Justia Pennsylvania Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Issues of constitutional import stemming from cross-appeals taken from the Commonwealth Court's ruling on expedited challenges to Act 13 of 2012 were before the Supreme Court in this case. Act 13 contained sweeping legislation affecting Pennsylvania’s environment particularly the exploitation and recovery of natural gas in Marcellus Shale. The litigation was accelerated in part because the legislation itself was designed to take effect quickly and imposed obligations which required the challengers to formulate their legal positions swiftly; and in part in recognition of the economic importance of the legislation to the Commonwealth and its citizens. Following careful deliberation, the Supreme Court's decision found several challenged provisions of Act 13 were unconstitutional. Madame Justice Todd, and Mr. Justice McCaffery, found that several core provisions of Act 13 violated the Commonwealth’s duties as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources under the Environmental Rights Amendment; other challenges lacked merit; and several issues required further Commonwealth Court proceedings. Mr. Justice Baer, concurred in the mandate, and joined the majority in all but Parts III and VI(C); Justice Baer would have found the "core constitutional infirmity" sounded in substantive due process. Accordingly, the Commonwealth Court was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and the case remanded for further proceedings. View "Robinson Township, et al v. Pa. Public Utility Commission and Attorney General -" on Justia Law

The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned the Sunshine Act and whether meetings between an agency and outside entities, including those involved in ongoing litigation with that agency, were “deliberations” that should have been open to the public where the subject of the meetings was the same as that of the litigation. The agency claimed the meetings were held for information-gathering purposes only. The court of common pleas ruled in favor of the agency. After review of that court's record, the Supreme Court found no reversible error, and affirmed. View "Smith v. Richmond Township" on Justia Law

PPM Atlantic Renewable (“PPM”) unsuccessfully requested that the Fayette County Zoning Board grant it numerous special exceptions and variances for it to build 24 windmill turbines on leased land. This matter involved whether an objector must comply with a county court order to post bond as a condition of appealing to the Commonwealth Court, where the developer was the appellant in the county court. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded the Commonwealth Court should not have quashed the objector's merits appeal based on the the objector's failure to post bond. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court’s order and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "PPM Atlantic Renewable v. Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board" on Justia Law

The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was the interpretation of Section 602 of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, which concerned the notice requirements for an upset tax sale for non-payment of delinquent taxes. Specifically, the issue centered on whether the Commonwealth Court correctly held that “proof of mailing” in subsection 602(e)(2) referred exclusively to United States Postal Service Form 3817 (a Certificate of Mailing). Upon review of the facts of this case, the Supreme Court concluded that although the Washington County Tax Claim Bureau did not obtain a Certificate of Mailing, it did proffer other documents from the USPS as evidence to establish “proof of mailing.” The Court held that these USPS documents satisfied the statutory mandate for “proof of mailing” in subsection 602(e)(2).View "Horton v. Washington County Tax Claim Bureau" on Justia Law

In this appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether Act 152 of 2004 (“Act 152”) violated the “single subject” rule of Article III, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution,3 and, if so, whether the portions of Act 152 amending Pennsylvania’s “Megan’s Law” could be severed from the other provisions of the Act and remain in force. The Court concluded that Act 152 did violate Article III, Section 3, since its various provisions do not all relate to a single unifying subject. Furthermore, the Court struck Act 152 in its entirety. View "Pennsylvania v. Neiman" on Justia Law

Appellant was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Mendez Thomas and Lisa Diaz. On appeal, appellant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him at trial. After review of the trial court record, the Supreme Court found the evidence sufficient to support appellant's murder convictions. View "Pennsylvania v. Sanchez" on Justia Law

Appellant Alexander Keaton appealed the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. He claimed the PCRA court erroneously denied the underlying claim that his invoking a Fifth Amendment right to counsel during custodial interrogations on a rape charge invalidated his uncounseled, incriminating statements given weeks later in an unrelated murder and rape case. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court found appellant never invoked his right to counsel in the initial rape case, and as such, the PCRA court did not err in denying appellant relief.View "Pennsylvania v. Keaton" on Justia Law

Appellee was arrested and charged with knowing and intentional possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance (PWID), and conspiracy with another to commit PWID. At appellee’s bench trial, the Commonwealth presented Officer Richard Cujdik’s testimony, money seized from the other person, and the drugs. The trial court found appellee guilty of conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance, but not guilty of PWID. Appellee was then sentenced to six to 23 months imprisonment followed by two years' probation for conspiracy, and a concurrent six to 23 months imprisonment and one year of probation for possession. Four days after the trial, the Philadelphia Daily News published an article alleging police misconduct by Officer Cujdik, his brother (also a narcotics officer), and other officers during a raid of a convenience store in 2007. In this appeal, the issue on appeal to the Supreme Court was whether a newspaper article submitted as the sole support for a motion for new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence warranted the grant of a hearing. Finding allegations in an article did not constitute evidence, the Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court’s order remanding for a hearing on appellee’s after-discovered evidence claim. View "Pennsylvania v. Castro" on Justia Law

Appellant raised twenty-five lettered issues, "nearly exhausting the alphabet," to challenge the two death sentences he received after a jury convicted him of first degree murder and abuse of corpse. "Appellant’s brief is replete with beyond-boilerplate allegations containing sparse argument and even less citation to supporting authority or identification of pertinent portions of the record. His attempt to incorporate the entire trial transcript into his brief [was] insufficient, [. . .] as are his bald assertions containing no developed argument." Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed appellant's convictions and sentences. View "Pennsylvania v. Perez" on Justia Law

The Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint charging appellee Junius Burno with, inter alia, two counts of criminal homicide. A jury found him guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. The jury found one aggravating circumstance and the mitigation catchall, and determined that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating, thus sentencing appellee to death. The Commonwealth appealed the trial court’s order granting appellee a new trial based on his trial counsel’s alleged ineffective representation in failing to object to remarks made by the prosecutor during her closing argument to the jury. Appellee filed a cross-appeal claiming the trial court erred in refusing to grant him relief on numerous remaining issues, which he raised in post-sentence motions. Upon review of the trial court record, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s order granting Burno’s motion for a new trial, remanded for the resolution of any pending preserved claims related to trial court error raised in appellee's post-sentence motion, and dismissed his claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel without prejudice to his right to pursue those collateral claims under the PCRA. View "Pennsylvania v. Burno" on Justia Law