Commonwealth v. Siers
Commonwealth v. Siers
Opinion of the Court
This is a direct appeal from an order denying appellant’s post-sentence petition to withdraw his pleas of guilty to three counts of robbery
In considering appellant’s appeal, we emphasize that there is an important distinction between pre-sentencing and post-sentencing attempts to withdraw a guilty plea. Commonwealth v. Shaffer, 498 Pa. 342, 446 A.2d 591 (1982); Commonwealth v. Herberg, 306 Pa.Super. 245, 452 A.2d 536 (1982). “[A] showing of prejudice on the order of manifest injustice” is required before withdrawal of a guilty plea on a post-sentence petition can be justified. Commonwealth v. Starr, 450 Pa. 485, 490, 301 A.2d 592, 595 (1973). This substantial burden of proof is imposed because of the recognition that a plea and its subsequent withdrawal may be used by the accused as a sentence-testing device. Id., 450 Pa. at 489, 301 A.2d at 594. Consequently, before a post-sentence petition to withdraw a guilty plea will be granted under the “manifest injustice” standard, some demonstration must be made that the plea was involuntary. Commonwealth v. Bhillips, 475 Pa. 427, 380 A.2d 1210 (1977).
Appellant states the issues on appeal as follows
I. Should defendant [sic] be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea[s]?
*219 II. Is the system of assigning Judges to hear criminal cases in Philadelphia, unconstitutional in its application, by coercing defendants to Plea [sic] Guilty?
III. Did the manner in which the Defender Association of Philadelphia assigns [sic] various attorneys to represent appellant, prevent him from receiving adequate representation^]
IV. Did the trial courts [sic] refusal to allow appellant to recover the sum of $500.00 which was seized from him prevent him from securing counsel of his choice?
The first specific contention of error which the appellant raises is that the system of assigning judges to hear criminal cases in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County is unconstitutional in that it coerces criminal defendants to engage in plea bargaining or to plead guilty in the hope of receiving a more lenient sentencing judge than if he goes to trial before a jury. In Philadelphia County, there
Although these roles of “waiver” judge and “jury” judge are not administratively mandated, the judges of the criminal division of Philadelphia County have adapted the case assignment system to accommodate for their existence in order to insure an effective caseflow. Therefore, if a case is originally sent to a “waiver” judge as a non-jury trial or as a guilty plea, and the defendant involved subsequently decides to exercise his/her right to a jury trial, the case will be returned to the criminal case calendar room for reassignment to one of the “jury” judges. This is done in order not to disrupt the schedule of the “waiver” judge which, typically, will already be filled with other non-jury trials or guilty pleas. Appellant contends that it is this practice of reassignment adopted by the judges of the criminal division of Philadelphia County which coerces criminal defendants to engage in plea bargaining or to plead guilty.
*221 Although plea bargaining has been common practice in criminal cases for many decades, only in relatively recent times has it gained respectability in the criminal justice system, and has now become so commonplace that the overwhelming majority of criminal cases are disposed of in this manner. It is clear that guilty pleas entered pursuant to bargaining must be entirely voluntary and that it is a violation of due process where such a plea is obtained by coercion or by deception or by a trick. An-not., 10 A.L.R.4th 689, 692 (1981) (citations omitted).
