function to be performed by the trial court. Where an appellate court determines that a sentence is illegal or otherwise improper, the proper remedy is to vacate the sentence and remand the matter to the trial court for sentencing in accordance with the ruling of the appellate court.
Commonwealth v. Ward, 524 Pa. 48, 52, 568 A.2d 1242, 1243-44 (1990) (emphasis added) (citations omitted).
The majority’s decision today embroils an appellate court in needless speculation. An appellate court will now have to forecast how the trial court would have acted had it realized that it deviated from the guidelines. In other words, by engaging in this type of review, an appellate court will be placed in the precarious situation of attempting to separate the improper factors from the proper ones in order to determine whether the sentence imposed by the trial court is now reasonable in light of the remaining permissible factors.
Moreover, this practice of an appellate court determining that the sentence is reasonable, notwithstanding the improper consideration, would be tantamount to an appellate court directing that a particular sentence be imposed because the appellate court will have had to independently weigh the remaining factors. That power, however, lies exclusively with the trial court. See id. at 52-53, 568 A.2d at 1244 (vacating Superior Court order that directed trial court to impose a term of imprisonment within a specified range). The best way to preserve the trial court’s discretion in fashioning a sentence is to interpret Bethea to apply to all errors.
Accordingly, I believe that the better practice in cases in which a trial judge relied on impermissible factors in sentencing the defendant is to vacate the sentence and remand the matter back to the trial court for resentencing. As this Court stated in Bethea,
*578[i]n deciding whether a trial judge considered only permissible factors ..., an appellate court must, of necessity, review all of the judge’s comments. Moreover, in making this determination it is not necessary that an appellate court be convinced that a trial judge in fact relied upon an erroneous consideration; it is sufficient to render a sentence invalid if it reasonably appears from the record that the trial court relied in whole or in part upon such a factor.
474 Pa. at 580, 379 A.2d at 106-07.
For the reasons set forth above, I would affirm the Order of the Superior Court.
CASTILLE, J., joins this concurrmg/dissenting opinion.