Opinion ID: 1266317
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Court of Common Pleas Decision

Text: On April 12, 1996, Simmons filed a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to Pennsylvania's Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. §§ 9541 et seq., in the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Criminal Division (the PCRA court). Among his other claims, Simmons raised the Commonwealth's alleged Brady violations as grounds for granting his petition. After holding a series of evidentiary hearings, the PCRA court rejected this line of argument, concluding that Pletcher had voluntarily agreed to cooperate in the electronic surveillance; that the gun charge evidence, even if disclosed, would not have altered the outcome of the trial because of the other evidence implicating Simmons in Knaze's murder; that the lab report regarding forensic evidence of Cobaugh's assault was inconclusive rather than exculpatory; and that even if Cobaugh's testimony were impeached by evidence of her initial failure to identify Simmons from a mug book, it would not have been enough to overcome the other successful identifications by Cobaugh and other witnesses. The PCRA court therefore denied Simmons's petition. Simmons appealed that decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.