# Commonwealth v. Wheeler

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · April 21, 1988 · 518 Pa. 103

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695609

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Ronald WHEELER, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** April 21, 1988
- **Citations:** 518 Pa. 103; 541 A.2d 730; 1988 Pa. LEXIS 108
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Larsen
- **Judges:** Nix, Larsen, Flaherty, McDermott, Hutchinson, Papadakos, Zappalá, Former
- **Cited by:** 5 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695609

## Opinion text

LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I maintain the view that it was the legislative intent that a jury/could find that a single prior conviction for murder of the third degree qualifies as a “significant history of felony convictions involving ... violence to the person” under section 9711(d)(9) of the Sentencing Code, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(d)(9). Commonwealth v. Goins, 508 Pa. 270, 287-92 , 495 A.2d 527 (1985) (Larsen, J., concurring and dissenting). As the majority in Goins disagreed with that view, and as Goins remains the controlling law for cases of murder of the first degree occurring prior to the effective date of the legislative amendments to the Sentencing Code, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(d)(11) and (12), (effective September 5, 1986), I am constrained to join in the result reached by the majority.
McDERMOTT, J., joins in this concurring opinion.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695609. Public record. Not legal advice.