Superior Court 8/29/08 - COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. CHARLES WARNER BAXTER

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. CHARLES WARNER BAXTER
No. 622 WDA 2006 2008 PA Super 200 Atlantic: n/a Filed: 8/29/2008
Appeal from the Order Entered March 8, 2006, In the Court of Common Pleas, Erie County, Criminal Division, at No. 2340 of 2005.
Before: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J., STEVENS, ORIE MELVIN, LALLY-GREEN, KLEIN, BENDER, BOWES, GANTMAN, and SHOGAN, JJ.
Opinion by: ORIE MELVIN, J.
Concurring Statement by: KLEIN, J.
Dissenting Opinion by: FORD ELLIOT, P.J.
This is a Commonwealth appeal from the order entered on March 8, 2006 in the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County that granted a new trial to Appellee, Charles Warner Baxter, on grounds that the prosecution of Appellee under 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6111(g)(4) violated Appellee’s due process rights as well as the separation of powers doctrine. After review, for the reasons that follow, we find there is no constitutional infirmity to the Commonwealth’s prosecution of a prospective purchaser of a firearm for providing materially false statements in connection with that attempted purchase under the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act of 1995, 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6101, et seq. (the “Firearms Act”). Accordingly, we reverse the order granting a new trial and re-instate the jury’s verdict and remand for further proceedings.

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