Title: Commonwealth v. Dilbeck

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

466 Pa. 543 (1976) 353 A.2d 824 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Buford DILBECK, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued November 12, 1974. Decided March 17, 1976. *544 Richard H. Anderson, Media, for appellant. Stephen J. McEwen, Jr., Dist. Atty., Ralph B. D'Iorio, Asst. Dist. Atty., Media, for appellee. Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ. MANDERINO, Justice. This direct appeal from judgments of sentence for murder in the second degree and conspiracy was previously before this Court. At that time, appellant's counsel, who was also trial counsel, filed a brief with this Court. Appellant, Buford Dilbeck, pro se, also, submitted a brief challenging the effectiveness of his counsel's assistance both at trial and in the then pending appeal. We agreed with appellant that his counsel's appellate brief did not meet the requirements of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S. Ct. 1396, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967) and Commonwealth v. Baker, 429 Pa. 209, 239 A.2d 201 (1968). Since appellant had also raised the issue of the same counsel's effective assistance at trial, we remanded the matter for the appointment of new counsel, unless waived by appellant on remand, and ordered new counsel, if appointed, to file a new brief and argue this appeal. See Commonwealth v. Dilbeck, 455 Pa. 113, 314 A.2d 505 (1974). Subsequent to our remand, new counsel was appointed and now represents appellant in this appeal. Several issues are raised including a claim that the trial court failed to comply with Rule 319(a) of the *545 Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure in accepting appellant's plea of guilty to murder generally. Appellant contends that the trial court's pre-plea examination was deficient since it failed to elicit the information required by the Rule which was in effect at the time of the plea. Specifically, appellant charges that the colloquy failed to establish that the appellant understood the nature of the charges to which he was pleading guilty. We agree and therefore reverse. Although a colloquy appears of record prior to the acceptance of the guilty plea, there was no inquiry to determine whether the appellant understood the nature of the charges to which he pleaded guilty. An examination of the colloquy discloses the following concerning the charges: The above inquiry does not meet the requirements of Rule 319(a), which was in effect at the time of appellant's *546 plea on April 15, 1971. In Commonwealth v. Ingram, 455 Pa. 198, 316 A.2d 77 (1974), under almost identical circumstances, we invalidated the trial court's acceptance of a guilty plea entered on June 18, 1971, saying, Appellant here was told simply that his guilty plea was to a charge of murder generally and conspiracy to murder, and that, if accepted, a degree of guilt hearing would be held at which he could be found guilty of either murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, or voluntary manslaughter. No effort was made to explain the elements of any of these crimes. Nor does the record show that appellant understood their nature. No *547 mention was made of the element of the crime of murder known as "malice." The Comments to Rule 319(a) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure recommend that "at a minimum the judge asked questions to elicit the following information:" We reiterate here what was said in Ingram, supra, at 204-205, 316 A.2d at 81: "Adherence to [the guidelines set out in the Comments to Rule 319(a)] will serve to protect the rights of defendants while simultaneously facilitating appellate review." Failure to satisfy these minimal requirements will result in reversal. Commonwealth v. Schork, 467 Pa. ____, 356 A.2d 355 (1976); Commonwealth v. Miner, 467 Pa. ____, 356 A.2d 346 (1976). *548 In light of our decision on this issue, we need not now consider the other questions raised on this appeal. Reversed and remanded for a new trial. JONES, C.J., and EAGEN and POMEROY, JJ., dissent.