Court Opinion

ID: 9766703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:56:54.132022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:24.778876
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING STATEMENT BY
McEWEN, P.J.E.:
¶ 1 Since the author of the majority Opinion has provided a careful and perceptive analysis, I hasten to join the decision of the majority to affirm the ruling by the trial judge which permitted the admission of evidence of appellant’s prior bad acts. I further share the view of the majority that the record makes clear that appellant’s supplemental Rule 1925(b) statements,6 in which he sought to raise challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence and to the sentence imposed by the trial judge, were filed without leave of the trial court. I am inclined, however, to complement that holding by observing that the strict view espoused by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Castillo, 585 Pa. 395, 888 A.2d 775 (2005), should not be construed as removing all discretion from trial courts to grant permission to file supplemental Rule 1925(b) statements.
¶ 2 I am impelled to the further observation that even if we were to reach the merits of the questions which have been deemed waived, there is no basis for this Court to afford the relief appellant seeks since (1) the evidence firmly supports the verdict of the distinguished Judge Donna Jo McDaniel, who presided as the fact-finder in tljie nonjury trial, and (2) the sentence imposed fell within the standard range of the sentencing guidelines. See generally: Commonwealth v. Kimbrough, 872 A.2d 1244 (Pa.Super.2005), appeal denied, 585 Pa. 687, 887 A2d 1240 (2005).

. See: Pa.R.A.P.1925(b).