Fix sought for PA minimum sentences

Posted 8/21/12

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Rep. Todd Stephens on August 25 called on the legislature to act to correct what he called a weakness in the Crimes Code following a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling …

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Fix sought for PA minimum sentences

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HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Rep. Todd Stephens on August 25 called on the legislature to act to correct what he called a weakness in the Crimes Code following a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling that declared many of the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing provisions unconstitutional.

“This decision leaves prosecutors without a major tool in their fight to keep criminals behind bars,” Stephens said. “We must, at the very least, fix and reinstate the mandatory prison sentences for violent crimes committed against children, violent crimes committed with guns, and violent crimes committed against the elderly before the end of the session this year.”

The decision rose from the case of Jason Newman, of North Hills, who was convicted of possessing 60 ounces of cocaine with the intent to distribute it after drug purchases were made from a Glenside apartment in 2010. A gun and ammunition were found within six to eight feet of the drugs during a search of the apartment.

Because of the gun, the judge imposed a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for violating a section of a law that allows prosecutors to seek the minimum sentence if a firearm is found on a drug dealer, an accomplice, or in the vicinity of the contraband.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled a jury, not a judge, must decide that the defendant possessed or controlled a firearm while illegally possessing the drugs before a mandatory minimum can be imposed based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Alleyne v. U.S.

In its decision the court wrote: “We find that it is manifestly the province of the General Assembly to determine what new procedures must be created in order to impose mandatory minimum sentences in Pennsylvania following Alleyne. We cannot do so.”

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