Court Opinion

ID: 9649840
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:10:46.769762+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:22:33.187654
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Hoffman, J.:
The majority rejects appellants’ contention that they were entitled to a new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence because “a review of the record indicates that the evidence was discovered before the jury was dismissed at the close of trial.” I would remand for a hearing on appellants’ motion for a new trial because the Majority’s conclusion is not supported by the record.
The contested “after-discovered” evidence in the instant case is an affidavit of one Robert Roberts in which he swore to the following facts: “I am a friend of Daniel A. Komada and Frank Pilosky, Defendants in the above-captioned, case. I was present during their trial in Courtroom 414, City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During a Court recess on Thursday, February 20 [sic], 1974, at or about 12 o’clock noon, one of the jurors, Richard VanAcken, spoke to me. I had grown up in the same neighborhood with Mr. VanAcken and we had gone to Lincoln High School together. Mr. VanAcken said to me that he remembered Danny from going to Lincoln High School with him after seeing him in the Courtroom. Mr. VanAcken also said that there was a great deal of information in the trial that the jury was not allowed to hear. Mr. VanAcken also told me that the jury had *243viewed the Television Movie, ‘A Case of Rape,’ on television the evening of Wednesday, February 20, 1974 and that as a result of viewing the movie, he, Richard VanAcken had the feeling from talking to the other jurors that they had turned their thinking around one-hundred and eighty (180°) degrees because of the affect of the movie.” The affidavit was sworn to on March 19, almost a month after the trial had ended.
The requirements for granting a new trial based on after-discovered evidence are set forth in Commonwealth v. Mosteller, 446 Pa. 83, 88, 284 A. 2d 786, 788 (1971): “ . .“A new trial in a criminal case will be awarded on the ground of after-discovered evidence where the evidence in question (1) has been discovered after the trial and could not have been obtained at or prior to the conclusion of the trial by the exercise of reasonable diligence; (2) is not merely corroborative or cumulative; (3) will not be used solely for impeaching credibility of a witness; and (4) is of such nature and character that a different verdict will likely result if a new trial is granted.” ’ ” (citation omitted).
The lower court rejected appellants’ claim that the affidavit would require a new trial because the court believed that the evidence was not, in fact, after-discovered: “The affidavit, if accepted as true, talks of matters which took place before the end of the trial and were known by a person who knew the defendant Komada well enough to be in attendance at the trial. It strains the Court’s belief that such revelations would not have been made known to the defense by the affiant immediately upon gaining this intelligence from the juror.” (Emphasis in original). Both the lower court and the Majority assume that appellants were aware of the conversation with the juror before trial ended. There is, however, no evidence to support this assumption. Thus, it is an open question when appellants discovered the alleged procedural irregularity; further, even if appellants learned of the impropriety before the end of *244the trial, we do not know when counsel was informed of the affiant’s story. It would be counsel, not appellants themselves, who would understand the legal significance of such facts.1
Therefore, whether the evidence was, in fact, “after-discovered” cannot be determined without a hearing before the lower court. If the court finds that the evidence was not discovered prior to the end of trial, it must then decide whether the evidence warrants a new trial. Commonwealth v. Mosteller, supra.2
Therefore, I would remand for further proceedings.
Spaeth, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.

. The lower court stated that it could not believe that the affiant would withhold such information from appellants and their counsel. Equally, I cannot assume that counsel would violate his professional responsibility by submitting an affidavit that he knows to be false. See Code of Professional Responsibility, Canon 1, DR 1-102(4) and (5); DR 7-108 (B) and (D). Before either this Court or the lower court can decide the issue, the record must include some evidence on the question of when the information was communicated to counsel.

. Apparently, the lower court believed that “the petition was an attempt to obviate or bypass the rule of no impeachment of a verdict by a juror.” That issue is not before this Court at this time. But see, Parker v. Gladden, 385 U.S. 363 (1966), (an extrajudicial attempt to influence the jury may be a denial of an accused’s rights to confrontation and cross-examination); Commonwealth v. Zlatovich, 440 Pa. 388, 395, 269 A. 2d 469, 472 (1970); “...the jurors [are] competent to testify as to the improper conduct of a third party whose actions may have tended to affect their verdict and deliberations.”