Court Opinion

ID: 9651716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:32:24.897979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:37.882155
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring.
I concur only in the result because the majority inadvertently misapplied Pa.R.Crim.P. 23.
The Rule provides the following:
Rule 23. Continuous Availability and Temporary Assignment of Issuing Authorities.
(a) The president judge of each judicial district shall be responsible for insuring the availability at all times within his judicial district of at least one issuing authority.
(b) The president judge may assign temporarily the issuing authority of any magisterial district to serve another magisterial district whenever such assignment is needed to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (a), to insure fair and impartial proceedings, or otherwise for the efficient administration of justice. One or more issuing authorities may be so assigned to serve one or more magisterial districts.
(c) Whenever a temporary assignment is made under this Rule, notice of such assignment shall be filed with the clerk of the court of common pleas where it shall be available for police agencies and other interested persons.
(d) A motion may be filed requesting a temporary assignment under paragraph (b) on the ground that the assignment is needed to insure fair and impartial proceed*288ings. Reasonable notice and opportunity to respond shall be provided to the parties.
(emphasis added).
As the note to Pa.R.Crim.P. 23 indicates, temporary assignment in this situation is intended to cover what might otherwise be referred to as “change of venue” at the district justice level. The language of this rule, enacted to insure fair and impartial proceedings, mandates that the rule be applied as a preliminary matter. This comports with Pa.R.Crim.P. 25(a), which provides that “objections to venue between magisterial districts shall be raised in the Court of Common Pleas ... before completion of the preliminary hearing ... or such objections shall be deemed to have been waived.”
In the case sub judice, the Commonwealth did not file a motion pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 23 until after appellant’s preliminary hearing. Other than to avoid an undesirable result, the Commonwealth offers no basis for requesting a temporary assignment. There being no evidence of record to support the Commonwealth’s request for temporary assignment of issuing authority to insure a fair and impartial proceeding, the president judge abused his discretion in granting the Commonwealth’s motion.
Furthermore, the Commonwealth failed initially to avail itself of the opportunity to remove all doubt as to the fairness and impartiality of the proceeding by petitioning the Court of Common Pleas to have a judge sit as the committing magistrate. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 931.
For these reasons, I concur in the majority’s disposition of this appeal.