Court Opinion

ID: 9764305
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:18:34.191991+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:55.673875
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
concurring.
I agree that this Court has a responsibility which requires us not to acquiesce in the imposition of a sentence where it is apparent that the tribunal imposing that sanction does not possess the proper legislative authority to do so. I also concur in the view that the legislative enactment under which the instant sentence was imposed1 is unquestionably constitutionally infirm.2 My disagreement is directed to the analysis of the majority and the rationale they employ in reaching the result. I therefore concur only in the result.
The majority seeks to resolve the issue presented in a waiver context. In my judgment a waiver analysis is inappropriate and tends to obfuscate the real problem presented. First, our rules of waiver provide a procedural device whereby contentions improperly framed and not previously considered will not be decided.3 In contrast, we are here called upon to determine the appropriate response where we are *443asked to ignore the fact that a court has imposed a sanction in excess of its legitimately prescribed authority.4 Unlike the concept of waiver, designed to eliminate those questions not properly preserved for resolution, the essence of this controversy reaches the propriety of this Court’s acquiescence in an obvious excess of sentencing power of one of its inferior tribunals, because it is the wish of the offender. Here we are not concerned with the preclusion of an issue because it has not been properly considered at an earlier stage of the litigation. Rather, the issue is the propriety of this Court’s entertaining a claim for relief where the party who would benefit thereby has knowingly and intelligently requested that we refrain from such consideration.5
While the majority’s opinion purports to limit itself to situations where there is an attempt to impose the death sentence by patently constitutionally infirm standards, the *444reasoning it employs lends itself to much broader application. By starting with the premise that the result sought could only be achieved by a relaxation of our procedural rules relating to waiver, see Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974), and sua sponte appellate consideration, see Wiegand v. Wiegand, 461 Pa. 482, 337 A.2d 256 (1975), the majority was compelled to seize upon the gravity of the penalty of death as the justification. This suggestion that we are here carving an exception to our normal procedural rules solely because of the awesome nature of the penalty, unnecessarily invites future requests for further relaxation of our rules in death penalty cases.
As I perceive the issue, the controlling consideration is not the fact that the sentence imposed was death. It is unquestioned that death is the most severe and irreversible sanction that our system possesses. However, I do not agree that this fact alone should be the catalyst for the result reached today. In my judgment it would be repugnant to any fair system of jurisprudence to knowingly permit a court to impose a sanction (regardless of its nature) that exceeds that tribunal’s authority.6 This obligation does not arise from the kind of penalty, but rather is mandated by our responsi*445bility to preserve the integrity of our judicial system.7 Whether the improper sanction sought to be imposed is one of death, imprisonment or even fine, is immaterial, the gravamen of the evil is the court’s action in imposing a penalty that exceeds its power. For this Court to acquiesce in such an act would constitute a flagrant disregard of the supervisory powers invested in us by the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

. 1972, Dec. 6, P.L. 1520, No. 334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 1102 (Eff. June 6, 1973). The full text of this section appears in fn. 1 of the majority’s opinion.

. The reasoning of the majority as to this facet of the appeal echoes the views expressed by this writer in Commonwealth v. Moody, 476 Pa. 223, 382 A.2d 442 (1977) (Nix, J., Dissenting Opinion at 240, 382 A.2d at 450).

. In Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974), this Court abrogated prior practice in criminal cases of permitting consideration of questions not properly raised if the issue was “basic and fundamental.”

. Although a State has the power to impose a sentence of death, Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976), that power can only be effectively exercised if the constitutional standards for the imposition of that sanction are met. Gregg v. Georgia, supra; Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976); Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976); Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976); Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L,Ed.2d 974 (1976). Since the instant statute obviously did not comply with the requisite constitutional standards, it was ineffective in conferring upon our courts the authority to impose the death penalty under it.

. I am of the view that my insistence upon a precise formulation of the issue presented is more than a quibble but rather is imperative to a proper resolution of the question. While I concede that a similar issue might have arisen in a waiver context, I do not believe that fact alone justifies obliterating the distinction between waiver and sua sponte review. Where there is an absence of sentencing power, see note 4, supra, this Court’s supervisory power requires that it provide a remedy, even if sua sponte consideration is necessary to effectuate that relief. However, where a tribunal possesses the sentencing authority and is alleged to have misused or abused that authority, then I believe that the normal rules of appellate procedure should obtain and sua sponte review is unwarranted. In any event, the question raised is not whether waiver rules should be relaxed but rather whether this Court charged with its constitutional supervisory authority should sua sponte respond regardless of the wishes of the parties or their diligence in preserving the issue.

. I agree with the majority that our obligation is not removed by appellant’s desire to have us ignore this issue. In this regard we are not concerned with the defendant’s welfare, but rather the operation of our system.

. I do not believe this Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Piper, 458 Pa. 307, 328 A.2d 845 (1974) is in conflict with the views expressed here. In Piper we declined to consider a claim that the sentence denied the accused equal protection of the law since a male offender would have received a minimum sentence and she did not. The basis for not reviewing the claim was her failure to pursue the claim either in the trial court or the Superior Court. The distinguishing feature of Piper is that the validity of the maximum sentence was unquestioned. It is axiomatic in this jurisdiction that the maximum sentence is the legal sentence which determines the length of the State’s control over the offender. Commonwealth v. Butler, 458 Pa. 289, 328 A.2d 851 (1974); Commonwealth v. Daniel, 430 Pa. 642, 243 A.2d 400 (1968). Thus the claim in Piper did not amount to an assertion that a court had exceeded its statutory sentencing power or that the legislature was constitutionally proscribed from promulgating such a sanction, but rather the attack was directed to the disparity in the treatment of male and female offenders. We have since had occasion to note that because the minimum merely serves to trigger parole considerations, the female offender benefited from the disparity. Commonwealth v. Butler, supra, 458 Pa. at 295-96, 328 A.2d at 855.