[DOWNLOAD] "Commonwealth V. Shiffler" by In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Middle District ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth V. Shiffler
- Author : In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Middle District
- Release Date : January 22, 2005
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 73 KB
Description
This Court granted review of the order of the Superior Court vacating appellant's judgment of sentence and remanding the case for resentencing, to consider whether, under the Sentencing Code's "three strikes law," appellant should have been considered a second-time violent crime offender and sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of ten years of imprisonment; or considered a third-time violent crime offender and sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of twenty-five years of imprisonment. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9714. The more narrow question upon which we granted review here was one left unanswered by our decision in Commonwealth v. Bradley, 834 A.2d 1127 (Pa. 2003): whether the statute reflects a "recidivist philosophy" and should be construed to allow for heightened punishment for repeat offenders only where their convictions for crimes of violence, and corresponding terms of incarceration, are sequential and each is separated by an intervening opportunity to reform. For the following reasons, we answer that question in the affirmative, and thus, we vacate the order of the Superior Court and remand this matter to the trial court for re-sentencing consistent with this opinion.