Court Opinion

ID: 9392943
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-08 18:12:54.184607+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:50.043916
License: Public Domain

J-S08037-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                               :        PENNSYLVANIA
                       Appellant               :
                                               :
                                               :
                v.                             :
                                               :
                                               :
    LEITH MICHAEL STARNER, JR.                 :   No. 754 MDA 2022

         Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered April 19, 2022
      In the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County Criminal Division at
                        No(s): CP-01-CR-0001557-2021

BEFORE:      OLSON, J., McCAFFERY, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY COLINS, J.:                                  FILED: MAY 8, 2023

        The Commonwealth appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed

following the guilty plea of Appellee, Leith Michael Starner, Jr., to driving

under the influence (“DUI”)—controlled substance.1 We vacate the judgment

of sentence and remand for resentencing.

        On July 13, 2021, Appellee was arrested following a traffic stop, and he

was subsequently charged with various DUI offenses, as well as a summary

motor vehicle offense. The DUI offenses were charged as second offenses

and graded as first-degree misdemeanors based upon Appellee’s resolution of

a prior DUI charge through the accelerated rehabilitative disposition (“ARD”)

____________________________________________

*   Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1   75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(1)(i).
J-S08037-23

process.    Appellee filed an omnibus pre-trial motion seeking to bar

consideration of his earlier ARD as a prior offense at sentencing.

      At that time, this Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Chichkin, 232

A.3d 959 (Pa. Super. 2020), set forth the prevailing law on whether

acceptance of ARD in an earlier DUI case could be considered a prior offense

for sentencing in a subsequent DUI prosecution. In Chichkin, we held that

the classification of ARD as a prior offense in Section 3806(a) of the Vehicle

Code violated due process and therefore a defendant could not be sentenced

as a recidivist DUI offender on that basis. Id. at 969-71; 75 Pa.C.S. § 3806(a)

(defining a “prior offense” to include acceptance of ARD); see also 75 Pa.C.S.

§ 3804 (setting forth escalating mandatory minimums for first, second, and

subsequent DUI offenses).

      At an April 19, 2022 hearing, the trial court granted Appellee’s motion

to bar consideration of the prior ARD as a first offense for sentencing purposes.

N.T., 4/19/22, at 3; Order, 4/29/22. Appellee then entered a negotiated guilty

plea to one count of DUI—controlled substance as a first offense, ungraded

misdemeanor at the hearing. On that same date, the trial court sentenced

Appellee pursuant to the negotiated agreement to serve six months’

probation, including ten days of house arrest, and pay a fine of $1,000.

Sentencing Order, 4/19/22. The Commonwealth then filed this timely appeal.

      The Commonwealth raises the following issue before this Court:

      Did the lower court err in barring consideration of [Appellee’s]
      prior  ARD-DUI     at   sentencing    without   providing   the

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      Commonwealth the opportunity to prove, beyond a reasonable
      doubt, that [Appellee] actually committed the prior DUI offense?

Commonwealth Brief at 5 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).              The

Commonwealth argues on appeal that the trial court erred by not allowing it

to prove that Appellee’s acceptance of ARD in the earlier DUI prosecution

constituted a prior offense for the purpose of sentencing in the instant case.

      The Commonwealth’s argument implicates the legality of Appellee’s

sentence, which the Commonwealth may appeal as of right. See 42 Pa.C.S.

§ 9781(a); Commonwealth v. Moroz, 284 A.3d 227, 230 (Pa. Super. 2022)

(en banc). A claim relating to the legality of a sentence presents a question

of law as to which our standard of review is de novo and our scope of review

is plenary. Moroz, 284 A.3d at 230.

      This Court’s en banc decisions in Commonwealth v. Richards, 284

A.3d 214, 217 (Pa. Super. 2022) (en banc), appeal granted, No. 518 MAL

2022 (Pa. March 15, 2023), and Moroz, which were filed during the pendency

of this appeal, squarely address the issue presently before this Court. As we

have recently explained,

      The [Richards and Moroz] decisions emphasize that the General
      Assembly provided that “ARD will constitute a prior offense for
      purposes of sentencing on a second or subsequent DUI conviction
      . . ., and a defendant is presumed to be aware of the relevant
      statute.” Richards, 284 A.3d at 220 (citation omitted); Moroz,
      284 A.3d at 233.      The nearly identical decisions therefore
      expressly overruled Chichkin and held “the portion of Section
      3806(a), which equates prior acceptance of ARD to a prior
      conviction for purposes of imposing a Section 3804 mandatory
      minimum sentence, passes constitutional muster.” Richards,
      284 A.3d at 220; Moroz, 284 A.3d at 233.

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Commonwealth v. Hummel, ___ A.3d ___, 2023 PA Super 57, *3-4 (Pa.

Super. filed April 4, 2023) (footnote omitted).2

       Here, the trial court disregarded Appellee’s earlier acceptance of ARD

and sentenced him as a first-time DUI offender in accordance with Chichkin.

Under Richards and Moroz, this ruling was in error. See Moroz, 284 A.3d

at 233 (concluding that “the trial court erred in sentencing [the a]ppellee as

a first-time DUI offender without considering his acceptance of ARD for a prior

DUI”); Hummel, 2023 PA Super 57, *4 (same); see also Commonwealth

v. Chesney, 196 A.3d 253, 257 (Pa. Super. 2018) (noting that Pennsylvania

appellate courts apply law in effect at time of decision and parties are entitled

to benefit of changes in law while direct appeal is pending). We therefore

vacate Appellee’s judgment of sentence and remand for resentencing

consistent with this decision. See Moroz, 284 A.3d at 233; Hummel, 2023

PA Super 57, *4.

____________________________________________

2 Our Supreme Court addressed this issue more recently in Commonwealth
v. Verbeck, 290 A.3d 260 (Pa. 2023), splitting evenly on the question of
whether a DUI ARD falls within the “prior conviction” exception to the general
rule that a fact that increases punishment must be submitted to the fact finder
and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. While our Supreme Court’s ruling had
the effect of affirming this Court’s decision remanding for the defendant’s
resentencing as a first-time offender, Verbeck lacks precedential effect. See
Commonwealth v. Mosley, 114 A.3d 1072, 1082 n.11 (Pa. Super. 2015)
(“When a judgment of sentence is affirmed by an equally divided court, [] no
precedent is established and the holding is not binding on other cases.”).
Therefore, our en banc decisions of Richards and Moroz remain the binding
law on this issue. See Hummel, 2023 PA Super 57, *4 n.1.

                                           -4-
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         Judgment of sentence vacated.     Case remanded for resentencing.

Jurisdiction relinquished. Judge Olson joins the memorandum.

         Judge McCaffery files a concurring statement in which Judge Colins

joins.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary

Date: 5/8/2023

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