Nevertheless, the United States Supreme Court has stated that there is no per se rule against encouraging guilty pleas or engaging in plea bargaining. Corbitt v. New Jersey, 439 U.S. 212, 99 S.Ct. 492, 58 L.Ed.2d 466 (1978). In addition, judges are not forbidden to extend a proper degree of leniency in return for guilty pleas or to make due allowance for plea bargains in sentencing decisions. Id. Our society accepts these mechanisms as beneficial to the implementation of the criminal justice system. Therefore, the fact that the criminal case assignment process employed by the judges of the criminal division of Philadelphia County may encourage criminal defendants to plead guilty, does not, of itself, make such encouragement an undue burden on the exercise of their constitutional right to a jury trial so as to invalidate their guilty pleas. But see Abrams, Systemic Coercion: Unconstitutional Conditions In the Criminal Law, 72 J.CRIM.L. 128 (1981); Folberg, The “Bargained For” Guilty Plea—An Evaluation, 4 CRIM.L.BULL. 201 (1968). However, while inadvertent encouragement may be permissible, deliberate participation by the judiciary in the plea bargaining process has been held to be improper in Pennsylvania. Commonwealth v. Evans, 434 Pa. 52, 252 A.2d 689 (1969); Compare People v. Fox, 38 Ill.App.3d 257, 345 N.E.2d 139 (1975). Even so, before a plea bargain or a guilty plea may be categorized as involuntary by virtue of improper judicial conduct, the participation by the judiciary must be found to be “active” in nature. Commonwealth v. Palmer, 463 Pa. 26, 342 A.2d
In this case, there is no evidence of record, nor does appellant advance such a claim, that the case assignment system employed by the criminal division of Philadelphia County was adopted with the avowed purpose of soliciting plea bargains or guilty pleas from criminal defendants. Nor is there a claim that the so-called “waiver” or “jury” judges actively seek out their respective designations with the deliberate purpose of coercing defendants in the criminal system of Philadelphia County to plea bargain or to enter pleas of guilty. On the contrary, such differences as do exist between these jurists, exist as a result of the disparity in the individual beliefs and principles held by them concerning the purpose of the sentencing process in our criminal justice system. The labels they receive are merely a reflection of their honestly and sincerely held sentencing philosophies. Consequently, lacking any evidence of “active” participation by the judiciary in the plea bargaining process in Philadelphia County, we do not find the mandate of Evans, supra, to be applicable.
Disappointed expectations alone do not vitiate guilty pleas, Commonwealth v. Sanutti, supra. Likewise, a desire to limit one’s penalty by pleading guilty is not a ground on which to base a claim of involuntariness. Commonwealth v. Bhillips, supra. Because appellant has failed to demonstrate in what manner his plea was not voluntarily given, his first contention of error must fail.
Appellant’s second specific contention of error is that he was deprived of adequate representation by the
Appellant’s third contention of error is that the trial court’s refusal to allow him to recover the $500.00 seized from him at the time of his arrest prevented him from securing private counsel of his choice. Assuming that appellant could have found an attorney willing to represent him on these charges for the sum of $500.00, appellant filed no motion under Pa.R.Crim.P. 324 for the return of his property. Even if appellant had filed such a motion, however, the evidence on the record supports a finding that the money was derivative contraband. See Commonwealth v. Landy, 240 Pa.Super. 458, 362 A.2d 999 (1976). Appellant’s final issue of error is likewise without merit.
Judgment of sentence affirmed.
. Appellant pled guilty to three separate bank robberies. During one of the robberies, appellant was photographed by bank security equipment. A police officer recognized appellant from this photograph and arrested him. Appellant was later identified by tellers from the three banks at a station house line-up.
. In the body of appellant's brief, an additional argument is made that one of the factors which rendered appellant’s plea involuntary, in addition to those outlined below, was the Commonwealth’s demand for a jury trial. Appellant argues that the possibility of a non-jury trial was foreclosed to him by virtue of the Commonwealth’s demand, and that, as a consequence, the only alternatives open to him were
. Appellant makes no contention that the judges of Philadelphia County impose illegal sentences or sentences which violate the statutory maximum. He concedes that the sentences which have been imposed are permissible, and that the judges of Philadelphia County have not abused their discretion in the past when sentencing. What effect our recently enacted sentencing guidelines would have on appellant's arguments is not clear. It is questionable, however, under the new sentencing guidelines whether the categories of "tough” and “lenient” sentencing judges will remain viable.
Concurring Opinion
concurring:
I join the majority opinion and write to comment on the second issue.
Since appellant does not allege any specific instances of ineffectiveness on the part of any of the individual counsel who represented him, his challenge is to the system per se of assigning counsel to handle particular phases of a case rather than handling a case from beginning to end. While a certain degree of facility would develop, in such a horizontal assignment of counsel’s duties,
Whether this particular disadvantage is offset by the advantage of specialized expertise is not presented to us in a manner which would allow us to resolve it.
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963), guaranteed, as a federal constitutional right, the assistance of counsel in state-prosecuted criminal cases. It remains for a future case to determine whether the challenged counsel assignment procedure mutes Gideon’s trumpet.
. One particular phase where this arrangement could result in specialized expertise would be suppression hearings.
. Nor, more importantly,, was it so presented to the court below.
There are, no doubt, a number of other advantages and disadvantages of the horizontal handling of cases. They are not even argued.
. If the system itself were found on the basis of such a record to generally provide ineffective assistance of counsel, then it would follow that cases under the system would, at the least, have a presumption of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Charles SIERS, Appellant
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published