Court Opinion

ID: 9699416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:23:07.696288+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:50.037320
License: Public Domain

PRICE, Judge,
dissenting:
Appellant’s claim, the unconstitutionality of section 1212 of the Motor Vehicle Code, was not preserved in post-trial motions. In the instant appeal, it is not asserted that appellant’s failure to preserve the issue was involuntary or that the lower court failed to comply with Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123. Under these circumstances, I would hold appellant’s claim waived and affirm the judgment of sentence.
Appellant was tried on November 21, 1975. In Commonwealth v. Blair, 460 Pa. 31, 33 n. 1, 331 A.2d 213, 214 n. 1 (1975), announced January 27, 1975, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania stated:
“The practice in some judicial districts of ignoring the requirements of Rule 1123(a) is condemned. Henceforth, issues not presented in compliance with the rule will not be considered by our trial and appellate courts.”
In this case a written motion in arrest of judgment and for a new trial was filed, but it raised only pro forma sufficiency *492of the evidence claims. The constitutional issue in regard to section 1212 of the Motor Vehicle Code was not preserved under Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(a).1 Judge Hoffman would reach appellant’s constitutional argument under Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(b).2 He states:
“We believe that appellant properly preserved his constitutional challenge for appellate review. Our Court has recently held that a defendant may preserve contentions for our consideration by making specific oral post-verdict motions on the record at the conclusion of trial pursuant to Rule 1123(b). Commonwealth v. Erhart, 248 Pa.Super. 481, 375 A.2d 342 (Filed June 29, 1977); Commonwealth v. Kinsey, 249 Pa.Super. 371, 375 A.2d 727 (Filed June 29, 1977); Commonwealth v. Babb, 246 Pa.Super. 471, 371 A.2d 933 (Filed March 31, 1977). In the instant case, all pre-trial, trial, and post-trial proceedings focussed exclusively on one issue; the constitutionality of the § 1212 presumption. Indeed, the commonwealth and appellant stipulated that this was the only issue involved in the case. After a thorough discussion of the constitutionality of the presumption at trial, the lower court explicitly predicated its guilty verdict upon the operation of the presumption. *493Appellant’s counsel immediately filed a motion for a new trial and arrest of judgment; the record makes patently clear that this motion could only refer to appellant’s challenge to the constitutionality of the § 1212 presumption. The lower court accepted the filing of this motion and responded with a thorough opinion on the issue raised by appellant. Under these circumstances, I would hold that appellant specifically and properly preserved his constitutional challenge by filing oral post-verdict motions on the record at the conclusion of trial pursuant to Rule 1123(b).” (Plurality Opn. of Hoffman, J. at 332).
I disagree with the above-stated conclusion. The following dialogue between defense counsel and the court occurred at the end of the trial proceeding.
“[Appellant’s counsel]: The defense, at this time, would enter a motion for new trial and arrest of judgment.
THE COURT: I direct you not only to file the motions in writing within seven days but get that stipulation signed before you forget about it, the waiver of jury trial.” First, it is apparent that the “oral post-verdict motion” made by appellant’s counsel stated no ground upon which relief might have been granted. It was nothing more than a barren, totally unsupported request. Judge Hoffman suggests that we import into appellant’s oral motion the substance of the discussion between appellant’s counsel and the lower court concerning the constitutionality of section 1212 which took place during trial. I can perceive no reason to do this. Numerous cases have emphasized the requirement that issues to be reviewed must be specifically preserved. It would have been exceedingly simple for appellant’s counsel to have stated, “I move for arrest of judgment or a new trial on the ground that section 1212 of the Motor Vehicle Code is unconstitutional.” This was not done, however, and the oral post-verdict motion thus preserved nothing.
Another consideration mandates a finding that appellant’s oral motion was ineffective. The trial court directed appellant’s counsel to “file the motions in writing within seven days.” Read in context, this statement instructed counsel to *494reduce to writing the issues he intended to be covered by his oral motion. In compliance with this directive, written motions were filed challenging only the sufficiency of the evidence. Even if we assume that a party’s inferred intent in making an oral post-trial motion is cognizable on appeal, which it is not, any assertion that appellant’s counsel intended the constitutional issue to be covered by his oral motion is directly contradicted by counsel’s conduct.
