Opposition Brief — Pennsylvania v. Halye

No. 99-981 CLERK

IN THE

Supreme Court of the Anited States

October Term 1999

SS ae

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,

Petitioner,

V.

EDWARD HALYE,

Respondent,

On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO PROCEED

IN FORMA PAUPERIS

Al Flora, Jr.

First Assistant Public

Defender

Luzerne County Courthouse

200 North River Street

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711

(570) 825-1754

Attorney for Respondent

_~? ©

ay

The Respondent asks leave to file the attached Brief in Opposition without

payment of costs and to proceed In Forma Pauperis.

The Respondent has been represented by the Public Defender’s Office of Luzerne

County Pennsylvania and has proceeded In Forma Pauperis in all State Court

proceedings.

Respondent since his arrest on criminal charges which have led to the instant

proceedings has been incarcerated in the State Court system from September 1996 to the

present and is currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon

Pennsylvania.

Respondent’s declaration in support of this motion is attached hereto.

C20 ha

Al Flora, Jr., Esquire =~

First Assistant Public Defender

Luzerne County Courthouse

200 North River Street

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-1854

(570) 825-1754

Attorney for Respondent

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

Petitioner : No. _99-981

vs. :

EDWARD HALYE, , 2EAO Term, 199%

Respondent

I, Edward Halye being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am

Respondent in the above entitled case; that in support of my motion for lcave to proceed

on petition for writ of certiorari in forma pauperis without being required to prepay fees,

costs or give security therefore, I state that because of my poverty I ain unable to pay the

costs of said proceeding or to give security therefore; that I believe I am entitled to redress.

I further swear that the responses which I have made to the questions and

instructions below relating to my ability to pay the cost of prosecuting the appeal are true.

1. Are you presently employed? ud 0

a. If the answer is yes, state the amount of your salary or wages

per month and give the name and address of your employer.

b. If the answer is no, state the date of your last employment and

the amount of the salary and wages per month which you received.

JULY 4%

2. Have you received within the past twelve months any income from a business,

profession or other form of self employment or in the form of rent payments, Interest,

dividends or other income? No

a. If the answer is yes, describe each source of income and state the

amount received from each during the past twelve months.

3. Do you own any cash or checking or savings account? NO

a. If the answer is yes, state the tutal valuc of the items owned.

4. Do you own any real estatc, stocks, bonds, notes, automobiles, or other valuable

property (excluding ordinary houschold furnishings and clothing)? No

a. If the answer is yes, describe the property and state its approximate

value.

5. List the persons who are dependent upon you fer support and state your

relationship to those persons.

NONE

I UNDERSTAND THAT FALSE STATEMENTS OR ANSWERS TO ANY QUESTIONS

IN THIS AFFIDAVIT WILL SUBJECT ME TO PENALTIES FOR PERJURY.

Dated this 24 day of _ JANUARY, 2000.

Cue Bfily —

EDWARD HALYE

A SA ns ae gang Ew i ein Bali al a A

__ CERTIFICATE

I hereby certify that “the: petitioner herein has the sum of

$ .46 | on account to his credit at the

institution where he is confined. I

further certify that petitioner likewise has the following

securities to his credit according to the records of said

SCI-HUntingdon institutions: NONE

BLL Yee

Charles E. Mart yf, Business Manager II

SS

PA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS INMATE ACCOUNTS SYSTEM RUN IAS365

. BUREAU OF COMPUTER SERVICES PARTIAL ACCOUNT LISTING DATE 1/28/2000

REMOTE PRINT TIME 14:22 FROM PURGE FILE PAGE 1

INMATE NAME

NUMBER LAST FIRST MI STARTING BALANCE

DK3707 HAYLE EDWARD 2340

BATCH DATE TRANSACTION BALANCE AFTER

# MO DY YEAR TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION AMOUNT TRANSACTION

Sd 07-13-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

JUNE, 1999 22.00 20.390

T4548 07-13-1999 38 INSIDE PURCHASES

XEROX COPIES WK ENDING 7/3/99 =~. 60 20.30

7741 07-14-1999 37 POSTAGE

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE 7/8/99 wae OE | LN

7812 07-21-1999 32 COMMISSARY

JULY 21, 1999 age ee Ore 08

7945 08-12-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

JULY, 19599 21.00 21.08

7990 08-19-1999 44 ORGANIZATIONAL

JAYCEE PHOTO'S ON LT woo

8234 08-22-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 8/22/1999 ht A) 8 08

99 09-09-1999 38 INSIDE PURCHASES

XEROX COPIES-25 AUGUST 1999 re mae:

bg 09-10-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

AUGUST, 1999 Le V0 14.88

8259 09-16-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 9/16/1999 «14.63 to

BALANCE AFTER THESE TRANSACTIONS------ > ‘ao

ee

PA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS INMATE ACCOUNTS SYSTEM RUN TAS365

BUREAU OF COMPUTER SERVICES PARTIAL ACCOUNT LISTING DATE 1/28/2000

REMOTE PRINT TIME 14:22 FROM PURGE FILE PAGE 1

INMATE NAME

NUMBER LAST \ FIRST MI STARTING BALANCE

DK3707 HAYLE EDWARD 229

BATCH DATE T®ANSACTION BALANCE AFTER

# MO DY YEAR TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION AMOUNT TRANSACTION

S22 10-13-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

SEPTEMBER, 1999 21.00 rt ae te

350 10-18-1999 31 OUTSIDE PURCHASES

ACCESS CATALOG -9.29 Dae re

8294 10-21-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 10/21/1999 gsi eh ao?

