Court Opinion

ID: 9762844
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:32:33.304634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:37.926571
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring:
I join in the well-reasoned opinion of the majority except as to the issue of whether the crimes of aggravated assault and robbery merged for sentencing purposes in this case. Although I agree with the majority that they did merge, my analysis differs somewhat from that of the majority.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that this case is one in which the crimes (i.e., robbery and aggravated assault) grew out of the same physical act, therefore necessitating an analysis of how many injuries the Commonwealth has suffered. Rather, I believe this case involves two physical acts: (1) the shooting of the bartender and (2) the taking of property from the bar. In a case where crimes arise out of the same criminal transaction or episode, but not the same physical act, the relevant inquiry is whether the two crimes necessarily involve one another such that proof of the same facts will prove both crimes. Commonwealth v. Ayala, 492 Pa. 418, 424 A.2d 1260 (1981); Commonwealth ex rel. Moszczynski v. Ashe, 348 Pa. 102, 21 *522A.2d 920 (1941); Commonwealth v. Williams, 344 Pa.Super. 108, 496 A.2d 31 (1985) (en banc).
In Williams, this Court described this analysis for precisely the two crimes which we have before us. We stated:
Suppose a defendant robs his victim, and wantonly injures or tries to kill him as well; such a case raises a legitimate question whether the defendant has actually done two substantially different injuries to the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. Sometimes to prove that a theft was robbery it is necessary to prove an aggravated assault; if so the same facts will prove both robbery and assault and they will merge. See Commonwealth v. Nelson, 337 Pa.Super. 292, 486 A.2d 1340 (1984). The legislative intention to punish the defendant only once for the robbery would be apparent in such a case since the robbery statute has a built-in prohibition against inflicting serious bodily injury in the course of stealing property. See 18 Pa.C.S. § 370(a)(i). On the other hand, if an aggravated assault were not “necessarily involved” in the robbery and the prosecutor could prove each without proving the other, then maybe two separate offenses in fact were committed. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Thompson, 343 Pa.Super. 468, 495 A.2d 560 (1985). A robbery can be carried out by the infliction of serious injury, but it can also be accomplished by mere threats of force (“terroristic threats”) or simple assault; the commission of robbery by these or any means does not give the robbery carte blanche to engage in as many repeated attempts on the life or well-being of the victim as the circumstances allow.
Id., 344 Pa.Superior Ct. at 135, 496 A.2d at 45.
In the instant case, the record indicates that in order to prove that the theft of the bar was robbery, it was necessary to prove that appellant inflicted serious bodily injury upon the bartender, i.e., committed an aggravated assault upon him. Once the robbery was proven, the aggravated assault was proven and, thus, it must be concluded that those crimes merge. It is not necessary before reaching *523this conclusion to first analyze the harms against which the legislature intended the robbery and aggravated assault statutes to protect because “[t]he legislative intention to punish the defendant only once for the robbery would be apparent in such a case since the robbery statute has a built in prohibition against inflicting serious bodily injury in the course of stealing property.” Id. For these reasons, I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the crimes of aggravated assault and robbery must be deemed to have merged for sentencing purposes.