372 Pa. Super. 365 539 A.2d 838

539 A.2d 838

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Joseph GRAHAM, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Sept. 14, 1987.

Filed March 14, 1988.

*366Edward R. Eidelman, Public Defender, Allentown, for appellant.

William H. Platt, District Attorney, Allentown, for Com., appellee.

Before OLSZEWSKI, KELLY and MONTGOMERY, JJ.

KELLY, Judge:

Appellant, Joseph Graham, appeals from judgment of sentence imposed upon his convictions of terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person. We deny allowance of appeal of the discretionary aspects of sentence.

On May 2,1986, the appellant was found guilty of terroristic threats (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2706) and of recklessly endan*367gering another person (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2765) following a jury trial. No post-trial motions were filed. Sentencing was scheduled for June 16, 1986. On that date, the public defender representing appellant sought a continuance on the grounds that he feared that the pre-sentence report prepared by the Lehigh County Probation Office was prejudicial to appellant because appellant had once threatened one of its officers with a firearm. The public defender requested that instead of using the Lehigh County Probation Office’s report, a new report be drawn up by the state probation office. The trial judge granted a continuance but did not order that a second report be submitted to the court. On August 26, 1986, a second sentencing hearing was conducted following which appellant was sentenced to a term of two (2) to five (5) years imprisonment in a state correctional facility. Thereafter, appellant filed a timely motion to reconsider sentence which was denied by the trial court. This appeal followed.

Appellant raises two contentions on appeal: (1) the trial judge failed to properly articulate on the record sufficient reasons for the sentence imposed; and (2) the trial judge abused its discretion by improperly relying on a prejudicial pre-sentence investigation report, when an impartial source was available. Both contentions involve challenges to the discretionary aspects of sentence.1

*368Appellant has made no attempt to comply with Pa.R.A.P. 2119(f) as required by Commonwealth v. Tuladziecki, 513 Pa. 508, 522 A.2d 17 (1987). See Commonwealth v. Darden, 366 Pa.Super. 597, 600-605, 531 A.2d 1144, 1146-48. Though this Court has the authority to direct counsel to supplement the brief to cure the defect (see Commonwealth v. Zeitlen, 366 Pa.Super. 78, 530 A.2d 900 (1987)), we decline to do so in the instant case. Review of the record and appellant’s brief reveals the complete absence of a substantial question as to the adequacy of the statement of reasons for the sentence imposed2 or as to the appropriateness of sentence imposed considering the Sentencing Code as a whole {see 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9781(b), 9781(c)).3 We see no reason to delay disposition of this appeal to compel submission of a Pa.R.A.P. 2119(f) statement which inevita*369bly would be found to fail to raise the appearance of a substantial question as to the appropriateness of the sentence imposed. We note that the emphasis in Commonwealth v. Tuladziecki, supra, is on precise compliance with the procedural rules before granting allowance of appeal; the same precision would not appear to be necessary to a disposition denying allowance of appeal. See Commonwealth v. Pickford, 370 Pa.Super. 444, 459, 536 A.2d 1348, 1356 (1987) (Kelly, J., concurring and dissenting); Commonwealth v. Zeitlen, supra, 366 Pa.Superior Ct. at 87, 530 A.2d at 905 (Kelly, J., joining and concurring).

CONCLUSION

Based upon the foregoing, allowance of appeal of the discretionary aspects of sentence is denied.

MONTGOMERY, J., concurs in the result.

Commonwealth v. Graham
372 Pa. Super. 365 539 A.2d 838

Case Details

Name
Commonwealth v. Graham
Decision Date
Mar 14, 1988
Citations

372 Pa. Super. 365

539 A.2d 838

Jurisdiction
Pennsylvania

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