Judge Van der Voort, on the authority of Commonwealth v. Schroth, 458 Pa. 233, 328 A.2d 168 (1974), would remand this case for a hearing to determine the voluntariness of appellant’s failure to preserve his constitutional claim in post-trial motions. I disagree with this disposition in two respects. First, I do not believe that the voluntariness of appellant’s failure to file post-trial motions or the trial court’s failure to comply with Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(c)3 are issues properly before this court. Second, if the issue is to be treated on the merits, the course dictated by our prior cases is a remand for compliance with Rule 1123(c) and the filing of proper post-trial motions nunc pro tunc. See Commonwealth v. Miller, 232 Pa.Super. 171, 335 A.2d 528 (1975); Commonwealth v. Dimitris, 231 Pa.Super. 469, 331 A.2d 701 (1974).
There is support for the position that this court must conduct a sua sponte review of the record for lower court compliance with Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(c), and that such compliance is a prerequisite to finding issues not raised in post-trial motions waived. Commonwealth v. Schroth, supra, may be read to require such a procedure, and this court has remanded for Rule 1123(c) compliance in a number of cases where the issue was not raised by the appellant, see Commonwealth v. Brown, 248 Pa.Super. 289, 375 A.2d 102 (1977); *495Commonwealth v. Steffish, 243 Pa.Super. 309, 365 A.2d 865 (1976). I do not, however, interpret either the cases of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania or the cases of our court as requiring sua sponte Rule 1123 review, and I strongly recommend that we discontinue this practice.
In Wiegand v. Wiegand, 461 Pa. 482, 337 A.2d 256 (1975), our supreme court reversed the prior order of the superior court and strongly criticized that court’s decision of a constitutional issue not presented by the parties on appeal. The court observed as follows:
“The Superior Court by sua sponte deciding the constitutional issue exceeded its proper appellate function of deciding controversies presented to it. The court thereby unnecessarily disturbed the processes of orderly judicial decisionmaking. Sua sponte consideration of issues deprives counsel of the opportunity to brief and argue the issues and the court of the benefit of counsel’s advocacy. . Furthermore, sua sponte determinations raise many of the considerations that led this court to require that issues presented on appeal be properly preserved for appellate review by timely objection in the trial court. See Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Trust Co., 457 Pa. 255, 322 A.2d 114 (1974); cf. Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974).
It must therefore be concluded that the Superior Court should not have considered an unpresented issue, but instead resolved the appeal on the basis of the issues raised by the parties.” Wiegand v. Wiegand, supra, 461 Pa. at 485, 337 A.2d at 257-58.
The supreme court has recently cited Wiegand in a per curiam order reversing the superior court and remanding the case to us “for consideration of the issues properly preserved for appellate review.” Commonwealth v. James Dill (8/8/77).
This philosophy is also expressed in the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure. Rule 2116(c) provides, inter alia, the following:
*496“Where under the applicable law an issue is not reviewable on appeal unless raised or preserved below; the statement of the case shall also specify:
(1) The stage of the proceedings in the court of first instance, and in any appellate court below, at which, and the manner in which, the questions sought to be reviewed were raised.
(2) The method of raising them (e. g. by a pleading, by a request to charge and exceptions, etc.).
(3) The say in which they were passed upon by the court.
. ” See also Pa.R.A.P. 2118(e).
The voluntariness of a failure to file post-verdict motions has not been uniformly subjected to sua sponte review by the appellate courts of this state. In Commonwealth v. Carter, 463 Pa. 310, 313 n. 4, 344 A.2d 846, 848 n. 4 (1975), the supreme court stated that “[t]he question whether a waiver of post-verdict motions was voluntary and intelligent will be considered by appellate courts if it was raised at the earliest opportunity on appeal; otherwise, that question itself is waived. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 460 Pa. 713, 334 A.2d 601 (1975).” In Carter, this court had granted the appellant a new trial on the basis of an ineffective jury trial waiver. No post-verdict motions had been filed. The supreme court reversed our order because the jury trial waiver issue had not been properly before us.
