Court Opinion

ID: 9757411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:39:50.618072+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:39.252746
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the majority’s result. In my view an order imposing a term of probation on a criminal defendant is a judgment of sentence and this Court should say so.
In Commonwealth v. Vivian, 426 Pa. 192, 231 A.2d 301 (1967), we held that the imposition of probation on a defendant was a judgment of sentence for purposes of determining whether the defendant had twice been placed in j eopardy for the same offense.
The practical effect of today’s decision is to make such an order an appealable judgment of sentence for all purposes. As with any other judgment of sentence, the failure to appeal the order within the period allowed for appeals from judgments of sentence foreclosed appellant from asserting, now, the errors claimed to have occurred at trial. To the extent that Commomvealth v. Elias, 394 Pa. 639, 149 A.2d 53 (1959), is inconsistent with what we hold today, it should be overruled.