Court Opinion

ID: 9755662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:45:58.766575+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:09.063026
License: Public Domain

*272Justice SAYLOR,
Concurring.
With regard to the issue of waiver discussed in footnote one of the majority opinion, I noted my concerns in Commonwealth v. Wynn, 567 Pa. 188, 184-85, 786 A.2d 202, 202 (Pa.2001) (Saylor, J., dissenting), which the majority does not undertake to resolve here. On the merits of the constitutional issue, I concur in the result reached by the majority, and with its analysis of Appellant’s federal claim. For the following reasons, however, I am unable to join its reasoning pertaining to Appellant’s claim under the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Initially, the majority rejects Appellant’s state constitutional argument by stating that the common law only treated recidivism as an element of the crime due to the determinate sentencing scheme in force in the early days of the Commonwealth, and thus, such historical treatment should not be understood as reflecting a precept that a prior conviction is an offense element in a broader sense so as to implicate the jury trial right. See Majority Opinion, (“Majority Op.”) at 258-59, 855 A.2d at 808. Later, in distinguishing Commonwealth v. Williams, 557 Pa. 285, 733 A.2d 593 (1999), the majority asserts that the statute challenged here does not impose any impermissible presumption that a defendant is a recidivist because the finding of recidivist status can never be contingent upon any disputed issue of fact. See Majority Op. at 263-64, 855 A.2d at 811. If true, this alone would provide a sufficient basis to reject summarily any contention that Appellant is entitled to have a jury decide the question of recidivism. See generally Blum v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 534 Pa. 97, 113, 626 A.2d 537, 545 (1993) (noting that the state constitutional jury trial right signifies that “a jury shall continue to be the tribunal for the determination of all questions of fact” (quoting Commonwealth v. Collins, 268 Pa. 295, 299, 110 A. 738, 738-39 (1920))). However, the fact of a prior conviction, while perhaps easily determined in many instances, must still be determined; it is not self-proving. As apparently acknowledged by the majority, there may be disputed ques*273tions of identity, see Majority Op. at 257-58 n. 9, 855 A.2d at 807 n. 9,1 as well as issues surrounding the accuracy of any documentation that the Commonwealth proffers as proof of an alleged prior conviction, or that the offense was “similar” for purposes of Section 780-115(a)—particularly if it occurred in an out-of-state or federal forum. The Legislature recognized many of these principles when it enacted Pennsylvania’s general recidivist statute, which states:
The sentencing court, prior to imposing sentence on an offender under subsection (a), shall have a complete record of the previous convictions of the offender, copies of which shall be furnished to the offender. If the offender or the attorney for the Commonwealth contests the accuracy of the record, the court shall schedule a hearing and direct the offender and the attorney for the Commonwealth to submit evidence regarding the previous convictions of the offender. The court shall then determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, the previous convictions of the offender and, if this section is applicable, shall impose sentence in accordance with this section....
42 Pa.C.S. § 9714(d). Therefore, contrary to the majority’s implication, the existence of a relevant prior conviction may involve disputed factual issues and must be established on the record. Concomitantly, principles of due process mandate that the Commonwealth bear the burden of proof. See Commonwealth v. Butler, 563 Pa. 324, 333, 760 A.2d 384, 389 (2000); Williams, 557 Pa. at 312, 733 A.2d at 607-08.
*274Furthermore, I do not find the relative labeling and statutory placement of the underlying offense and sentencing enhancement to support the conclusion that state constitutional right does not extend to the latter. See Majority Op. at 258-61, 855 A.2d at 808-09 (quoting Commonwealth v. Griffin, 804 A.2d 1, 15 (Pa.Super.2002)). While these factors may illuminate legislative intent, they cannot properly be given a constitutional dimension, as the constitutional inquiry “is one not of form, but of effect—does the required finding expose the defendant to a greater punishment than that authorized by the jury’s guilty verdict?” Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 494, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 2365, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000); see also id. at 496, 120 S.Ct. at 2366 (“[T]he mere presence of th[e sentencing] ‘enhancement’ in a sentencing statute does not define its character.”).2 Likewise, the constitutionally-mandated minimum standard of proof that the government must satisfy in order to impose constraints upon an individual’s liberty interests beyond those that flow solely from the criminal conviction is ascertained by reference, inter alia, to the nature of the affected liberty interests and the manner in which they are constrained, see Commonwealth v. Maldonado, 576 Pa. 101, 109, 838 A.2d 710, 714-15 (2003), rather than to the statutory placement and labeling of the provisions through which the additional constraints are imposed. Indeed, we ought particularly to guard against resort to formal considerations where, as here, additional prison time rests in the balance. Cf. id., 838 A.2d at 715 (recognizing that the beyond-*275a-reasonable-doubt standard of proof is appropriate in criminal cases due to the gravity of the private interests affected and the severe societal loss that occurs when an individual is erroneously subject to criminal punishment).
More convincing, in my view, is the majority’s reasoning concerning the nature of an element of a criminal offense. In particular, the majority correctly points out that a previous conviction is qualitatively different from an offense element because the latter pertains to the commission of the crime itself, whereas any prior conviction was entered in a proceeding where the defendant had the right to a jury trial and to require proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See Majority Op. at 253-56, 855 A.2d at 805-06 (quoting Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 496, 120 S.Ct. at 2366). Although these observations appear in the portion of the majority opinion dealing with Appellant’s federal claim, the same considerations logically apply to his contention advanced under the state charter. It is on this basis that I agree with the outcome reached by the majority, namely, that the challenged sentence enhancement does not implicate the right to a trial by jury as guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution.

. In footnote nine, the majority cites to Commonwealth v. Stack, 20 Pa. D. 599, 1910 WL 3240 (Pa.O. & T.1910), which contains the following relevant discussion:
Identity of name often furnishes a presumption of identity of person, until denied, in civil cases, upon which judicial action may be taken; and in State v. McGuire, 87 Mo. 642, the burden of disproof was put upon the defendant in the indictment when the record of his former conviction was produced. But the great weight of authority is otherwise in criminal prosecutions, and the clear meaning of the discussion in Ranch [sic] v. Com., 78 Pa. 490, and Kane v. Com., 109 Pa. 541, is that the district-attorney is required, unless it be admitted, to establish affirmatively this fact of identity, and it must be put to the jury.
Id. at *2. The matter may also be complicated where the defendant has used aliases or has changed his or her name. E.g., Graham v. West Virginia, 224 U.S. 616, 620-21, 32 S.Ct. 583, 584, 56 L.Ed. 917 (1912).

. See also Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 2439, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002) (stating that, no matter how a state chooses to label . a particular fact, if an increase in punishment is contingent upon the finding of such fact, it must generally be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt); Blakely v. Washington, - U.S. -,-, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 2539, 159 L.Ed.2d 403, -(2004) (rejecting the position that a state can avoid the jury trial requirement through creative labeling of offense elements). While these pronouncements were made in the context of challenges based upon the jury trial right contained in the United States Constitution, they must also be applied to the same right as guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution, for otherwise the General Assembly could substantially restrict its scope through drafting. Cf. Commonwealth v. Sell, 504 Pa. 46, 63, 470 A.2d 457, 466 (1983) (observing that federal constitutional guarantees are equally applicable to the analogous state constitutional provision).