Court Opinion

ID: 9734078
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:24:48.466228+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:45.532621
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Spaeth, J.:
I join in Judge Cercone’s opinion, because I regard it as a correct application of Commonwealth v. Dancer, 460 Pa. 95, 331 A.2d 435 (1975), by which we are bound. I hope, however, that the difficulties noted by Judge Cercone will result in a different rule. It seems to me that when the effectiveness of counsel is called into question, the only way to be fair both to counsel and to the defendant is to conduct a hearing, at which the defendant can ask counsel why he did or did not do certain things, and counsel can explain. The only way to insure that there will be such a hearing is to hold that without exception the issue of the effectiveness of counsel will only be reviewed in a PCHA proceeding, never on appeal.
Hoffman and Price, JJ., join in this opinion.