Court Opinion

ID: 9757802
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:59:45.956634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:44.540942
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent for the following reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in Commonwealth v. Von Smith, 486 Pa. 564, 406 A.2d 1034 (1979) (Larsen, J. dissenting):
. . . Defense counsel, in all murder cases involving multiple defendants, will deliberately delay the filing of a motion for severance until after the time required to file *254said motion. The lower court will deny the motion because of untimeliness. The defendant, if having been found guilty, is then guaranteed a new trial on the grounds that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.
Our judicial system should not be structured so that a defendant can automatically get a new (second) trial because of a strategic move made by defense counsel prior to trial.
McDERMOTT and HUTCHINSON, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.