Court Opinion

ID: 9650895
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:54:42.741628+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:23.111261
License: Public Domain

*474ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. The extrajudicial comment by the district attorney, in conceded violation of an order of the trial court, requires that judgment of sentence be vacated. Despite a specific court order enjoining discussion with the news media, and despite controlling decisions of this Court prohibiting such comment, see Commonwealth v. Pierce, 451 Pa. 190, 308 A.2d 209 (1973), the district attorney in this case admittedly provided prejudicial information to the media during the course of appellant’s trial. These wholly unnecessary comments promptly appeared during trial on page two of the local newspaper. Defense counsel’s timely motion for sequestration was denied.
It is difficult to understand the function of court orders or our decisions if they can be willfully violated with impunity. The particular prohibitions applicable in this case are meant to provide assurance that time-consuming voir dire will not be required. Clearly, the usefulness of such requirements is lost if their direct violation can be thus ignored. Unlike the majority, I would vacate judgment of sentence and award a new trial.
I must also note the majority’s erroneous, and in my view unnecessary, refusal to apply our decision in Commonwealth v. Williams, 483 Pa. 293, 396 A.2d 1177 (1978), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 912, 100 S.Ct. 1843, 64 L.Ed.2d 266 (1980), to this case. Appellant now claims as error the trial court’s refusal to suppress a statement allegedly obtained as a result of appellant’s arrest in his home, an arrest effected without an arrest warrant. In Williams, this Court held that absent exigent circumstances warrantless arrests in the home are unconstitutional, yet the majority now declines to apply Williams even in a case, such as this one, which was pending at the time of our decision in Williams, and which is now before us on direct appeal.
It should no longer be open to question that decisions of this Court, particularly those of constitutional import, must *475be applied to all cases then pending on direct review. United States v. Schooner Peggy, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 103, 2 L.Ed. 49 (1801); Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974); Commonwealth v. Chaney, 465 Pa. 407, 350 A.2d 829 (1975); Note, Prospective Overruling and Retroactive Application in the Federal Courts, 71 Yale L.J. 907, 912 (1962). Today’s determination to the contrary violates fundamental notions of fairness, and arbitrarily and capriciously rewards the first defendant to place his case before the Court.
Moreover, the majority ignores Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), in which the United States Supreme Court held that the rule announced in Williams is mandated by the federal constitution. At the time of that decision the United States Supreme Court vacated and remanded those other cases then pending before the Court for reconsideration in light of Payton, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980); Bush v. Florida, 446 U.S. 902, 100 S.Ct. 1826, 64 L.Ed.2d 255 (1980); Gordon v. New York, 446 U.S. 903, 100 S.Ct. 1827, 64 L.Ed.2d 255 (1980); Gayle v. New York, 446 U.S. 905, 100 S.Ct. 1829, 64 L.Ed.2d 257 (1980); Duragan v. Illinois, 446 U.S. 905, 100 S.Ct. 1829, 64 L.Ed.2d 257 (1980). The Supreme Court’s clear indication that Payton must be applied to all cases pending at the time of the Court’s decision, is contrary to the view the majority adopts today.
Nevertheless, appellant does not dispute that the present search was supported by a valid search warrant for appellant’s home. In such a circumstance Williams is of no aid. Thus, unlike the majority, I would reject this claim of error on the merits.