Court Opinion

ID: 9746672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:33:05.650169+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:15.709208
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that the judgment of sentence must be affirmed. I write to clarify the proper standards to be applied in testing appellant’s ineffective assistance claims.
First, for appellant to prevail on his claims of pre-guilty plea ineffectiveness, the record must establish that the alleged ineffectiveness induced his plea. See e. g., Commonwealth v. Jones, 477 Pa. 266, 383 A.2d 926 (1978). Second, under Pennsylvania’s test of ineffective assistance of counsel, see Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 605, 235 A.2d 349, 352-53 (1967), the inquiry is not whether prejudice ensued from counsel’s action or inaction. As Washington states, we do not employ a “hindsight evaluation of the record.” Rather, the inquiry is whether “the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests.”
This record reveals neither ineffective assistance inducing appellant’s plea nor ineffective assistance in post-plea proceedings. Thus the judgment of sentence may not be disturbed.
NIX, J., joins in this concurring opinion.