Commonwealth v. Simmons

I cannot join in the Majority’s rationale for disposing of the instant case. Accordingly, I submit this Dissenting Opinion as a response to the appeal from the judgment of sentence for robbery and criminal conspiracy by the appellant, Brian Simmons.

The sole issue raised for review concerns a challenge to the appellant’s inclusion into the Career Criminal Program operated by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the object of which was to curb recidivism by assigning those defendants meeting the Program’s profile of career criminals to one of three “career criminal judges”.1

*284It is the…