| COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. MICHAEL GREENE No. 538 MDA 2009 2009 PA Super 256 Atlantic: n/a Filed: 12/29/2009 | |
| Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence, January 14, 2009, in the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County Criminal Division at No. CP-35-CR-0001831-2004 | |
| Before: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J., KLEIN, J. AND McEWEN, P.J.E. | |
| Opinion by: KLEIN, J. | |
| Dissenting Statement by: FORD ELLIOT, P.J. | |
| Michael Greene appeals from the judgment of sentence of January 14, 2009, following his conviction of one count each of aggravated assault and simple assault. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole under Pennsylvania’s “three strikes” law, after the trial court found that two prior convictions in Massachusetts qualified as “crimes of violence” as that term is defined under Pennsylvania law. However, the relevant Massachusetts statutes incorporate the kind of robberies that would not qualify for the three strikes law in Pennsylvania, as well as those that do. The robberies for which Greene was convicted under the Massachusetts statutes could have been crimes where the victim only suffered or was put in fear of only bodily injury rather than serious bodily injury, which would be a robbery under Pennsylvania law, but would not qualify as a strike for Pennsylvania’s three strikes statute. Therefore, we find that the Massachusetts unarmed robbery and assault with intent to rob statutes do not qualify as substantially similar crimes of violence to relevant Pennsylvania law. As a result, we reverse Greene’s life sentence and remand for resentencing. | |
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