Court Opinion

ID: 9697377
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:15:10.101869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:31.664751
License: Public Domain

BECK, Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding appellee-defendant a new trial based on after-discovered evidence. Applying the after-discovered evidence test to the evidence upon which defendant based his PCRA petition, the PCRA court properly concluded that the *489new witness’ testimony (1) was unavailable at the time of trial, (2) did not merely corroborate other defense evidence presented at trial, (3) did not merely impeach the Commonwealth’s evidence, and (4) would have affected the outcome if introduced at trial by resulting in defendant’s conviction of a lesser degree of homicide. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2)(vi); Commonwealth v. Schuck, 401 Pa. 222, 229, 164 A.2d 13 (1960), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 884, 82 S.Ct. 138, 7 L.Ed.2d 188 (1961).
I point out, however, that this case expands the use of after-discovered evidence into virgin territory. In the cases cited by the majority as controlling this case, the after-discovered evidence independently and reliably corroborated the defense theory presented at trial. In Commonwealth v. Cooney, 444 Pa. 416, 282 A.2d 29 (1971), a bullet removed from the petitioner’s head after his murder trial corroborated his defense that he was injured and the victim was unintentionally killed in a struggle over a gun, and in Commonwealth v. Bulted, 443 Pa. 422, 279 A.2d 158 (1971), the testimony of a witness, the wife’s paramour, corroborated the defendant’s account of the heated marital dispute which lead to his wife’s unintended death after they struggled over the gun with which she attempted to shoot defendant. Similarly, in Commonwealth v. Valderrama, 479 Pa. 500, 388 A.2d 1042 (1978), misfiled social security records corroborated the defendant’s alibi defense.
Here, the after-discovered evidence which warrants a new trial is inconsistent with the defense theory as presented at trial. At trial, the defense pursued was misidentification: trial counsel challenged the Commonwealth witnesses’ identifications of defendant as the person who shot the victim. The after-discovered witness contradicts that theory. Defendant now admits he was the shooter, and relies on the after-discovered witness to show that his actions which caused the victim’s death were not premeditated. I am concerned that the ruling in this case makes possible hindsight justice; our decision suggests that the courts will permit a convicted defendant to rethink the theory of his unsuccessful defense and request relief based on a different defense theory which will be supported by a witness unavailable at the time of trial.
*490I point out that defendants will not likely succeed in obtaining collateral relief based upon such new theories inconsistent with their trial defenses. In this case the evidence supporting the grant of relief is most compelling. The PCRA court made two crucial credibility determinations: that the after-discovered witness’ testimony was reliable and that the defendant did not have the opportunity to tell his story' to the court at the original trial because of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness for presenting a misidentification defense rather than investigating and presenting defendant’s known account of the circumstances of the victim’s unintended death.1
Under these narrow circumstances, the PCRA mandate that the outcome of the first trial was unreliable was satisfied.

. Indeed, trial counsel’s zealous impeachment of these witnesses’ testimony supported the Supreme Court's conclusion that defendant was not prejudiced by the Commonwealth’s failure to disclose the names and identities of these witnesses before trial. Commonwealth v. Bonacurso, 500 Pa. 247, 455 A.2d 1175, 1178-79 (1983). The Supreme Court noted, however, that its conclusion on this issue did not "compel a conclusion that defense counsel is not ineffective for failing to take action on the basis of information relating to witnesses of which he is unaware, (citations omitted).” Id., 455 A.2d at 1179 n. 7.