Court Opinion

ID: 9761533
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:44:49.958942+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:24.163196
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the plurality that judgment of sentence should be affirmed, but on the issue of counsel’s alleged ineffectiveness for failing to request an involuntary manslaughter instruction, I conclude that appellant’s claim lacks merit for a different reason than the reason relied upon by the plurality.
Unlike the plurality I believe appellant, upon receipt, was entitled to an instruction regarding involuntary manslaughter. See e. g., Commonwealth v. Garcia, 474 Pa. 449, 378 A.2d 1199 (1977) (plurality opinion). But trial counsel, of course, as a matter of strategy may elect to seek the instruction. In circumstances where Commonwealth evidence is inconclusive, trial counsel may properly decide to forego the instruction on the expectation that the jury, *427disbelieving the Commonwealth’s evidence, would return a verdict of acquittal. See Commonwealth v. McGrogan, 449 Pa. 584, 590, 297 A.2d 456, 459 (1972) (on the record, confusing Commonwealth evidence permits trial counsel to limit the jury’s options to a verdict of guilt on the higher charge or acceptance of counsel’s argument that acquittal is the appropriate result). Compare, Commonwealth v. Musi, 486 Pa. 102, 404 A.2d 378 (1979) (Roberts, J., dissenting) (ineffective assistance provided when counsel failed to seek involuntary manslaughter instructions where Commonwealth evidence established defendant committed crime and defendant testified the shooting was accidental). Considering the Commonwealth’s evidence here, trial counsel, as in McGrogan, could reasonably choose not to pursue an involuntary manslaughter instruction.