Court Opinion

ID: 9763725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:53:50.36692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:57:38.971182
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge:
This appeal is from an order denying relief under the Post Conviction Hearing Act1 where the sole allegation involved the denial of appellant’s constitutional right to representation by competent counsel. We affirm.
On May 5, 1975, appellant was arrested and charged with statutory rape, incest, and corruption of minors. Eleven days later, an appearance was entered on his behalf by an attorney from the Public Defender’s Office of Erie County. On September 8, 1975, the aforesaid attorney’s father, who was also a practicing attorney within the county and whose first and last name were the same as his Assistant Public Defender-son, was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police on a number of charges.
The arrest of the father of appellant’s then-attorney led to great publicity, including coverage by all major television stations in the Erie County area, as well as the local newspaper.
On September 11, 1975, three days after his father’s arrest and the resultant publicity, appellant’s counsel filed an Application for Continuance in this as well as twenty-five other pending cases. The basis for the Application^] was counsel’s belief that the name similarity could adversely affect the rights of his client[s] in that there could arise an inference of improper conduct on counsel’s part. Counsel believed that it would be prejudicial to the defendant to proceed to trial under the aforestated circumstances.
*72As part of his Application, counsel waived the defendant’s rights under Rule 1100 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. The defendant was not notified of counsel’s intention to present the Application nor did the defendant join therein.
Defendant was tried on November 10, 1975 (eight days after the expiration of the 180-day period) which trial resulted in a hung jury. No objection was raised at trial, by trial counsel (an Assistant Public Defender other than the counsel whose alleged ineffectiveness is here at issue). On November 26, 1975, both the defendant and his trial counsel joined in the Commonwealth’s Petition to Extend Time for Prompt Trial which petition had been prompted by the hung jury. On December 17, 1975, the lower court granted the Commonwealth’s petition and scheduled the retrial for the January 1976 term of the criminal court. Defendant was tried and found guilty of two counts of statutory rape and two counts of corruption of minors on January 14, 1976.
Following denial of post-trial motions, a PCHA petition was filed by the defendant on May 4, 1977, pro se, and an amended PCHA petition was filed by appointed counsel on August 23, 1977. The lower court sustained defendant’s claim of ineffectiveness of post-trial counsel and granted leave to defendant to perfect a direct appeal to the Superior Court.
On November 17, 1978, the Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence.2
A second PCHA petition was filed on February 8, 1979, which was dismissed without hearing on March 7, 1979. Counsel was again appointed for defendant, and a third PCHA petition was filed, pointing out that the factual allegations regarding alleged ineffectiveness of counsel in the prior petition required a hearing. An evidentiary hearing was then held and the lower court, on November 9,1979 filed its opinion and order denying relief.
*73The question posed by appellant in this second appeal is whether counsel’s unilateral waiver of defendant’s Rule 1100 rights prior to his first trial constituted ineffective representation. The standard for determining whether appellant’s prior counsel was ineffective is well established.
“. . . . [0]ur inquiry ceases and counsel’s assistance is deemed constitutionally effective once we are able to conclude that the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests. The test is not whether other alternatives were more reasonable, employing a hindsight evaluation of the record. Although weigh the alternatives we must, the balance tips in favor of a finding of effective assistance as soon as it is determined that trial counsel’s decision had any reasonable basis.” Commonwealth v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 604-605, 235 A.2d 349, 352-353 (1967). (emphasis in original)
Counsel’s failure to inform the appellant of his Rule 1100 rights, alone, cannot be regarded as ineffective assistance of counsel. As set forth in Commonwealth v. Nagel, 246 Pa.Super. 576, 580, 371 A.2d 983, 985 (1977):
“In order to prove ineffective assistance of counsel, appellant must prove that counsel did not inform him of the right, that counsel’s action had no reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interest, and that had counsel so informed him, appellant’s potential for success would have been substantially greater.” (footnote and case citation omitted.)
We agree with the learned Judge Anthony in the lower court that defense counsel’s action in petitioning for a continuance following the adverse publicity surrounding his father’s arrest was intended solely to effectuate his client’s best interests in that counsel was trying to avoid a tainted jury and thereby prevent the defendant’s rights from being adversely affected.
In view of appellant’s having joined with his successor counsel in the Commonwealth’s Petition for Extension of Time, which joinder and extension occurred after the pre-tri*74al proceeding here under review, we are unable to conclude that, had pre-trial counsel informed appellant of his Rule 1100 rights, at, or before, the presentation of the Application for Continuance, appellant’s potential for success would have been substantially greater.
We note that in Commonwealth v. Laudenslager, 259 Pa.Super. 118, 393 A.2d 745 (1978), this Court had reviewed the written consent of defendant’s attorney to an extension of trial date and reversed the lower court’s order discharging defendant, where the defendant had neither been present at a Rule 1100 colloquy nor joined in his attorney’s consent. In that case, the Court had carefully reviewed the import of Commonwealth v. Myrick, 468 Pa. 155, 360 A.2d 598 (1976). Two months after Laudenslager, this Court considered a similar contention regarding trial counsel’s ability to waive a defendant’s Rule 1100 rights in Commonwealth v. Walley, 262 Pa.Super. 496, 396 A.2d 1280 (1978). There, at counsel’s request, several continuances were granted which extended the trial date beyond the 180-day limit mandated by Rule 1100.
Although the Walley court found that the Rule 1100 claim had not been properly preserved for appellate review, the court did state, through Judge Price:
“In conjunction with this claim, appellant apparently contends that prior counsel could not validly obtain continuances and waivers of Rule 1100 rights absent appellant’s knowing consent noted on the record. This claim is patently frivolous. We have held inferentially that counsel may request continuances that postpone trial commencement beyond the 180 day limit without the specific signed consent of his client . . . Continuances are a matter of sound trial strategy within the reasonable purview of counsel. To hold that counsel cannot unilaterally request continuances that delay the start of trial past the Rule 1100 limit would severely hamper his ability to effectuate trial strategy.” 262 Pa.Super. at 502, 396 A.2d at 1283.
We therefore conclude that the argument of appellant’s counsel relating to the presumed need of colloquy or written consent by the defendant has already been decided.
*75The order of the lower court filed November 9, 1979 denying appellant’s Petition for Relief under the Post Conviction Hearing Act is affirmed.
SPAETH, J., files a concurring opinion.
POPOVICH, J., files a dissenting opinion.

. Act of Jan. 25, 1966, P.L. (1965) 1580, § 1 et seq., as amended Nov. 25, 1970, P.L. 759, No. 249, § 1, 19 P.S. § 1180-1, et seq. (Supp.1979-80), herein: PCHA.

. 261 Pa.Super. 605, 396 A.2d 820 (1978).