Court Opinion

ID: 9761421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:42:31.307947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:23.644782
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the opinion of Mr. Justice Nix except to the extent that it relies on Lennox v. Clark, 372 Pa. 355, 93 A.2d 834 (1953), and suggests that a district attorney represents the sovereign in some way different from the public defender. Both the district attorney and the public defender are mandated by the sovereign to see that justice is done within the established rules of fairness. The district attorney, like the public defender, should not be controlled by anyone. The sovereign’s interest is served just as much when the public defender properly performs his duties as it is when the district attorney properly performs his. Both are independent entities whose duty is to see that the accused is treated fairly.