Court Opinion

ID: 9752597
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:19:08.39838+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:18.524266
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
concurring.
To my knowledge, neither this Court nor the United States Supreme Court has squarely addressed the issue of whether a Caucasian defendant being tried jointly with African Americans has standing to raise a claim of racial discrimination in jury selection which otherwise would pertain only to the codefendants. 1 believe that such standing should be accorded, since Batson violations are a form of structural error “affecting the framework within which the trial proceeds, rather than simply an error in the trial process itself,” Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 310, 111 S.Ct. 1246, 1265, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991), and “undermining the criminal proceeding’s fairness as a whole[.]” United States v. Dominguez Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 74, 124 S.Ct. 2333, 2335, 159 L.Ed.2d 157 (2004); see also Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 8-9, 119 *372S.Ct. 1827, 1833, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999). See generally Commonwealth v. Basemore, 560 Pa. 258, 288 & n. 18, 744 A.2d 717, 734 & n. 18 (2000) (explaining that a Batson violation represents structural error). In my view, such standing would eliminate any need to parse between codefendants in the assessment of structural error, a special and limited category of claim with impact that is impossible to measure, both in terms of the trial under review and, more generally, public confidence in the judicial system.
That said, and while the circumstances presented are troubling, I agree with the majority that Appellee knew or should have known of the central facts underlying his claims pertaining to racial discrimination in his jury selection more than sixty days prior to the filing of his present post-conviction petition, and, for such reason, our jurisdiction is presently foreclosed under the Post Conviction Relief Act.
With regard to the majority’s adherence to the requirements of Commonwealth v. Spence, 534 Pa. 233, 246-7, 627 A.2d 1176, 1182-83 (1993), left to my own devices I would eliminate the Spence requirements as such and review unpreserved, post-conviction claims of racial discrimination in jury selection under the standards otherwise set forth in Commonwealth v. Uderra, 580 Pa. 492, 513, 862 A.2d 74, 87 (2004) (holding that, in relation to claims deriving from the absence of an appropriate objection at trial, a post-conviction petitioner may not rely on the prima facie case under Batson, but rather, must prove actual, purposeful discrimination). See id. at 513 n. 12, 862 A.2d at 86 n. 12 (reflecting the view of this author that the Spence requirements are too stringent, at least as applied across the board to any and all challenges to asserted racial discrimination in jury selection).
Finally, I support the remand for additional proceedings concerning Appellee’s claim under Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002). I would merely note that it is an unsettled matter whether such a claim is subject to the jurisdictional and procedural requirements of the PCRA, or is more appropriately suited to treatment under habeas corpus principles. Personally, I favor the latter under*373standing, particularly since the United States Supreme Court has couched the Atkins principle in terms identical to those pertaining under Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986) (holding that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution of persons whose mental illness prevents them from comprehending the reasons for the penalty and its implications). See Atkins, 536 U.S. at 321, 122 S.Ct. at 2252 (explaining that “the [United States] Constitution ‘places a substantive restriction on the State’s power to take the life’ of a mentally retarded offender” (quoting Ford, 477 U.S. at 405, 106 S.Ct. at 2599)). Notably, as well, the Court has treated analogous claims of death ineligibility as matters arising under state habeas corpus. See Commonwealth v. Judge, 591 Pa. 126, 141-42, 916 A.2d 511, 520-21 (2007).