Pennsylvania v. Baker (majority)
Annotate this CaseAppellant was first convicted of possession of child pornography in 2001. That conviction resulted in a sentence of five years’ intermediate punishment which Appellant completed in September 2006. In January 2007, the police received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Appellant had sent and received images of child pornography by computer. Appellant was arrested and arraigned on child pornography charges for a second time. The Commonwealth, although not required to do so at that point in the proceedings, informed Appellant that if convicted, he would be subject to a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence under the provisions of the Sentencing Code. At issue in this discretionary appeal before the Supreme Court was whether the 25-year mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment imposed for Appellant’s second conviction of possessing child pornography was grossly disproportionate to the crime and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Court determined that the punishment was not grossly disproportionate to the crime and, accordingly, affirmed.
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