Court Opinion

ID: 9718937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:38:21.249068+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:03.599429
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result achieved by the lead opinion. I concur, however, because of the facts of the instant case and do not intend to suggest thereby that an accused can avoid prosecution for a more serious offense by the expedient of entering a plea of guilty to a lesser offense.
Section 110 of the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 110, was intended “to avoid harassment and oppression of citizens through repeated efforts of the authorities to obtain a conviction and to protect society’s interest in avoiding piecemeal, criminal litigation which drains judicial and professional resources.” Commonwealth v. Breitegan, 276 Pa.Superior Ct. 181, 187, 419 A.2d 155, 158 (1980). See also: Commonwealth v. Thornton, 247 Pa.Superior Ct. 94, 97-98, 371 A.2d 1343, 1345 (1977); Commonwealth v. Green, 232 Pa.Superior Ct. 134, 141-142, 335 A.2d 493, 496 (1975). This section was not intended to afford a defendant with a procedural expedient to avoid a prosecution. Commonwealth v. Bartley, 262 Pa.Superior Ct. 390, 396, 396 A.2d 810, 813 (1979).
In the instant case, Ernest Dickerson, the appellant, was involved in a traffic accident on January 12, 1980. The investigating police officer made out and delivered to appellant a citation for reckless driving, a summary offense. The issuing authority listed on the citation was “Traffic Court City of Erie.” On the following day, January 13, 1980, the *51same police officer appeared before a magistrate in the City of Erie and signed a complaint alleging that appellant had violated section 3731(a)(1) of the Vehicle Code [75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731(a)(1) ], by driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Pursuant to this complaint a summons was issued and served by certified mail on January 17, 1980. On January 25, 1980, appellant went to the Traffic Court office in the Erie Municipal Building and entered a plea of guilty to reckless driving by paying the fine and all costs. When he subsequently appeared before the magistrate for preliminary hearing on the misdemeanor charge, he moved to dismiss the charge under Section 110 of the Crimes Code.
The Commonwealth concedes, as it must, that both criminal charges arose from the same episode. By commencing separate charges before different issuing authorities, the police violated the intent of Section 110 by indulging in piecemeal, criminal litigation. Appellant, who had no duty to move to consolidate, was thus in a position in which he was compelled to defend separate charges before separate tribunals, even though there had been only one episode. By entering a plea of guilty to the charge pending in traffic court, he was responding properly to the citation and summary proceedings there pending. It cannot be said that appellant thereby waived the benefit of Section 110 of the Crimes Code or improperly took advantage of it to avoid prosecution for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
Accordingly, I am constrained to agree that the trial court’s order must be reversed and the information dismissed.