Court Opinion

ID: 9756083
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 21:06:33.9685+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:14.594665
License: Public Domain

*114WICKERSHAM, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent. On May 19, 1978, while represented by counsel, appellant entered a plea of guilty to the charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Before sentencing, he entered two other counseled guilty pleas to charges of attempted robbery and escape. On February 7, 1979, appellant filed a pro se petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act and a hearing was held thereon May 4, 1979. Basically, appellant maintained that he was unaware of his right to withdraw his guilty pleas. The majority now holds that the case be remanded to permit appellant to withdraw his guilty pleas because he was not adequately advised of the consequences of failing to file a petition to withdraw the guilty pleas.
A valid waiver of the right to petition to withdraw a guilty plea requires that appellant be advised of “the right to petition to withdraw his guilty plea, of the right to the assistance of counsel in filing such a petition, and of the consequences of not filing such a petition.” Commonwealth v. Johnson, 258 Pa.Super. 214, 217, 392 A.2d 760, 762 (1978). Read together, the two paragraphs of the sentencing colloquy cited in the majority’s opinion clearly demonstrate that the sentencing judge’s colloquy complied with these requirements. The majority, however, would have us read these paragraphs separately and out of context with one another. Since I interpret the second paragraph to be a continuation and amplification of the first, I find the majority’s interpretation to be awkward and unrealistic.
For the foregoing reasons I would affirm the Order of The Court of Common Pleas dismissing appellant’s petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act and would refuse to give appellant leave to petition to withdraw his guilty pleas nunc pro tunc.