Court Opinion

ID: 9737089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:15:15.228748+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:56.446449
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring.
I join the fine opinion authored by our colleague, President Judge Cirillo, but write separately to express one thought.
Our colleague, Judge Ford Elliott, expresses concern that our decision today renders illusory the discretionary judicial review regarding discoverability of the contents of the Commonwealth’s file under Rule 305. As I understand her opinion, she is concerned that the entire Commonwealth file will now, as a result of our decision, be subject to discovery. To be sure, it would seem that the entire Commonwealth file already is, and has been, subject to discovery and discoverable under the auspices of Rule 305. However, discoverability is also subject to the limitations set forth in Rule 305; that limitation being a discretionary review by the trial court of the defendant’s assertion that the documents are material to the preparation of a defense. Be that as it may, I do not view our decision today as diminishing the court’s role in the Rule 305 process, as outlined in the rule, with the notable exception of the specific subject matter at issue here. That is to say, I do not view this decision as establishing the proposition, nor am I lending the support of my vote in this case to a proposition, that the review process in general, as set forth in Rule 305, has been eliminated and an absolute right of review substituted. In short, I do not believe that either Commonwealth v. Lloyd, 523 Pa. 427, 567 A.2d 1357 (1989), or this case will allow a defense counsel an opportunity to peruse the Common*188wealth’s file prior to trial in search of information or statements counsel believes may be useful in establishing a defense.
However, with regard to the psychological reports in question, the right of review has been modified by the decision in Lloyd. Appellant made a specific request to review the psychological records of the alleged victims, and asserted error when the court refused to allow defense counsel an opportunity to review them. The Supreme Court in Lloyd, apparently unpersuaded by this court’s position set forth in Commonwealth v. Carrilion, 380 Pa.Super. 458, 552 A.2d 279 (1988), indicates that there is an absolute right to have defense counsel inspect these types of documents, and, as Judge Ford Elliott also surmises in her Dissenting Opinion, the trial court, under Lloyd, now appears to have no authority or discretion to limit the defendant’s review through its own in camera procedure. As such, it appears to me, the assertion of error was well taken.
But this absolute privilege of review set forth in Lloyd, as I read that case, extends only to the type of documents in question in Lloyd, which are also of the kind found in the present case. I do not see Lloyd as applying to everything contained in the Commonwealth’s file. I also do not see as viable an approach that would change the standard of review or right of defense counsel to review these documents based upon the manner that the request was made, or turning upon who had possession at the time the request was made. By this I mean that I do not perceive the fact that the request in this case was made in a Rule 305 motion, when the Commonwealth possessed the files in question, whereas in Lloyd a subpoena was served on the hospital in possession, as somehow conceding the absolute reviewability of these documents established in Lloyd and in its place substituting the discretionary standard set forth in the rule. I believe that the absolute reviewability status would remain even though requested under a Rule 305 motion. After all, the right of defense counsel to review these *189documents resulted from a specific holding and is grounded heavily in constitutional rights, whereas the discretionary review set forth in Rule 305 is a general standard governing requests under the rule. I believe under these circumstances the specific would govern over the general. However, this is where I appear to part company with my colleague, Judge Ford Elliott and join the Opinion authored by President Judge Cirillo.