Court Opinion

ID: 9767402
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:18:52.62029+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:31.030472
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I join the Majority in its conclusion that to invoke jurisdiction under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa. C.S.A. §§ 9541 et seq., a defendant must be “currently serving a sentence of imprisonment, probation or parole” at the time a petition for relief is filed. I specifically do not join that portion of the Majority’s discussion which would conclude that a properly filed petition which is delayed by the court for years becomes moot when a petitioner is released from custody.
I agree with the dissenting views of my colleagues Judge Cirillo and Judge Cavanaugh, to the extent that they conclude there are collateral consequences to a conviction which continue despite that fact that a defendant has completed serving the sentence imposed. In Commonwealth v. Pierce, 397 Pa.Super. 126, 579 A.2d 963 (1990) and Commonwealth v. Hayes, 408 Pa.Super. 68, 596 A.2d 195 (1991), we concluded that a PCRA petition filed after completion of the sentence is correctly dismissed as moot. However, we did not reach the precise issue now before us.
*144It has been held, in a civil context, that where one of the parties to a controversy continues to suffer some detriment from a lower court decision, an appeal will usually be heard. Janet D. v. Carros, 240 Pa.Super. 291, 362 A.2d 1060 (1976). In my view this same analysis should apply and prevent the instant petitions from being considered moot. The potential for collateral consequences in these cases is real. Thus, a petition which is jurisdictionally sound, because it was filed during a period when the petitioner was “currently serving” a sentence, should not be rendered moot just because the petitioner later completed the service of that sentence before the petition was adjudicated. The delay between the filing of the petition and a later adjudication is, in most instances, not caused by the petitioner but rather, by the court. Because of this fact, the existence of collateral consequences, and the potential for abuse I believe it improper to consider these matters moot.
In instances where a petition is filed while a petitioner is “serving a sentence,” jurisdiction is conferred on the court and it should decide the merits of the petition irrespective of whether the petitioner has completed serving the sentence.