Schuylkill County prosecutors did not violate a Tower City man’s double jeopardy rights when they charged him with drug offenses that occurred during a search at Schuylkill County Prison, a three-judge state Superior Court panel ruled Friday.
The panel reinstated charges against Jared L. Miller, 37, of possession of a controlled substance by an inmate, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of contraband that had been dismissed by county President Judge William E. Baldwin.
Prosecutors did not have to try those reinstated charges at the same time they tried the charges stemming from the incident that resulted in Miller being arrested and brought to the prison, Judge Jacqueline O. Shogan wrote in the panel’s 11-page opinion.
“We conclude there was no substantial duplication of issues of fact or law” in the two cases, Shogan wrote.
The next time Miller could be tried on the reinstated charges is during the June criminal court term, which starts on June 6 and runs through June 14.
Baldwin had dismissed the three charges on Sept. 3, 2015, ruling that they arose from the same criminal episode as, and should have been tried with, the charges that led to Miller’s arrest.
Shogan wrote that under state law, charges must be logically related in order for the constitutional ban on double jeopardy to bar separate prosecutions. A logical relationship depends upon the time the crimes are allegedly committed and the necessary proof for each set of crimes, she wrote.
That logical relationship does not exist in this situation, Shogan wrote.
“Here, different evidence was required to establish the offenses alleged in each case,” she wrote. “The first incident occurred at 9:30 a.m. and involved a traffic stop where (Miller) was a passenger. The second incident occurred seven hours later at 5 p.m. and involved (Miller’s) intake at the Schuylkill County Prison.”
Furthermore, the witnesses in the cases are different and the second incident involved Miller’s status as a prison inmate, which did not exist in the first incident, according to Shogan.
“Thus, the two prosecutions did not arise from the same criminal episode” and did not need to be tried together, she wrote.
Miller already has been tried and sentenced on charges arising from the traffic stop.
Judge Alice Beck Dubow and President Judge Emeritus Correale F. Stevens, the other panel members, joined in Shogan’s opinion.