Commonwealth v. Dickson

OPINION

Justice BAER.

We are asked to consider whether the sentencing enhancement codified at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9712, which imposes a mandatory sentence enhancement on a person who visibly possesses a firearm or firearm replica during the commission of a crime of violence,1 applies to an unarmed co-conspirator to the underlying crime where his accomplice brandishes a firearm during the commission of the offense. Before reaching the merits, however, we must determine whether Appellant waived his challenge to § 9712 by failing to raise it first in the trial court. We find that Appellant preserved the…