# Commonwealth v. Ford

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · June 10, 1983 · 315 Pa. Super. 281

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9767216

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Thaddeus FORD, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** June 10, 1983
- **Citations:** 315 Pa. Super. 281; 461 A.2d 1281; 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3247
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Johnson
- **Judges:** Hester, Johnson, Popovich
- **Cited by:** 71 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/9767216

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that appellant’s sentences for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and possession of an instrument of crime are barred under section 906, because the facts of the case demonstrated “that the offenses were perpetrated with one objective in mind-the (attempted)…
- stating evidence that defendant removed pistol from his pants shortly after entering house, giving rise to the inference that he possessed firearm while walking to the house on a public street, was sufficient to sustain conviction for carrying a firearm on public streets
- recognizing that a claim that a sentence violated section 906 of the Crimes Code implicates the legality of the sentence
- stating that the lawfulness of a sentence imposed upon a conviction is not waivable

## Opinion text

JOHNSON, Judge,
concurring:
Although I concur in the majority’s determination to vacate the judgments of sentence and remand the instant case to the trial court, I note my disagreement concerning the majority’s alternative determination that evidence of co-conspirator Beecher’s possession of the weapon can, by itself, support appellant’s conviction for carrying firearms in Philadelphia, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6108.
My review of Commonwealth v. Smith, 490 Pa. 329 , 416 A.2d 494 (1980), cited for support by the majority, fails to reveal any specific discussion on the issue of whether the defendant in Smith could be held legally accountable for a co-conspirator’s possession of a weapon, as opposed to the act of shooting the victim. 490 Pa. at 332-334 , 416 A.2d at 496 . Granted, the court in Smith did affirm the defendant’s convictions for possession of an instrument of crime and possession of a prohibited offensive weapon. However, the instant case concerns an offense under the Uniform Firearms Act, not a weapons offense in the Crimes Code chapter dealing with inchoate offenses, as found in Smith .
I cannot agree that a person can be convicted under 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6108 for another’s possession of a weapon by means of an accomplice or conspiracy theory. In my view, *303 a violation of section 6108 is personal and cannot be imputed to another.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9767216. Public record. Not legal advice.