Pennsylvania v. Edwards (majority)
Annotate this CaseIn August 2015, just before 7:00 p.m., a tan 2004 Ford Mercury Grand Marquis occupied by a single male driver travelled at a high rate of speed and struck a moving vehicle occupied by two adults and one child in a residential neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. After hitting numerous parked cars, witnesses saw this same vehicle strike a six-year-old child who had been riding her bike and playing on the sidewalk near her home located within the same block. The force of this collision sent the child flying into the air and landing head first in a neighbor’s side garden. The driver was then observed unsuccessfully attempting to escape by driving the vehicle into another parked car, which blocked his exit. The driver was seen immediately thereafter leaping from the driver’s side of the car and running on foot away from the path of destruction he caused. Appellant Mark Edwards was identified as the driver; he was found guilty on all charges, which included one count of aggravated assault, and one count of recklessly endangering another person ("REAP"). Appellant was sentenced to an aggregate term of ten to twenty-five years' imprisonment. Among other things, Appellant argued his sentence for aggravated assault and REAP should have merged if: (1) the two offenses met the elements test set out in 42 Pa.C.C. 9756; and (2) assuming arguendo the elements test was not met, Section 9756 was unconstitutional on its face and as applied, as it conflicted with the Pennsylvania judicial test for merger and violated separation of powers and double jeopardy rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution. Since the Superior Court abided by the language of the statute, it did not, as both Appellant and the Commonwealth suggested, "construe the statute in an overly broad manner to bar merger," the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s decision.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.