Court Opinion

ID: 9392960
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-08 18:12:59.709909+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:50.042013
License: Public Domain

J-S08039-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                               :        PENNSYLVANIA
                       Appellant               :
                                               :
                                               :
                v.                             :
                                               :
                                               :
    CHRYSTEENA DAWN CLEVENGER                  :   No. 995 MDA 2022

         Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered June 21, 2022
      In the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County Criminal Division at
                        No(s): CP-01-CR-0000081-2022

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, Chrysteena Dawn Clevenger, to driving

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

of sentence and remand for resentencing.

        On November 2, 2021, Appellee was arrested following a traffic stop,

and she was subsequently charged with various DUI offenses and 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”)

process. At a hearing held on April 18, 2022, Appellee made an oral motion

____________________________________________

*   Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1   75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(1)(i).
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to bar consideration of her earlier ARD as a prior offense at sentencing. N.T.,

4/18/22, at 2-3.

      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).

      The trial court granted Appellee’s motion to bar consideration of the

prior ARD as a first DUI offense at the April 18, 2022 hearing. N.T., 4/18/22,

at 2-3; Order, 4/19/22. Appellee then entered a negotiated guilty plea to one

count of DUI—controlled substance as a first offense, ungraded misdemeanor.

On June 20, 2022, 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, 6/20/22.       The

Commonwealth then filed this timely appeal.

      The Commonwealth raises the following issue before this Court:

      Did the trial court err in barring consideration of Appellee’s prior
      ARD-DUI without providing [the Commonwealth] the opportunity

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      to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Appelle[e] actually
      committed the prior DUI offense?

Commonwealth Brief at 6 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).             The

Commonwealth challenges the application of Chichkin to this case in light of

more recent case law and argues that the trial court erred by not allowing it

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

a prior offense for the purpose of sentencing here.

      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

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       minimum sentence, passes constitutional muster.”        Richards,
       284 A.3d at 220; Moroz, 284 A.3d at 233.

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 her 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.

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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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