HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-3184 Civil (2)
ROBERT CHARLES : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
REISINGER, : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Petitioner :
:
v. : CIVIL ACTION-LAW
:
DONALD KELCHNER and :
KATHERINE McVEY, :
Respondents : No. 07-3184 CIVIL TERM
IN RE: PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
BEFORE OLER, J.
OPINION and ORDER OF COURT
OLER, J., July 5, 2007,
Petitioner is currently incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Camp
Hill, serving a three year maximum sentence of imprisonment. The instant petition
alleges that the Petitioner has completed more than the maximum sentence and that the
above-named Respondents, Donald Kelchner, Superintendent of the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections, and Katherine McVey, Chairperson of the Pennsylvania
Board of Probation and Parole, have miscalculated his time served and therefore are
unlawfully imprisoning him. Petitioner asks this Court to issue an order immediately
releasing him from imprisonment.
For the reasons stated in this opinion, Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Habeas
Corpus will be denied, without prejudice to his right to file a similar petition in a court
with jurisdiction to hear the matter.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The facts alleged in the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus are as follows:
On February 10, 2001, Petitioner was arrested in Snyder County and charged with
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theft by deception. On June 13, 2001, Petitioner pled guilty to those charges and was
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Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, filed May 30, 2007, 2 (hereinafter Petition at ____).
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sentenced to one to three years imprisonment in a state correctional institution.
Petitioner was first paroled on this charge on April 1, 2002, and this parole was revoked
by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (PBPP) on November 11, 2003,
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because of his arrest on a charge of driving under the influence in Cumberland County.
Petitioner was reparoled on July 8, 2004, but this parole was revoked on November 14,
2005, because of Petitioner’s conviction in Cumberland County of the abovementioned
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DUI charge, and based on technical parole violations. Petitioner was reparoled on
September 19, 2006, and this parole was revoked on January 26, 2007, because of a
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technical violation.
Petitioner has sent letters to the Respondents, as has a Cumberland County
attorney on his behalf, asserting that Petitioner has served more than his maximum
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sentence and should be immediately released.
DISSCUSSION
Although Petitioner has titled the petition sub judice as a petition for writ of
habeas corpus, a more correct title would appear to be a petition for writ of mandamus.
See McMahon v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, 504 Pa.
240, 241, 470 A.2d 1337, 1337 (1983).
In any event, this court lacks jurisdiction to hear the petition. Section 763(a) of
the Judicial Code provides as follows:
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(a)General Rule.---Except as provided in subsection (c), the Commonwealth
Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of appeals from final orders of
government agencies in the following cases:
2
Petition at 2.
3
Petition at 3.
4
Id.
5
Petition at 3-4.
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Petition at 4-5.
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(1)All appeals from Commonwealth agencies under Subchapter A of Chapter
7 of Title 2 (relating to judicial review of Commonwealth agency action)
or otherwise and including appeals from the Board of Claims, the
Environmental Hearing Board, the Pennsylvania Public Utility
Commission, the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review and
from any other Commonwealth agency having Statewide jurisdiction.
(2)All appeals jurisdiction of which is vested in the Commonwealth Court by
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any statute hereafter enacted.
In the instant case, the PBPP is a Commonwealth agency with statewide
jurisdiction and thus jurisdiction to hear the Petitioner’s claim lies with the
Commonwealth Court. See McMahon, 504 Pa. at 241, 470 A.2d at 1337; St. Clair v.
Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, 89 Pa. Commw. 561, 565-
67, 493 A.2d 146, 150-51 (1985). In St. Clair, the Court found that “claims by parolees
for time credit are properly addressed to [the Commonwealth Court’s] appellate
jurisdiction under 42 Pa.C.S. § 763.” 89 Pa. Commw. at 567, 493 A.2d at 151.
Therefore, claims alleging that the PBPP erred in computing terms of imprisonment or
calculating time credits implicate the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court. Id. For
this reason, Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus will be denied without
prejudice.
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Subsection (c) lists the instances where the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the courts of common
pleas would have exclusive jurisdiction. The two instances in which the courts of common pleas have
exclusive jurisdiction involve certain appeals from actions of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. See generally Act of April 28, 1978, P.L. 202, § 10(12),
as amended, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 933(a).
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Act of July 9, 1976, P.L. 586, § 2, as amended, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 763(a).
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ORDER OF COURT
th
AND NOW, this 5 day of July, 2007, upon consideration of the Petitioner’s
petition for writ of habeas corpus, and for the reasons stated in the accompanying
opinion, the Petition is denied without prejudice.
BY THE COURT,
s/ J. Wesley Oler, Jr.
J. Wesley Oler, Jr., J.
Robert C. Reisinger, Petitioner, ES0151
SCI – Camp Hill
P. O. Box 200
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0200
Donald Kelchner, Respondent
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
SCI – Camp Hill
2520 Lisburn Road
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598
Katherine McVey, Respondent
Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole
1101 South Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2519
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