482 11-09-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

OCTOBER, 1999 fhe 0 eS

8314 11-10-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 11/10/1999 aed eG «62

570 11-22-1999 41 MEDICAL

SPORTS INJURY-14 NOVEMBER 1999 ia OU aed EPSP

648 12-07-1999 10 MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

NOVEMBER, 1999 33.00 eee 2 |

8343 12-09-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 12/09/1999 2Line 9.36

8350 12-16-1999 32 HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 12/16/1999 me ae ee “eo

BALANCE AFTER THESE TRANSACTIONS------ > ee

Fo]

PA DEPT.

REMOTE PRINT

INMATE NAME

NUMBER LAST

DK3707 HAYLE

BATCH DATE

* MO DY YEAR

875 01-12-2000

8013 01-13-2000

919 01-19-2000

Ww

ee)

OF CORRECTIONS

BUREAU OF COMPUTER SERVICES

TIME 14:22

INMATE ACCOUNTS SYSTEM RUN IAS365

PARTIAL ACCOUNT LISTING DATE 1/28/2000

FROM ACTIVE FILE PAGE 1

FIRST MI STARTING BALANCE

EDWARD +

TRANSACTION BALANCE AFTER

TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION AMOUNT TRANSACTION

MAINTENANCE PAYROLL

DECEMBER, 1999 31.38 24.63

HUN COMMISSARY

FOR 1/13/2000 -30.77 86

INSIDE PURCHASES

XEROX COPIES-29 DECEMBER 1999 -.40 46

BALANCE AFTER THESE TRANSACTIONS------ > 46

No. 99-981

IN THE

Supreme Court of the Anited States

October Term 1999

————— _—_———__

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,

Petitioner,

v.

EDWARD HALYE,

Respondent,

On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania

RESPONDENT’S BRIEF IN OPPCSITION

Al Flora, Jr.

First Assistant Public

Defender

Luzerne County Courthouse

200 North River Street

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711

(570) 825-1754

Attorney for Respondent

REASONS FOR DENYING THE WRIT

The state courts of Pennsylvania have not decided this question of federal law in a

way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court and other federal Circuit Courts.

In E.B. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (3 Cir. 1997), the provisions of New Jersey’s Megans

Law that allocated the burden of proof to the defendant to prove that he was not a

sexually violent predator was determined to violate procedural due process.

.he conviction of a defendant of a predicate offense creates the presumption that

the defendant is a sexually violent predator without proof of additional facts. 42

Pa.C.S.A. 9794 (b). As a result, Megans Law alters the maximum penaltv for the offense

for which the defendant was convicted to a mandatory maximum sentence of life

imprisonment. 42 Pa. C.S.A. 9799.4. This statutory scheme, which is a criminal rather

than civil process, does not create a sentencing enhancement but rather an alteration of a

maximum sentence without proof of additional facts. Such a scheme violates procedural

due process. Specht v. Patterson, 386 U.S. 605, 609-10, 87 S.Ct. 1209, 1212 (1967)

(Colorado’s Sex Offenders Act which allows for an indeterminate to life sentence after

conviction of a predicate offense violated procedural due process); McMillan v.

Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411 (1986) (proof of additional facts under

mandatory sentencing scheme which does not alter maximum penalty only serves to

enhance penalty and does not violate due process). See, Kansas v. Hendricks,

__US.__, 117 S.Ct. 2072, 138 L.Ed.2d 501 (1997) (Kansas Sexually Violent Predator

Act does not violate procedural due process because, as part of a civil process, it places

. ———————————

the burden of proof upon the state and does not increase an offender’s maximum term of

imprisonment).

Respondent further maintains that the reversal of the law in this case, thus

requiring the burden of persuasion to be placed upon the Commonwealth, protects

citizens by insuring that its classification system is fair and accurate. The reversal of the

law also protects the fundamental liberty rights of defendants by requiring an accurate

and reasonable disposition of the issues before state criminal trial courts. Imposing the

burden of proof upon the Commonwealth materially minimizes the risk of error in

determining that a defendant is a sexually violent predator without impairing the states

ability to secure a prompt determination. Matthews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct.

893, 47 L.Ed. 2d 18 (1976).

CONCLUSION

The Petition for Writ of Certiorari should be denied. '

_ agar

Al Flora, Jr., Esquire = ==—™

First Assistant Public Defender

Luzerne County Courthouse

200 North River Street

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-1854

(570) 825-1754

Attorney for Respondent

' The Petition for Writ of Certiorari should be to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rather than the States

Intermediate Appellate Court.