Court Opinion

ID: 9761247
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:35:53.020731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:21.038292
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Justice,
concurring.
I am in agreement that, on this record, appellant is entitled to no relief; however I write separately to express my disagreement with the requirements for preserving a claim for appellate review, as set forth in the opinion of Mr. Justice Zappala. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123 prescribes the method of preserving claims for appellate review:
Rule 1123. Post-Verdict Motions
(a) Within ten (10) days after a finding of guilt, the defendant shall have the right to file written motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment.
(c) Upon the finding of guilt, the trial judge shall advise the defendant on the record:
(1) of the right to file post-verdict motions and of the right to the assistance of counsel in the filing of such motions and on appeal of any issues raised therein;
(2) of the time within which he must do so as set forth in paragraph (a); and
(3) that only the grounds contained in such motions may be raised on appeal.
*513This rule was interpreted in Commonwealth v. Blair, 460 Pa. 31, 33 n. 1, 331 A.2d 213, 214 n. 1 (1975), as requiring specific, written post-verdict motions to preserve claims for appellate review. Despite the ruling of Blair, this Court subsequently considered those allegations of error not specifically raised in post-verdict motions, but raised only in a brief filed in support of boilerplate post-verdict motions, properly preserved for appellate review, Commonwealth v. Grace, 473 Pa. 542, 375 A.2d 721 (1977). This practice proved unworkable, and, in Commonwealth v. Gravely, 486 Pa. 194, 198-199, 404 A.2d 1296, 1298 (1979), we wrote:
[T]his Court’s experience with Commonwealth v. Grace, supra, and its progeny has not been very satisfying. Counsel have more often than not failed to include the briefs in the record and, indeed, have often failed to even mention a brief was presented or filed in the trial court in the oral arguments and briefs before this Court. This unsatisfactory situation is perhaps best typified by Commonwealth v. Slaughter, [482 Pa. 538, 394 A.2d 453 (1978)], wherein we had to grant reargument because counsel had failed to adequately advise us of the existence of a brief. Accordingly, in order to conclude this unsatisfactory situation, we now rule that sixty days after the filing of this opinion, only those issues included in post-verdict motions will be considered preserved for appellate review. We caution that this ruling applies to every post-verdict motion which is filed sixty days hence and to any motion which is already filed, but which may still be supplemented after sixty days from this date. Our ruling is prospective only because of the possibility of reliance by counsel on prior decisions of this Court. Cf. Commonwealth v. Bailey, 463 Pa. 354, 344 A.2d 869 (1975).
The rule is clear: only those issues raised in specific, written post-verdict motions are preserved for appellate review. As a brief filed in the lower court in support of a post-verdict motion would merely supplement, clarify and give advocacy to issues otherwise specifically set out in the motion, I would not impose a formal requirement for the filing of a supple*514mental brief in every case given the mandate of Blair; i.e., the filing of a specific, written post-verdict motion. In most cases, the supplemental brief would be redundant and reiterate matters already presented in the motion itself. Furthermore, as recognized in Gravely, the practice of permitting the filing of such supplemental briefs led to such confusion, that this Court should not perpetuate the problem by now requiring the filing of a brief in support of post-verdict motions to preserve issues for appellate review. Because I would require only that issues be specifically raised in written post-verdict motions in accordance with Commonwealth v. Blair, supra, to be preserved for appellate review, I would overrule the requirement of Commonwealth v. Williams, 476 Pa. 557, 383 A.2d 503 (1978) for supplementing post-verdict motions and hold appellant’s claims regarding the missing witness instruction and evidence of the prior altercation with the victim properly preserved for appellate review as these were properly raised in post-verdict motions.