Court Opinion

ID: 9747288
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:08:37.18859+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:21.949178
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Judge,
dissenting:
Because I find that appellant committed no more than a de minimis infraction, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 312, I dissent.1 Section 312(a)(2) is a legislative grant of authority to the courts to exercise discretion and spare a transgressor from the “condemnation of conviction.” 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 312(a)(2). See also Commonwealth v. Moses, 350 Pa.Super. 231, 235, 504 A.2d 330, 332 (1986) (statute applies where “there is no harm to either the victim or society”). Moreover, if another area of the law effectively dispels the need for conviction, the prosecution should be dismissed as unnecessary. See Commonwealth v. Jackson, 354 Pa.Super. 27, 30, 510 A.2d 1389, 1391 (1986) (prisoners appropriately “dealt with administratively by the prison authorities”); cf. Commonwealth v. Gemelli, 326 Pa.Super. 388, 400-01, 474 A.2d 294, 301 (1984) (dismissal as de *606minimis was especially inappropriate because appellee waived the issue of whether Escheat law applied).2
In the instant case, appellant was convicted for utilizing the assistance of a county employee to help him install a ceiling fan in the home of a friend during working hours. Appellant was also removed from his position as a warden and remained unemployed.3 Although appellant may have undermined principles of the workplace, the extent to which he violated the crimes’ code was so minor that he should be spared the condemnation of conviction. Moreover, even before he was prosecuted, appellant was punished by forces other than the criminal law to the degree necessary to deter him from repeating the minor transgression. Therefore the prosecution and subsequent conviction furthered'no legitimate criminal law purpose, but only served to condemn appellant. Because section 312 was enacted for precisely this type of case, I would vacate judgment of sentence. Hence, I dissent.

. See Commonwealth v. Kirkwood, 360 Pa.Super. 270, 276 n. 1, 520 A.2d 451, 454 n. 1 (1987) (Cavanaugh, J., concurring) ("Although appellant did not argue dismissal on this basis before the lower court, dismissal for a de minimis infraction should be granted sua sponte where the circumstances warrant.”); Martin H. Belsky, Joseph Dougherty and Steven H. Goldblatt, Three Prosecutors Look At the New Pennsylvania Crimes Code, 12 Duquesne L.Rev. 793, 807 (1974) ("Section 312 gives the judiciary power to dismiss any prosecution at any stage or for any crime.”).

. While I recognize that appellant’s conduct was the type that the legislature sought to prevent, see 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3926(b), "an inquiry under § 312(a)(2) cannot end with this conclusion.” Commonwealth v. Eliason, 353 Pa.Super. 321, 329, 509 A.2d 1296, 1300 (1986), allocatur denied, 517 Pa. 592, 535 A.2d 81 (1987) (Brosky, J., dissenting). Pursuant to section 312, we must still determine whether appellant’s transgressions were so minor that the condemnation of conviction was warranted. Id.
Likewise, while a robbery of thirty-five cents may not be considered de minimis due to the circumstances of the crime (beyond the amount of money stolen), see Commonwealth v. Moses, 350 Pa.Super. 231, 504 A.2d 330 (1986), a theft of thirty-two dollars worth of services may be a de minimis infraction due to the circumstances of this case. See Commonwealth v. Eliason, supra (Brosky, J., dissenting) ("The application of § 312 must inherently turn on the offense involved in and the circumstances of each particular case. Other cases are of little value in resolving a § 312 question.”).

. Appellant testified that he was suspended without pay in September and was still unemployed at the time of trial in January. See N.T. January 10, 1992 at 506.