# Commonwealth v. Brown

> Superior Court of Pennsylvania · October 19, 1999 · 1999 Pa. Super. 257

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9762697

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Timothy Nathan BROWN, Appellant
- **Court:** Superior Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** October 19, 1999
- **Citations:** 1999 Pa. Super. 257; 741 A.2d 726; 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3453
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Sole
- **Judges:** McEwen, Cavanaugh, Sole, Johnson, Hudock, Eakin, Joyce, Musmanno, Melvin
- **Cited by:** 155 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/9762697

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that appellant presents a substantial question when he alleges that the sentencing court did not adequately set forth its reasons for the sentence on the record
- finding that appellant presented substantial question when he alleged that sentencing court did not adequately set forth its reasons on record for sentence imposed
- concluding an allegation that the sentencing court did not adequately set forth its reasons on the record presents a substantial question
- finding substantial question where court failed to place its reasons on the record for imposing an allegedly excessive sentence
- holding that section 9714 is not an ex post facto law

## Opinion text

DEL SOLE, J.,
concurring and dissenting.
¶ 1 I join Judge Joyce in finding that 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9714 is constitutional and in vacating the second fife sentence. However, I would also vacate the first life sentence and remand for resentencing. While the trial court has the discretion to impose a life sentence there must first be a determination that this sentence is necessary to protect public safety. The burden is on the Commonwealth to establish the threat at the sentencing hearing. Commonwealth v. Williams, 557 Pa. 285 , 733 A.2d 593 (1999), Commonwealth v. Halye, 719 A.2d 763 (Pa.Super.1998).
¶ 2 Here based on his pleas, the defendant was facing potential consecutive sentences with a minimum penalty of over fifty years and a maximum penalty of over one hundred years. There is no finding nor any testimony that this sentence is insufficient to protect the public. I would require such.
¶ 3 A trial court’s discretion in imposing sentence is not without limitation, and the exercise of that discretion must have a *737 reasonable relationship to the evidence presented at the sentencing hearing.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9762697. Public record. Not legal advice.