Court Opinion

ID: 9753265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:05:42.684642+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:32.910828
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
concurring.
Although I join the majority’s disposition, I would emphasize that there is no absolute double jeopardy bar to appellate review of judgments of acquittal; the availability of such review is dependent upon the essential character of the court’s judgment; and the viability of the prosecution appeal depends upon whether the issue in question is one of law or fact.1 *32Differentiating questions of fact from 'questions of law has proven difficult for courts, with the characterization “as much a matter of allocation as it is. of analysis.” Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 114, 106 S.Ct. 445, 451, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985).
As concerns double jeopardy jurisprudence, I view the circumstances of this case as unique. The question presented here, as posed by the Commonwealth, is whether the trial court’s ruling concerned a factual element of its case or represented a legal determination. According to the Commonwealth, the date is not an essential element as to the offenses here charged (criminal conspiracy, simple assault, and reckless endangerment); the trial court’s conclusion to the contrary merely represented an erroneous legal ruling; and, therefore, double jeopardy precepts pose no bar to its appeal. In making such argument, the Commonwealth characterizes the issue as one involving a variance between the complaint and the proof at trial, and maintains that the municipal court abused its discretion in denying the prosecutor leave to amend the compláint.2
*33This was not, however, a typical variance situation. In the present case, in response to Appellee’s motion for a judgment of acquittal, the prosecutor did not seek to amend the complaint to conform with the trial proofs; rather, she contended that the date in the complaint was correct but a defect existed in the Commonwealth’s proof. Indeed, the Commonwealth’s proofs as concerned the date of the offense not only varied from that asserted in the complaint, they were also internally inconsistent to a substantial degree. The prosecutor therefore took the very unusual step of requesting leave to amend the notes of testimony or, in the alternative, to reopen the case and re-call the witnesses to rectify her case.
Although I agree with the Commonwealth that the variance between the complaint and proofs and the inconsistency in the trial proofs did not implicate a factual element of the offenses charged, given the character of the discrepancies involved, I support the municipal court’s conclusion that it did concern a requirement of the Commonwealth’s proof. See supra note 2. In the unique circumstances presented, therefore, and where the municipal court couched its ruling in terms of the suffi*34ciency of the evidence, I am able to join the majority’s order enforcing a double jeopardy bar.

. See United States v. Lynch, 162 F.3d 732, 734 (2nd Cir.1998) (citing United States v. Scott, 437 U.S. 82, 98, 98 S.Ct. 2187, 2197, 57 L.Ed.2d 65 (1978); United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. 564, 571, 97 S.Ct. 1349, 1354-55, 51 L.Ed.2d 642 (1977)); 15B Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, Jurisdiction and Reiated Matters 2d § 3919.5 (1992) (hereinafter "Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure 2d"); Forrest G. Alogna, Note, Double Jeopardy, Acquittal Appeals, and the. Law-Fact Distinction, 86 Cornell L.Rev. 1131, 1153 (2001). The rationale for allowing certain prosecution appeals is that, where a defendant seeks to termi*32nate a trial on grounds unrelated to guilt or innocence, the underlying purpose of the double jeopardy prohibition is not implicated. See Scott, 437 U.S. at 95-96, 98 S.Ct. at 2196.

. In general, the charging document (criminal complaint or information) must advise the defendant, inter alia, of the date when the offense is alleged to have been committed. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 504(4), (b) (providing, inter alia, that a complaint shall set forth the;date of the offense, and the date or day of the week if it is an essential element of the offense charged); Pa.R.Crim.P. 560(A)(3) (setting forth a similar requirement for a criminal information). The purpose of such requirement is to provide the defendant with sufficient notice to meet the charges and prepare a defense. See generally Commonwealth v. Alston, 539 Pa. 202, 209-10, 651 A.2d 1092, 1095 (1994). Variance issues typically arise in the context of a mistake or error in the charging document. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Ohle, 503 Pa. 566, 589, 470 A.2d 61, 73 (1983) (involving an incorrect citation to the Crimes Code as opposed to the Penal Code); Commonwealth v. Gray, 473 Pa. 424, 428, 374 A.2d 1285, 1287 (1977) (concerning a date of the killing different than that testified to by the medical examiner). In such circumstances, a defendant is entitled to relief only if the discrepancy misled him at trial, involved an element of surprise prejudicial to his defense, precluded him from anticipating the prosecution's proof, or impaired a substantial right. See Commonwealth v. Pope, 455 Pa. 384, 391, 317 A.2d 887, 890 (1974). Parenthetically, a variance should be differentiated from the situation in which the Commonwealth seeks to prosecute a *33defendant without alleging or proving a specific date the offense was committed. Cf. Commonwealth v. Devlin, 460 Pa. 508, 513, 333 A.2d 888, 890 (1975) (concluding that proof that the crime occurred sometime during a fourteen-month span constituted a fundamentally unfair burden upon the defendant's ability to defend).
A defect in the charging document may be Ireated as a legal issue for purposes of double jeopardy where its resolution does not depend upon an assessment of the prosecution’s evidence. See, e.g., U.S. v. Kehoe, 516 F.2d 78, 83, 85-86 (5th Cir.1975) (concluding that judgment of acquittal granted mid-trial and based upon the failure of the indictment to state an offense was purely legal and double jeopardy did not bar further proceedings); accord State v. Evans, 205 Conn. 528, 534 A.2d 1159, 1164 (1987) (plurality opinion) (holding that double jeopardy does not preclude the prosecution from appealing a dismissal based upon the failure of the information to specify the date of the offense); State v. Pusey, 600 A.2d 32, 36-37 (Del.1991); Florida v. James, 626 So.2d 259, 261-62 (Fla.App. 1993). Where the discrepancy has involved an element of the offense as proven at trial, it has been treated as factual. See, e.g., United States v. Hunt, 212 F.3d 539, 544 (10th Cir.2000) (holding that double jeopardy barred a government appeal where the indictment alleged theft from the mail, and the proof established only a theft).