Court Opinion

ID: 9761203
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:34:19.86516+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:20.918604
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that the Superior Court erred in affirming the lower court’s denial of *451the motion to arrest judgment as to the count charging criminal conspiracy. See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 903. I therefore dissent.
It is unquestionably true that a finding of a criminal conspiracy requires an agreement between two or more persons to engage in some unlawful act. 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 903(a); see Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 499 Pa. 389, 453 A.2d 927 (1982); Commonwealth v. Byrd, 490 Pa. 544, 417 A.2d 173 (1980); Commonwealth v. Tate, 485 Pa. 180, 401 A.2d 353 (1979); Commonwealth v. Sadnsky, 484 Pa. 388, 399 A.2d 347 (1979); Commonwealth v. Menginic, 477 Pa. 156, 383 A.2d 870 (1978); Commonwealth v. Griffey, 453 Pa. 142, 307 A.2d 283 (1973). I also concede that the instant record does not establish that Eugene Szoka was aware that appellant intended to resell the hashish to the undercover narcotics agent. However, these two facts do not warrant the conclusion drawn from them by the majority.
The implicit premise upon which the majority justifies its result is that the charge required proof that appellant and Szoka conspired to supply the hashish to the agent. This assumption is clearly wrong under the language of the information upon which appellant was charged. The first count of the information provided:
CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY
The District Attorney of Montour County by this information charges that on (or about) March 11, 1977, at approximately 6:55 P.M., in said County of Montour the defendant(s) above named did at a residence located at approximately .8 mile from Legislative Route 47005 and 47034, R.D. # 5 Danville, in Cooper Township, Montour County, Pennsylvania, agree with Eugene Szoka that they would engage in conduct which constitutes such crime or attempt or solicitation to commit such crime, to wit: Delivery of a Controlled Substance — Marihuana (Hashish), a controlled substance, Schedule I, non-narcotic and that such Charles Derr did aid Eugene Szoka in the planning and commission of such crime. This is in violation of *452Section 903(a) of the Act of 334 of the Crimes Code of 1972; ...
The language clearly covers the illegal transaction between Szoka and appellant, at the residence of Szoka, wherein the latter transferred the substance to appellant. The language of the information does not require further proof that Szoka knew or had any interest as to how appellant intended to dispose of the substance. The crime was the delivery of the proscribed substance from Szoka to appellant. Both Szoka and appellant shared in the common purpose of giving possession of the hashish to appellant.
McDERMOTT and HUTCHINSON, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.