Court Opinion

ID: 9752884
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:42:15.776893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:24.595755
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority, and would remand the case for new trials. I adhere, however, to the views expressed in my dissenting opinion in the companion case, Commonwealth v. Ludwig, 527 Pa. 472, 594 A.2d 281 (1991), also decided today. I believe the court decided that case incorrectly.
Nevertheless, this court has now held that the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits deprivation of a defendant's right to meet his accusers face to face, at least if the deprivation is based only on the subjective fears of the accusers. That holding clearly governs these cases. Not only were the accusers segregated from the jury which remained in the courtroom, but the defendant was segregated in a third room from both the accusers and the jury. These procedures were instituted due to mere “reluctance” of the accusers to testify against the defendant. This violates not only the Pennsylvania Constitution as interpreted in Ludwig, supra, but the United States Constitution as well. See Coy v. Iowa, 487 U.S. 1012, 108 S.Ct. 2798, 101 L.Ed.2d 857 (1988).
I therefore concur in the result reached by the majority.