Court Opinion

ID: 9761574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:46:09.30385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:24.637913
License: Public Domain

PRICE, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result solely in the interest of judicial economy. Commonwealth v. Johnson, 258 Pa.Super. 214, 392 A.2d 760 (1978); Commonwealth v. Turner, 255 Pa.Super. 506, 388 A.2d 343 (1978); Commonwealth v. Marzik, 255 Pa.Super. 500, 388 A.2d 340 (1978); are a mere sampling of the cases which have provided this court en banc with the opportunity to determine whether we should inquire, sua sponte, into the adequacy of the lower court’s instructions to the defendant on the proper procedure for withdrawal of a plea. Rather than clarifying the law on the issue, most of the cases resulted in affirmance by an evenly divided court.
Commonwealth v. Castner, 260 Pa.Super. 399, 394 A.2d 988 (1978); and Commonwealth v. Heeman, 260 Pa.Super. 79, 393 A.2d 1021 (1978), two of the most recent en banc *163decisions on this issue, appeared to settle the matter. Those cases held that failure to comply with Commonwealth v. Roberts, 237 Pa.Super. 336, 352 A.2d 140 (1978), when not validly explained by an appellant, resulted in automatic waiver of the plea’s validity; no sua sponte review of the court’s instructions would be conducted at the appellate level.
Commonwealth v. Phillips, 264 Pa.Super. 174, 399 A.2d 723 (1979), is a panel case in which, by a 2-1 split, the panel decided this crucial issue, which for so long divided the court en banc, contrary to the full court’s most recent pronouncements in Castner and Heeman. I cannot accept their rationale.
Be that as it may, in this appeal and under the procedural posture here presented, I have no difficulty finding that all aspects of the problem have been properly brought directly to the attention of the court below. This is truly the test that must be applied when considering application of a waiver doctrine. Under the circumstances here, I cannot in conscience apply waiver although I do not retreat from my previously expressed opinions in this regard.
I join in the reversal and remand for trial.