Court Opinion

ID: 9375400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-27 17:07:32.932189+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:58.513921
License: Public Domain

J-S02040-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

    COMMONWEALTH OF                            :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    PENNSYLVANIA,                              :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                               :
                       Appellant               :
                                               :
                                               :
                v.                             :
                                               :
                                               :   No. 803 MDA 2022
    ROBERT W. ARNETT

              Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 27, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s):
                           CP-67-CR-0001632-2004

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., OLSON, J., and DUBOW, J.

MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.:                            FILED: FEBRUARY 27, 2023

       The Commonwealth appeals from the Order granting Appellee Robert

W. Arnett’s petition seeking release from his requirements that he registers

as a sex offender.       It argues that the trial court erred in concluding that

Subchapter I of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act

(“SORNA”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.51-9799.75, violates Appellee’s right to

reputation.1 For the following reasons, we transfer this appeal to the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

       In 2004, Appellee entered into a negotiated plea agreement to

numerous offenses that occurred in 2003, including Aggravated Indecent

Assault, Statutory Sexual Assault, Indecent Assault, and Corruption of Minors.
____________________________________________

1 Subchapter I provides that where an offender committed an enumerated
offense between 1996 and 2012, upon release from incarceration, the offender
must comply with certain RNC requirements. 42 Pa.C.S. 9799.52.
J-S02040-23

The Sexual Offenders Assessment Board (“SOAB”) conducted an evaluation

and determined that Appellee did not meet the criteria of a sexually violent

predator. The court sentenced him to the negotiated term of five to ten years’

incarceration.2 Under the then-existing Megan’s Law, Appellee was required

to register for his lifetime with the Pennsylvania State Police as a sexual

offender because of his aggravated indecent assault conviction. Appellant was

released from incarceration in 2013 and complied with his registration

requirements pursuant to Subchapter I of SORNA.

       On August 13, 2020, Appellant filed a pro se PCRA Petition seeking a

release from his SORNA registration, notification, and counseling (“RNC”)

requirements. After the appointment of counsel, he filed an “Amended PCRA

Petition/Motion for a Writ of Habeas Corpus” asserting, inter alia, that SORNA’s

Subchapter I registration requirements violate his right to reputation because

they are based on an unconstitutional irrebuttable presumption of future

dangerousness.

       The trial court held a hearing on September 15, 2021. On April 27, 2022,

the court entered an Order and Opinion granting Appellee’s amended PCRA

petition and releasing him from his SORNA registration requirements. The

court concluded that the Subchapter I RNC requirements contained an

unconstitutional     irrebuttable     presumption   and,   accordingly,   the   RNC
____________________________________________

2In an unrelated case, the court sentenced Appellant to a term of one to two
years’ incarceration, to be served consecutive to the sentence imposed in this
case.

                                           -2-
J-S02040-23

requirements violated Appellee’s constitutional right to reputation provided in

Article I, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. PCRA Ct. Op., 4/27/22,

at 7-8.

      The Commonwealth appealed. Both the Commonwealth and the PCRA

court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

      Preliminarily, we observe that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has

exclusive jurisdiction over the following types of cases:

      § 722. Direct appeals from courts of common pleas

      The Supreme Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of appeals
      from final orders of the courts of common pleas in the following
      classes of cases:

                                      ***

      (7) Matters where the court of common pleas has held invalid as
      repugnant to the Constitution, treaties or laws of the United
      States, or to the Constitution of this Commonwealth, any treaty
      or law of the United States or any provision of the Constitution of,
      or of any statute of, this Commonwealth, or any provision of any
      home rule charter.

42 Pa.C.S. § 722(7).

      Additionally, Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 751 states:

      Rule 751. Transfer of Erroneously Filed Cases

      (a) General rule. If an appeal or other matter is taken to or
      brought in a court or magisterial district which does not have
      jurisdiction of the appeal or other matter, the court or magisterial
      district judge shall not quash such appeal or dismiss the matter,
      but shall transfer the record thereof to the proper court of this
      Commonwealth, where the appeal or other matter shall be treated
      as if originally filed in transferee court on the date first filed in a
      court or magisterial district.

                                       -3-
J-S02040-23

       (b) Transfers by prothonotaries. An appeal or other matter
       may be transferred from a court to another court under this rule
       by order of court or by order of the prothonotary of any appellate
       court affected.

Pa.R.A.P. 751. See also 42 Pa.C.S. § 5103(a) (“A matter which is within the

exclusive jurisdiction of a court or magisterial district judge of this

Commonwealth but which is commenced in any other tribunal of this

Commonwealth shall be transferred by the other tribunal to the proper court

or magisterial district of this Commonwealth where it shall be treated as if

originally filed in the transferee court or magisterial district of this

Commonwealth on the date when first filed in the other tribunal.”);

Commonwealth v. Herman, 143 A.3d 392, 394 (Pa. Super. 2016) (“Where

an appeal within the exclusive jurisdiction of a tribunal is mistakenly filed in

the wrong court, the proper course is to transfer the appeal to the correct

judicial body.”).

       Instantly, in ruling on Appellee’s amended PCRA petition, the trial court

held that Subchapter I’s irrebuttable presumption that he is likely to reoffend

is   unconstitutional,   thus   rendering   Subchapter   I   a   violation   of   his

Constitutional right to reputation. PCRA Ct. Op. at 7-8. Because the PCRA

court declared SORNA’s Subchapter I unconstitutional, our Supreme Court has

exclusive    jurisdiction   over   this   case   under section   722(7).          See

Commonwealth v. Torsilieri, 232 A.3d 567, 572 (Pa. 2020) (concluding that

the Commonwealth's appeal from the Chester County Court of Common Pleas'

                                          -4-
J-S02040-23

order declaring SORNA unconstitutional was within the Supreme Court's

exclusive jurisdiction). See also Commonwealth v. Gruver, 248 A.3d 461

(Pa. Super. 2021) (unpublished memorandum) (transferring appeal of Order

that found SORNA’s RNC requirement were unconstitutional as applied to the

appellee to the Supreme Court).3

       Accordingly, we transfer this appeal to the Supreme Court of

Pennsylvania.

       Appeal transferred. Jurisdiction relinquished.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary

Date: 2/27/2023

____________________________________________

3We note that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court accepted the Gruver appeal
and ultimately affirmed the trial court in a per curiam Order on other grounds
without addressing the substance of the constitutionality challenge raised on
appeal. Commonwealth v. Gruver, 232 A.3d 642 (Pa. 2022) (per curiam).

                                           -5-