Court Opinion

ID: 9694422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:41:10.104451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:09:14.593451
License: Public Domain

Justice CASTILLE,
concurring.
I concur in the result. In my view, there is a middle ground between the Majority Opinion and the Concurring and Dissenting Opinion, and that middle ground is consistent with both the plain language of Pa.R.Crim.P. 647, and the practicalities of jury trials. As I read the Rule, a post-charge objection is certainly required where the objection is based upon the content of the charge which has just been given. This is a sensible requirement. An objection to the charge as given ripens only after it has actually been given; it is only then that the party will know if the judge has followed earlier charging indications, or has misspoken, or has inadvertently omitted an expected or agreed upon point. Where, however, a specific point for charge is requested in advance of charging the jury, and the court indicates that it is not going to charge on that area at all, and the court keeps its word, I do not believe that the plain language of the Rule requires (nor should any such rule require) a redundant objection upon pain of waiver.
The trial court may reject a forwarded point for charge for a variety of reasons. It may believe that the subject of the charge, while a proper matter for the jury in an appropriate case, is not properly at issue in the case at bar. Or, the court may believe that a specific charge in the area is not required to guide the jury in any case (because it is a matter of common knowledge, or because the point would be argumentative, etc.). Or, the court may believe that, although the subject of the proffered charge is appropriate, the party’s *634specific formulation is inaccurate, slanted, or incomplete, and the court intends to cover the point in its own form of the charge; the court, of course, is generally not required to employ certain “magic words.” By the same token, a party may deem itself aggrieved by a charge as given for two very different reasons: (1) because the court did not address an issue at all, leaving the jury with no guidance; or (2) because, although the court addressed the issue, its charge was inaccurate, slanted, or incomplete.
There certainly are instances—and apparently this case represents two such instances—where a pre-charge request for an instruction and a post-charge objection would be redundant and pointless. Here, appellant requested a missing evidence instruction and an instruction that the jury could convict him of a non-charged offense. The court rejected both charges outright, not based upon the form of the points forwarded or the language proposed, but because it deemed neither issue an appropriate one to inject into the jury’s deliberations at all. The court apparently kept its word, not addressing either issue, and a post-charge objection would have been redundant. In my view, Rule 647(B) does not require a post-charge renewal of objection in such an instance. That Rule speaks to the necessity of a post-charge objection where the objection concerns “portions of the charge” or “omissions therefrom.” The objection here, already clearly and completely made, was that the jury will not hear the point covered at all. There is no defective “portion” of the charge or “omission” from it.
On the other hand, there are instances where the content of the court’s charge as delivered gives rise to an objection that is different in substance from any objection that could have been forwarded at the pre-charge stage. For example, the court may agree to issue a requested point, but then misspeak in the delivery. An objection should be forwarded; the court can cure the alleged error immediately. Or, the court may reject a party’s points for charge as written, while noting an intention to cover the same points in its own form of expression. A post-charge objection should be made, explaining how *635the court’s form of expression, as actually delivered, was erroneous under the law. Or, the court may reject a proffered point outright, only to reconsider and then address the issue in its own language during the charge. Again, a post-charge objection should be forwarded, specifically explaining how the charge as given was erroneous.
In short, the answer to the question of whether a post-charge objection is required, in instances where a point for charge has been rejected, is: it depends. I recognize that there is some salutary benefit in the Majority’s bright-line rule, and the careful practitioner should always err on the side of repeating an objection, even if the charge as given raises no issue different from what existed at the time of the rejected charge proffer.1 Nevertheless, where nothing has happened in the actual charge to the jury to diminish the force and accuracy of the existing objection represented by a rejected point for charge, it seems to me to be harsh and unnecessary to deem the claim defaulted.
In the case sub judice, the Court holds that no waiver occurred. I agree, but for different reasons: I see no need under the Rule for appellant to have forwarded a post-charge objection where, as here, the court did not address the requested topics at all. Hence it is that I concur in the result.

. I respectfully disagree with the suggestion in the Concurring and Dissenting Opinion that a repeated objection risks ‘'alienating” the trial judge. It should not alienate a trial judge that a lawyer seeks to protect his client’s interest; and I trust in the professionalism of our trial judges to recognize what is an exercise of prudent caution and not to react adversely thereto.