Court Opinion

ID: 9719633
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:57:30.623193+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.509081
License: Public Domain

*478WIEAND, Judge,
dissenting:
Appellant was tried by a jury and found guilty of murder in the first degree. The majority holds trial counsel ineffective for failing to anticipate the decisions in Commonwealth v. Polimeni, 474 Pa. 430, 378 A.2d 1189 (1977), and Commonwealth v. Garcia, 474 Pa. 449, 378 A.2d 1199 (1977), by requesting a charge on involuntary manslaughter. This result is not compelled by prior decisional law. The Supreme Court has held unequivocally that trial counsel will not be held ineffective for failing to anticipate future developments in the law. His stewardship must be examined under standards as they existed at the time of the trial. Commonwealth v. Triplett, 476 Pa. 83, 89, 381 A.2d 877, 881 (1977). See also: Commonwealth v. Roach, 479 Pa. 528, 388 A.2d 1056 (1978); Commonwealth v. Logan, 468 Pa. 424, 364 A.2d 266 (1976); Commonwealth v. Hill, 450 Pa. 477, 301 A.2d 587 (1973); Commonwealth v. Alvarado, 442 Pa. 516, 276 A.2d 526 (1971); Commonwealth v. Garrett, 425 Pa. 594, 229 A.2d 922 (1967).
At the time of trial in the instant case, decisional law had held that involuntary manslaughter was not a permissible verdict on an indictment charging murder. See: Commonwealth v. Jackson, 450 Pa. 417, 419 n.2, 299 A.2d 209, 210 n.2 (1973); Commonwealth v. Hoffman, 439 Pa. 348, 357, 266 A.2d 726, 731 (1970); Commonwealth v. Edwards, 431 Pa. 44, 52, 244 A.2d 683, 687 (1968); Commonwealth v. Palermo, 368 Pa. 28, 31-32, 81, A.2d 540, 541-42 (1951); Commonwealth v. Hardy, 347 Pa. 551, 554, 32 A.2d 767, 768 (1943); Commonwealth v. Mayberry, 290 Pa. 195, 199, 138 A. 686, 688 (1927). Consequently, trial courts uniformly had refused to instruct juries on involuntary manslaughter in cases where the indictment charged only murder.
This practice continued after enactment of the Crimes Code in 1972.1 Not until Polimeni and Garcia was it held that in a trial on a homicide indictment a defendant was entitled upon request to an instruction on involuntary man*479slaughter if there was evidence which would permit a finding of involuntary manslaughter. This was based upon an interpretation of the Crimes Code, although a majority of the Court was unable to agree upon the specific, underlying rationale for the right to such an instruction. Subsequently, in Commonwealth v. Warin, 484 Pa. 555, 400 A.2d 588 (1979), the Court held that because Polimeni and Garcia had merely interpreted the 1972 Crimes Code, the holdings thereof were applicable to cases tried prior thereto but in which direct appeals were pending. See also: Commonwealth v. Dussinger, 478 Pa. 182, 386 A.2d 500 (1978).
Given this development of the law, I am unable to agree that counsel was ineffective for failing to foresee that the Crimes Code would be interpreted as it was in Polimeni and Garcia. We should not require counsel to possess “the qualities of a seer” and fault him for failing to anticipate that the Crimes Code would be interpreted in a manner contrary to established criminal practice in effect at the time of trial. See: Commonwealth v. Triplett, supra, 476 Pa. at 89, 381 A.2d at 881. The test is whether trial counsel had a rational basis for not requesting a charge on involuntary manslaughter. See: Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 235 A.2d 349 (1967). In my judgment, counsel did have such a basis for his inaction. In view of existing practice and the state of decisional law, he could reasonably conclude that the trial court would deny a request for a charge on involuntary manslaughter and that a request therefor would be fruitless. See: Commonwealth v. Alvarado, supra.
At trial, it was appellant’s contention that the killing of his wife had occurred unintentionally and without malice during the course of a physical struggle. Under these circumstances a jury could have found that death was caused by a reckless or grossly negligent act. The majority concludes, therefore, that appellant was entitled to an instruction on involuntary manslaughter and awards a new trial because counsel was ineffective for failing to request such an instruction. This is ironic. The jurors were told *480that if the killing had been committed unintentionally and without malice, they were required to return a verdict of not guilty. Because counsel did not anticipate Polimeni and Garcia, appellant actually received a more favorable instruction from the court than he would have received if counsel had met the majority’s standard of effectiveness. Under these circumstances, counsel’s ineffectiveness, if any, was harmless. It is not a sound basis on which to award a new trial.
Finally, the effect of the majority’s decision is, if not disastrous, certainly most unfortunate. It will compel a new review of most convictions of murder and voluntary manslaughter under the 1972 Crimes Code and will require new trials in many of them. All this because otherwise effective trial counsel did not anticipate the decisions in Polimeni and Garcia and thereby obtained for his client more favorable jury instructions than his client would have received had he requested and been granted an additional charge on involuntary manslaughter.
I dissent.

. Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, 18 Pa.C.S. § 101 et seq., effective June 6, 1973.