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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 24, 2012 10:43 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Nick Miccarelli |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Child Pornography- Reintroduction of Legislation |
| In the near future, I am planning to reintroduce (House Bill 270) from the 2011-2012 session, which will amend section 6312 of the Crimes Code (Title 18) relating to sexual abuse of children. This legislation was passed by the House on March 1, 2011 (198-0). Recently, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Commonwealth v. Jawowecki, 985 A.2d955, has held that under current law, for sentencing purposes, any additional counts after count 1 in a multiple count child pornography complaint may not be considered “second offense.: In Jarowecki, the defendant was charged with and convicted of eight counts of possession of child pornography. At the sentencing hearing, the Commonwealth moved to grade counts 2 through 8 as second offenses which would have been graded as second degree felonies (a first offense is graded as a third degree felony).¹ The trial court graded the first conviction as a first offense and graded each additional conviction as a second or subsequent offense. The defendant appealed and the case was heard by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated that even though it is the legislature’s prerogative to afford harsher punishments for multiple offenses, even those occurring after commission but prior to the conviction, without clear language to the contrary a defendant must be convicted of a first offense prior to the commission of the second offense in order to receive the enhanced penalty. My legislation will provide for a defendant to be sentenced to the enhanced second or subsequent offense penalty even though they had not yet been convicted of the first offense when they committed the second and subsequent offenses. This will allow for any additional counts after count 1 in a multiple count child pornography complaint to be considered “second and subsequent offenses” for sentencing purposes. Former HB270 Cosponsors: MICCARELLI, BARRAR, BOYD, BRENNAN, BUXTON, CHRISTIANA, FARRY, FLECK, GEIST, GINGRICH, HARHAI, HICKERNELL, MILLARD, OBERLANDER, PETRARCA, PYLE, RAPP, ROAE, SANTARSIERO, SCAVELLO, TALLMAN, VULAKOVICH AND WATSON _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ¹ A third degree felony is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment and/or up to a $15,000 fine. A second degree felony is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and/or up to a $25,000 fine. |
Introduced as HB501