Title: Commonwealth v. Triplett

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

467 Pa. 510 (1976) 359 A.2d 392 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Dwight TRIPLETT, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Submitted January 12, 1976. Decided July 6, 1976. James J. Phelan, Philadelphia, for appellant. F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, Dist. Atty., Steven H. Goldblatt, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chief, Appeals Div., for appellee. Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ. PER CURIAM. On October 2, 1974, appellant filed an uncounseled petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act, Act of January 23, 1966, P.L. 1580, 19 P.S. §§ 1180-1 et seq., *511 alleging inter alia, that he had involuntarily entered a plea of guilty to a charge of murder in the second degree. In his petition appellant further alleged that he was unable to pay the costs of the proceedings and requested the court to appoint counsel to represent him. On January 7, 1975, the petition was summarily dismissed without appointment of counsel and without a hearing. Appellant has not previously sought post-conviction relief from the judgment of sentence entered pursuant to his guilty plea. This Court recently held in Commonwealth v. Adams, 465 Pa. 389, 350 A.2d 820 (1976), that: Commonwealth v. Adams, 465 Pa. 389, 391, 350 A.2d 820, 822 (1976). Because the summary disposition of Triplett's petition without the appointment of counsel is at variance with our decision in Adams, we remand the record to the trial court to determine whether Triplett's request for the appointment of counsel should be granted and to allow any requested amendments to the pending petition. It is so ordered.