Court Opinion

ID: 9650458
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:38:38.560864+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:56.709394
License: Public Domain

*253Justice EAKIN,
dissenting.
The majority rules upon a worthwhile issue, and I do not necessarily disagree with the principle pronounced. However, we granted allocatur on a discrete issue, namely “whether the Superior Court erred in holding that robbery and retail theft are not cognate offenses, and that, consequently, where only retail theft and assault have been alleged, the Commonwealth cannot add a robbery charge?” Commonwealth v. Weigle, 600 Pa. 100, 963 A.2d 903, 904 (2008). The majority does not answer this question, but instead holds a count dismissed by a judicial officer cannot be reincarnated by means of Rule 560. The majority leaves the issue on which we granted review to the Rules Committee. See Majority Op., at 249, 997 A.2d at 315, 316.
I cannot agree with this result for two reasons. First, the issue deemed dispositive was never raised by a party; the Superior Court consequently does not mention it, and this issue is resurrected sua sponte by the majority. Though Judge Dembe relied on the coordinate jurisdiction rule, the original ruling dealt with cognate offenses, and the appeal taken reflected only the cognate offense issue. Errors in procedural matters, such as how something came to be charged, must be raised by the party affected, not by an appellate court. If the party fails to raise the issue, it is waived. In the present case, this issue has not been heretofore raised.
Secondly, this court has heard no advocacy on the point deemed dispositive — if we are to make a pronouncement on the point, we should do so only after contemplating all sides of it, which sides were understandably not presented to us by either party. For example, we should consider: (1) whether this case is distinct because Philadelphia Municipal Court rules are distinct from non-Philadelphia Magisterial District Court procedures; (2) whether the conclusion that the district attorney cannot add a count if it has been charged and dismissed, but can add a charge if it was never filed in the first place comports with the goal and plain language of Rule 560(B)(5), which clearly states the Commonwealth may add a cognate offense; (3) whether well-settled waiver rules trump *254our consideration of an issue for which we did not grant allocatur, and which was never raised by a party. Also murky is the question whether a ruling on the robbery in the second filing ever took place — no ruling was apparently made in court, though the record was subsequently found to contain a marking of “dismissed” on the docket.
Again, we granted allocatur to address whether robbery and retail theft are cognate offenses. Distinct and unchallenged procedural concerns that have not been fully and comprehensively presented to us are only addressed at this point with the understanding that errors may be made for want of consideration of points we have not contemplated. Thus, while I do not necessarily disagree with what my esteemed colleagues write, I cannot offer my joinder to it at this time.
Justice McCAFFERY joins this dissenting opinion.