Court Opinion

ID: 9709080
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:39:44.621869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:45.714420
License: Public Domain

VAN der VOORT,
Judge, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent to the decision by the Majority of our Court, which reaffirms the decision in Commonwealth v. Malone, 244 Pa.Super. 62, 366 A.2d 584 (1976), which in turn held that courts have a general power to expunge criminal records. In Malone it was demonstrated by a Minority of the Judges of our Court that there is only a very limited power to expunge criminal records. The records involved in the instant case do not fall within that limited sphere. The appellant in this case was charged with theft by unlawful taking. He was acquitted of the charges not because he is innocent, but because he was not tried within 180 days as required by Pa.R.Crim.P. 1100. My dissent is for the reasons set forth in my Dissenting Opinion in Malone, i. e., I believe we do not have lawful authority to expunge criminal records except in cases specifically authorized by statute.
PRICE, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.