Court Opinion

ID: 9646902
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:15:31.932144+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:43.523795
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result which has been reached by the majority. I do not dispute the majority’s resolution of either issue on the merits. I write separately only to indicate my position that the second contention on appeal pertaining to prosecutorial misconduct has not been properly preserved below.
The procedure for objecting to allegedly improper remarks, so as to preserve the objection as an assignment of error for purposes of post-trial motions and appeal, is well established in Pennsylvania. The complaining counsel must call the court’s attention to the objectionable language by requesting the withdrawal of a juror, or, in the alternative, a remedial instruction to the jury. If the court elects to give a remedial instruction, and counsel still feels that the taint created by the improper remarks has not been removed, he must then renew his objection, and again request the withdrawal of a juror; he cannot “by his silence, be permitted to leave the impression that he is satisfied with *559the court’s action in the premises, and, after the rendition of an adverse verdict, have the verdict set aside, or the judgment reversed by the appellate court.” Libengood v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 358 Pa. 7, 11, 55 A.2d 756, 758 (1947); also see Springer v. County of Allegheny, 401 Pa. 557, 165 A.2d 383 (1960) and Commonwealth v. Rough, 275 Pa.Super. 50, 61 n. 5, 418 A.2d 605, 611 n. 5 (1980).
The record below reveals that counsel for appellant did not object to the curative remarks included in the trial court’s jury instructions as insufficient to cure the prejudice created by the prosecutor’s allegedly objectionable statements. Moreover, the trial court’s decision to address the merits of this issue in its opinion does not excuse the failure of counsel to make the appropriate objection. This court has held that the failure to properly preserve an issue for purposes of appellate review is not excused where the trial court has chosen to render a decision on the merits anyway. See Commonwealth v. Gregory, 309 Pa.Super. 529, 455 A.2d 1210 (1983).
Hence, I would hold that appellant’s second contention on appeal has been waived, despite the trial court’s decision to address the merits of the issue in its opinion.