Court Opinion

ID: 9639162
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:06:32.91697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:13.216331
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge,
concurring:
The power to grant paroles to prisoners in county jails and workhouses has been granted to courts of common pleas by the Act of June 19, 1911, P.L. 1059, § 1, as amended, 61 P.S. § 314. My reading of the provisions of 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731 does not disclose a legislative intent to take away this power of parole in cases where a person has been sentenced to prison for driving while under the influence of alcohol pursuant to the mandatory sentencing provisions of 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(e)(1). To the extent that the majority holds that trial courts are powerless to grant paroles in such cases, therefore, I must respectfully voice my dissent. There may very well be cases in which a trial court, acting in a manner procedurally consistent with the Act of 1911, supra, can properly grant parole even before a prisoner has fully served a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment imposed pursuant to 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(e)(1).
This case, however, is not one of them. Here, no petition for parole was filed, no parole hearing was held, and no reasons were alleged by the defendant or given by the court for granting parole. Instead, the record discloses a blatant attempt by a trial court to avoid imposition of the mandatory sentence required by 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(e)(1). This was *248improper. In this respect, I agree with the Commonwealth that: “The device of sentencing a defendant and granting him immediate parole is a sham and does not comply with the statute.” (Appellant’s brief, p. 8). The use of immediate parole to avoid compliance with mandatory sentencing provisions is improper and deserves the condemnation of this Court. In my judgment, however, it is not necessary to throw out the baby with the bathwater. It is not necessary to deprive courts of the power to grant parole in order to prevent the abuse committed in this case.
Although I do not agree with the majority that the power of trial courts to grant parole has been taken away by the mandatory sentencing provisions of 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(e)(1), I do agree that the sentence in this case, which included an immediate parole, was an abuse of discretion. Therefore, I concur in the decision of the majority to vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.