Title: Com. v. Wilson
Citation: 393 A.2d 1141, 482 Pa. 350
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: October 5, 1978

482 Pa. 350 (1978) 393 A.2d 1141 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Michael WILSON, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Submitted January 19, 1978. Decided October 5, 1978. Reconsideration and Oral Argument Denied November 20, 1978. *351 Allan M. Dabrow, Philadelphia, for appellant. *352 F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, Dist. Atty., Steven Goldblatt, Deputy Dist. Atty. for Law, Philadelphia, for appellee. Before EAGEN, C.J., and O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX, MANDERINO and LARSEN, JJ. O'BRIEN, Justice. Appellant, Michael Wilson, was convicted by a jury of murder of the first degree for the shooting death of Gregory Davis. Post-verdict motions were denied and a direct appeal was filed to this court where we affirmed by an equally-divided court. Commonwealth v. Wilson, 463 Pa. 1, 329 A.2d 881 (1974). Counsel told appellant he would file a petition for reargument; however, no such petition was filed within the required time. Appellant subsequently filed a pro se petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act (PCHA).[1] Counsel was appointed and an amended PCHA petition was filed. Following a hearing, the court below granted appellant permission to file a petition for reargument nunc pro tunc,[2] but denied all other requested relief. Appellant now appeals from that portion of the order denying relief. Appellant claims that he has been denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. For reasons hereinafter stated, we do not believe appellant is entitled to relief. In Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 604-05, 235 A.2d 349, 352 (1967), we stated: As a corollary, counsel is not ineffective for failing to raise baseless or frivolous issues. Commonwealth v. Rice, 456 Pa. 90, 318 A.2d 705 (1974). It is with this standard in mind that we must review appellant's allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. Appellant first claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to portions of the prosecutor's closing remarks, which appellant believed to be inflammatory. The comments concern appellant's failure to take the stand and alleged expressions of the prosecutor's personal beliefs. We believe, however, that appellant failed to preserve this question for appellate review. In his amended PCHA petition, appellant made a general allegation that trial counsel was ineffective for failing "to raise and preserve on appeal issues of inflammatory summation and other prosecution misconduct." At the hearing, appellant's counsel made no specific argument on this claim. When counsel filed a brief in support of the PCHA petition eleven days after the hearing, specific instances of alleged inflammatory summation were alluded to for the first time. Under these circumstances, we believe appellant has waived this claim. In Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, supra, 427 Pa. at 608, 235 A.2d at 354, we stated: Once a prisoner has made such a showing, the Commonwealth can, of course, call witnesses to rebut his allegations. More specifically, in this case, once appellant would have shown instances where it seemed that trial counsel should *354 have objected, the Commonwealth could then have called trial counsel to the stand to explain his failure to object, thus showing either his effectiveness or lack of effectiveness. Because of appellant's failure to allude to specific instances of inflammatory summation before the PCHA hearing, the Commonwealth never had the opportunity to call trial counsel to explain his actions. For reasons similar to this, Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974), and its progeny require a certain degree of specificity to preserve issues for appellate review, and we do not believe that such specificity was present in this case until the brief was filed. For reasons previously stated, we believe such specificity must be met before the evidentiary hearing and not after.[4] As we stated in Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 477 Pa. 274, 383 A.2d 930 (1978): Appellant next claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to portions of the trial court's charge to the jury. This point, however, was not raised in the counseled petition and is thus waived. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, supra, and Pa.R.Crim.P. 1506(4). Appellant finally claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to question prospective jurors about a possible bias they may have had about gangs and gang-related killings. Counsel did ask one juror, "How do you feel about *355 gang warfare?" The trial court sustained the prosecutor's immediate objection. In Commonwealth v. Futch, 469 Pa. 422, 426-27, 366 A.2d 246, 248 (1976), we stated: In Commonwealth v. Johnson, 452 Pa. 130, 305 A.2d 5 (1973), defense counsel proposed to ask prospective jurors if they had any prejudice against either the use of alcoholic beverages or psychiatric testimony. The court refused these questions, and we upheld the refusal, stating: As in Johnson, appellant in this case was not entitled to determine in advance a juror's attitude about gang-related incidents. As pursing this line of questioning would have been useless, counsel was not ineffective in this respect. Commonwealth v. Rice, supra. Order affirmed. MANDERINO, J., files a dissenting opinion in which ROBERTS, J., joins. MANDERINO, Justice, dissenting. I dissent. The majority holds that appellant has waived any claim that trial counsel was ineffective for not objecting *356 to certain remarks made by the assistant district attorney during closing argument to the jury. The majority asserts that appellant's post-conviction counsel failed to preserve this issue, however, the issue was specifically raised in counsel's written PCHA petition; was raised at the PCHA hearing; was briefed by appellant's post-conviction counsel and answered by the prosecution; and was considered by the PCHA court. The entire record of the trial, including the prosecutor's allegedly inflammatory remarks was incorporated by reference and made part of the record of the PCHA hearing by joint motion of counsel and acquiescence of the Court. In its Memorandum Opinion denying, in part, appellant's requested post-conviction relief, the court stated, *357 In making that decision, based on the record, the post-conviction court had not only the benefit of appellant's petition, quoted above, but also, appellant's Memorandum of Law which specifically raised the various allegedly inflammatory statements, as well as a letter from the prosecution replying to appellant's memorandum. In this letter, the prosecution did not contend that the issue was waived because not specifically raised at the hearing, but instead, addressed the merits of appellant's allegation, saying, Clearly therefore, appellant's post-conviction counsel did all that was necessary to preserve the issue for our review. Furthermore, my examination of the PCHA proceeding (including the prosecution's remarks) convinces me that trial counsel could have had no reasonable basis for failing to object to them and therefore appellant was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial. The district attorney's summation to the jury included the following statements, These remarks plainly violated our frequent admonitions against expression, by the prosecutor of a personal opinion as to the defendant's guilt or credibility, see e.g., Commonwealth v. Hubbard, 472 Pa. 259, 372 A.2d 687 (1977), as well as the prohibition against commenting on the defendant's right to remain silent and not testify at trial, see e.g., Commonwealth v. Davis, 452 Pa. 171, 305 A.2d 715 (1973). Notwithstanding these transgressions, appellant's trial counsel sat mute, neither objecting and asking for cautionary instructions, nor requesting a mistrial. Such remarks could not have failed to prejudice appellant in the eyes of the jury, and I would, therefore, reverse the judgment of sentence and order that appellant be awarded a new trial. ROBERTS, J., joins in this dissenting opinion. [1] Act of Jan. 25, 1966, P.L. 1580, § 1, 19 P.S. § 1180-1, et seq. [2] Appellant filed the petition for reargument nunc pro tunc, which we denied. [3] The Post Conviction Hearing Act provides: "If a petition alleges facts which if proven would entitle the petitioner to relief, the court shall grant a hearing which may extend only to the issues raised in the petition or answer." 19 P.S. § 1180-9. (Emphasis added.) We allude to this section because appellant advanced only legal theories until specific facts were given in the brief in support of his petition. [4] In Commonwealth v. Williams, 476 Pa. 557, 383 A.2d 503 (filed January 26, 1978), we held that an issue can be preserved for appellate review by filing post-verdict motions and then point to specific instances by either briefing or arguing those points. In Williams, however, strictly legal issues were involved with no evidentiary hearing required, and because of this fact, we believe Williams is inapposite to the instant case.