Title: Commonwealth v. Eck

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

473 Pa. 414 (1977) 374 A.2d 1281 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William Jay ECK, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued January 18, 1977. Decided July 8, 1977. *415 Joseph C. Mesics, Public Defender, Wiley P. Parker, Lebanon, for appellant. Frederick S. Wolfson, Asst. Dist. Atty., David J. Brightbill, Asst. Dist. Atty., Thomas S. Long, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee. Before EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ. O'BRIEN, Justice. On June 30, 1975, appellant, William Jay Eck, was arrested in connection with the homicide of James Schauer. Appellant was also charged with aggravated and simple assault against Sylvia Wolfe, the decedent's girlfriend, and the kidnapping and rape of Terry White, Mrs. Wolfe's sixteen-year-old daughter. On September 9, 1975, after four jurors were selected, appellant, through his defense counsel indicated that he wished to plead guilty to the murder of James Schauer *416 and also wished to plead guilty to the simple assault of Sylvia Wolfe. The rape and kidnapping indictments were nol. prossed. After a degree-of-guilt hearing, appellant was found guilty of murder of the first degree and simple assault. On September 12, 1975, appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment in a state correctional institution.[1] This appeal followed. Appellant argues that the on-the-record colloquy failed to disclose the elements of any of the degrees of murder or voluntary manslaughter and, therefore, the colloquy did not comply with Pa.R.Crim.P. 319 and this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Ingram, 455 Pa. 198, 316 A.2d 77 (1974). We agree and reverse the judgment of sentence and remand the case for a new trial. In the instant case, the court, during the colloquy, questioned appellant as follows: *417 The above-quoted portion of the colloquy constitutes the entire discussion concerning the possible crimes appellant could be found guilty of by pleading to "murder generally." In Ingram, supra, at 203-04, 316 A.2d at 80, we stated: In the instant case, the on-the-record colloquy is devoid of any discussion of the elements of the degrees of murder and voluntary manslaughter. *418 Judgment of sentence reversed and case remanded for a new trial. JONES, former C.J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. POMEROY, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. [1] Appellant pled guilty to simple assault, and while that plea was accepted, no sentence was imposed.