# Commonwealth v. Rivera

> Superior Court of Pennsylvania · February 14, 1994 · 432 Pa. Super. 88

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9699745

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Julio RIVERA, Appellant
- **Court:** Superior Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** February 14, 1994
- **Citations:** 432 Pa. Super. 88; 637 A.2d 997; 1994 Pa. Super. LEXIS 371
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Kelly
- **Judges:** Rowley, McEwen, Cirillo, Olszewski, Sole, Beck, Tamilia, Kelly, Johnson
- **Cited by:** 7 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/9699745

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- concluding that the language of 18 Pa.C.S. section 7508(a)(3)(iii) is “susceptible to no ambiguity[.]”

## Opinion text

*96 KELLY, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the evidence was sufficient in this case to sustain the guilty verdicts on the charges of criminal conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. However, I part with the majority on the sentencing issue.
The statutory analysis espoused in Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 533 Pa. 294 , 621 A.2d 990 (1993); Commonwealth v. Beatty, 411 Pa.Super. 450 , 601 A.2d 1253 (1992) (en banc), alloc. granted 531 Pa. 644 , 612 A.2d 983 (1992); and Commonwealth v. Eyster, 401 Pa.Super. 477 , 585 A.2d 1027 (1991), appeal denied, 529 Pa. 646 , 602 A.2d 857 (1992), that a “previous conviction” must precede a subsequent offense before the “previous conviction” can be used to enhance the sentence for the later offense, applies with equal vigor in the case at bar. Here, appellant committed his second offense before he was convicted for his first offense. Under these circumstances, I would vacate judgment of sentence and remand for resentencing. Hence, I respectfully dissent.
CIRILLO and JOHNSON, JJ., join.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9699745. Public record. Not legal advice.
