Court Opinion

ID: 9760021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:38:48.779111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:07.532530
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result. However, I write separately to clarify what, at first blush, may appear to be an unduly harsh result. That is, the dismissal of appellant’s appeal because of the lower court’s (in)action.
Instantly, the appellant does not assert that the lower court failed to inform him of his appellate rights and the time stricture within which they had to be exercised to be preserved. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1405. As a result, it was the appellant’s obligation to comply with the applicable Rules of *295Criminal Procedure, in particular Pa.R.Crim.P. 1410, which provides in the Comment portion that:
“Under this rule, the mere filing of a motion for modification of sentence and the court’s scheduling of a hearing on the motion do not affect the running of the thirty day period for filing a timely notice of appeal, and the need for the defendant to file his appeal (both as to the merits of the case or as to the sentence) within that period.”
In other words, based on the preceding, the accused is wise to file an application for reconsideration below and a notice of appeal. See, e.g., Pa.R.App.P. 1701. In such instance, if the lower court does not vacate the judgment of sentence, either in connection with the granting of the motion for modification or in order to have additional time within which to consider the motion, and the motion for reconsideration is denied after the passage of the 30-day appeal period, the prior notice of appeal would be considered sufficient to preserve appellate review of a judgment of sentence. See Commonwealth v. Corson, 298 Pa.Super. 51, 444 A.2d 170 (1982). Appellant, not having taken such steps here, will not be heard to complain and his appeal is determined sua sponte to be untimely, Commonwealth v. Dorman, 272 Pa.Super. 149, 414 A.2d 713 (1979); therefore, it is dismissed.