Court Opinion

ID: 9754984
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:20:05.512739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:01.219842
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice,
dissenting.
In my view, the issue on which Opinion announcing the decision of the Court grants a new trial is waived, and in any event cannot be addressed on the present state of the record. I therefore respectfully dissent.
As the opinion of Mr. Justice O’BRIEN notes, the trial court held a hearing pursuant both to appellant’s petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act1 (PCHA) and to our earlier order remanding the case for an evidentiary hearing relative to the jury selection procedure in Allegheny County. On July 31,1975, the court denied relief on the jury selection issue but granted relief under the PCHA with respect to one of appellant’s four claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel (failure to file a brief in support of post-verdict motions). The PCHA court therefore ordered that the defendant “be granted an opportunity to argue and brief the post-trial motions before a Court en banc.” The court made no disposition of the other post-conviction claims. See Commonwealth v. Bricker, 444 Pa. 476, 282 A.2d 31 (1971) and cases following it. When the post-trial motions were then briefed and argued to a court en banc, the claim that trial counsel had been ineffective in not pursuing the defense of intoxication was not included as a reason for a new trial, and it was therefore not passed upon by the trial court.
In today’s opinion announcing the decision of the Court, however, this claim of ineffectiveness is considered on the merits for the first time and this consideration results in the grant of a new trial. The reason for this indulgence, apparently, is the thought that counsel may have understood the PCHA court’s order to mean that he could argue only reasons in support of a new trial which had been stated in the original motion and left unbriefed. I do not find this *339persuasive. The relief granted by the PCHA court (i. e., to argue and brief post-trial motions nunc pro tunc) was necessarily intended as a prelude to a possible direct appeal. Counsel must be charged with knowledge of the basic tenet that an appellate court will not consider an issue on appeal that has not been preserved for review at the trial level. Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974); Commonwealth v. Williams, 432 Pa. 557, 248 A.2d 301 (1968). The issue of ineffectiveness of trial counsel was cognizable on direct appeal, and it was therefore incumbent on the new, post-trial motion counsel to assert it before the court en banc. This requirement was made clear by our decision in Commonwealth v. Dancer, 460 Pa. 95, 331 A.2d 435 (1975), announced some six months before the PCHA court’s order in the case at bar. See also Commonwealth v. Hubbard, 472 Pa. 259, 372 A.2d 687 (1977). Since the issue of ineffectiveness with regard to an intoxication defense was not raised below, it is not properly before this Court. Commonwealth v. Clair, supra.
If, however, the lack of preservation of the issue before us is to be overlooked, as is done in Mr. Justice O’BRIEN’s opinion, it seems to me patently clear that this Court is in no position to address the claim of ineffectiveness or the question of intoxication on which it depends. We do not have the benefit of any findings by the PCHA court with respect to these matters or as to the credibility of the witnesses who testified concerning them. Such findings are essential to proper appellate review. See, e. g., Commonwealth v. McIntyre, 451 Pa. 42, 47-48, 301 A.2d 832, 835 (1973). The opinion announcing the Court’s decision, however, accepts at face value and on a cold record the testimony of appellant as to his degree of inebriation at the time of the crime, and on this weak basis proceeds to find trial counsel ineffective for not having disbelieved his client earlier when the client denied being under the influence. With respect, I think this result is insupportable. The most the Court should do with regard to this issue of ineffectiveness is to remand the case *340to the trial court for findings of fact and a decision as to counsel’s performance in light of the facts as found.2

. Act of January 25, 1966, P.L. (1965) 1580, § 1, 19 P.S. §§ 1180-1 et seq. (Supp.1978).

. There are, however, other assignments of error (see note 4 of the lead opinion) which, in view of the date of the appellant’s conviction, and the indecisive nature of the result reached today, should in my judgment be addressed by the Court before any further proceedings on the issue which is addressed by the opinion announcing the decision.