Commonwealth v. Mutnik

I dissent. I agree with Judge Hoffman, dissenting in the Superior Court, that a construction of § 4105 which does not require an intent to defraud, invites litigants to use the criminal justice system to collect civil debts.

The majority opinion states that appellant is not being imprisoned for being a debtor but “for intentionally disrupt*435ing the flow of and undermining the soundness of commercial paper in this Commonwealth.” Under this guise or a similar one, every civil default could be converted into a criminal offense by stating that the accused is not being imprisoned for the civil…