Court Opinion

ID: 9759285
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:11:03.748593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:00.683928
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. It is one thing to dismiss post-verdict motions when a defendant is not within the custody and control of the Court, but it is quite another matter to refuse to consider undismissed post-verdict motions at a time when the defendant has been returned to custody and thus to the Court’s power and control.
The instant appeal involves post-trial motions in the latter posture. Argument on post-trial motions had been continued generally, but they had not been dismissed prior to the time when appellant was recaptured. The post-trial motions, therefore, remained viable but undecided after appellant was once again subject to the jurisdiction of the trial court and could be made to respond to any judgment the court might enter. Under such circumstances, both the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and this Court have held that the defendant is entitled to have his post-trial motions decided on their merits. See Commonwealth v. Galloway, 460 Pa. 309, 333 A.2d 741 (1975); Commonwealth v. Albert, 260 Pa.Super. 20, 393 A.2d 991 (1978); Commonwealth v. Borden, 256 Pa.Super. 125, 389 A.2d 633 (1978). See also Commonwealth v. Harrison, 289 Pa.Super. 126, 129-31, 432 A.2d 1083, 1085-1086 (1981).
The reason for this distinction becomes more readily apparent if we consider the hypothetical situation in which an escapee is re-captured within a few hours of his escape. Such a defendant, in my judgment, could not properly be held to have forfeited the right to obtain a judicial review of post-verdict motions pending at the time of his escape. It is not the period during which the escape continues that is controlling, however. Rather, it is whether post-verdict motions have been dismissed during the period in which the *197defendant was outside the custody and control of the court which is determinative.
Under the present state of the law, the merits of appellant’s post-verdict motions should have been considered, and it was an abuse of discretion to dismiss them out of hand after appellant had again been returned to custody and thus to the Court’s power and control.
For this reason, I would remand the record to the trial court with directions to consider the merits of appellant’s post-trial motions.