In Commonwealth v. Brown, supra, it was pointed out that Carter and several other cases which found claims not raised in post-trial motions waived were decided prior to the 1973 amendment of Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123. The Rule prior to that amendment had no provision equivalent to the present Rule 1123(c), which specifies the post-trial information which must be imparted to all convicted defendants. The court states that “[t]he June 8, 1973 amendment indicates an intent to substitute a per se rule that warnings must be given for the traditional test of determining whether a defendant intelligently and knowingly waives his right to appeal by considering all the circumstances.” Commonwealth v. Brown, supra, 248 Pa.Super. at 294 n. 5, 375 A.2d *497at 104-05 n. 5. I joined the opinion in Brown, and I agree with the above-quoted language in that, as I read it, we held that the 1973 amendment to Rule 1123 substituted the requisite warnings in section (c) for the previous standard of “knowing and voluntary under all the circumstances” in determining whether a claim not preserved in post-trial motions is waived. However, I believe that we can properly review the voluntariness of an appellant’s failure to preserve an issue, a determination which now hinges on the trial court’s compliance or failure to comply with Rule 1123(c), only when that issue is presented to us on appeal. In my view, nothing in either the present Rule 1123 or Commonwealth v. Brown, supra, imposes upon this court the obligation to conduct a sua sponte review for Rule 1123 compliance whenever an issue not preserved in post-trial motions is raised on appeal. Consequently, I do not agree with any implication in Commonwealth v. Brown, supra, that the validity of the principle stated in Commonwealth v. Carter, supra, that a claim of involuntariness of failure to preserve an issue for review is itself waived unless raised at the first opportunity on appeal, was terminated by the 1973 amendment to Rule 1123.
In conclusion, I would point out that we are sorely in need of a clear standard in this area. There are cases from the supreme court and from this court engaging in sua sponte review of the Rule 1123 or voluntariness issue. Some cases, e. g. Commonwealth v. Schroth, supra, and Commonwealth v. Brown, supra, may be read to mandate such a procedure. Other cases support a contrary result, a result which I feel reason indicates and proper appellate procedure dictates. Criminal justice in this Commonwealth is supposed to function on an adversary basis. A criminal defendant is entitled to competent and zealous, but not perfect, representation. This court’s proper role is as the impartial arbiter of issues presented to it on appeal, not as the big brother of criminal defendants or the mentor of defense attorneys. If we indulge in sua sponte review on the topic involved here, I fear we will be forsaking the former position and taking a step closer to the latter ones.
*498I would affirm the judgment of sentence of the lower court.

. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(a) provides that:
“Within seven (7) 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. Only those grounds may be considered which were raised in pre-trial proceedings or at trial, unless the trial judge, upon cause shown, allows otherwise. Argument shall be scheduled and heard promptly after such motions are filed, and only those issues raised and the grounds relied upon in the motions may be argued. If the grounds asserted do not require a transcript, neither the filing nor argument of post-verdict motions shall be delayed for lack of a transcript of the notes of testimony.”

. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(b) provides as follows:
“If the defendant agrees on the record, the post-verdict motions may be made orally at the conclusion of the trial. The defendant may also within the seven (7)-day period on the record voluntarily and understanding^ waive the filing of post-verdict motions. Pri- or to the acceptance of such waiver the trial judge shall, pursuant to paragraph (c) of this Rule, advise the defendant on the record that his waiving of post-verdict motions shall preclude his raising on appeal any issues which might have been raised in such motions.”

. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1123(c) states:
“Upon the finding of guilty, the trial judge shall advise the defendant on the record: (1) of his right to file post-verdict motions and of his 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.”