Court Opinion

ID: 9713760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:21:48.344567+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:20.342651
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(concurring).
I remain of the view that “if appellant can establish that his confession was in fact unconstitutionally ob*535tained and that it induced his plea, the plea should be invalidated without a showing of incompetent advice by counsel . . Commonwealth v. Taylor, 449 Pa. 345, 355, 296 A.2d 823, 828 (1972) (dissenting opinion of Nix, J., joined by Roberts & Manderino, JJ.); see also Commonwealth v. Baity, 428 Pa. 306, 307, 237 A.2d 172, 173 (1968); Commonwealth v. Garrett, 425 Pa. 594, 597-98, 229 A.2d 922, 925 (1967); Commonwealth v. Marsh, 440 Pa. 590, 596-97, 271 A.2d 481, 485 (1970) (concurring & dissenting opinion of Roberts, J.).
However, I conclude after reviewing the record that the suppression court’s finding that appellant’s confession was, in the totality of the circumstances, a voluntary one is supported by the record. Because appellant has thus failed to establish that his guilty plea was induced by an unconstitutionally obtained confession, I concur in the result.
While concurring in the result, I agree with the observations of Mr. Justice Nix on the impropriety of considering in this proceeding the effectiveness of appellant’s counsel in the trial court.