Court Opinion

ID: 9747737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:30:02.710323+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:26.095560
License: Public Domain

*406NIX, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with Part I of the Opinion of the Court. I am compelled to write this concurring opinion because I can not accept the views expressed in Part II.
First, I question the need for the discussion in Part II since as the majority has indicated the applicability of the McCutchen 1 rule to all matters still on direct appeal has already been decided by this Court in Commonwealth v. Chaney, 465 Pa. 407, 350 A.2d 829 (1975).2 For this reason it is clear that the doctrine applied to this appellant and for that reason I agree with the result reached in the Opinion of the Court.
However, I am in serious disagreement with the general proposition expressed by Mr. Justice O’Brien that all new changes in the law should be available to one on direct appeal. As noted by the United States Supreme Court we should not blindly embrace an inflexible rule of thumb for determining the applicability of a new change of law but rather we should make a decision in each case depending upon the purposes sought to be served by the new rule, the extent of reliance by law enforcement officials on the old standards and the effect on the administration of justice of a retroactive application of the new standard. Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 22 L.Ed.2d 248 (1969). See also, Williams v. United States, 401 U.S. 646, 91 S.Ct. 1148, 28 L.Ed.2d 388 (1971); Fuller v. Alaska, 393 U.S. 80, 89 S.Ct. 61, 21 L.Ed.2d 212 (1968).

. Commonwealth v. McCutchen, 463 Pa. 90, 343 A.2d 669 (1975).

. “While appellant’s arrest, confession and trial took place before our decisions concerning a juvenile’s waiver of his Miranda rights, he is nevertheless entitled to the benefit of those decisions since he was on direct appeal at the time of our McCutchen decisions.” (Citations omitted) Commonwealth v. Chaney, supra at 409, 350 A.2d at 830.