Court Opinion

ID: 9719578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:56:22.652482+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.280349
License: Public Domain

WIEAND,
Judge dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
In Commonwealth v. Mueller, 258 Pa.Super. 219, 223, 392 A.2d 763, 765 (1978), this Court held that “where the record shows that the Commonwealth made out a prima facie case of guilt on the part of an accused, he will then have the burden to affirmatively demonstrate non-culpability at a hearing, otherwise his petition to expunge will be denied.” See also: Chase v. King, 267 Pa.Super. 498, 406 A.2d 1388 (1979).
*360In the instant case, the Commonwealth did make out a prima facie case against appellee, but the case was ultimately dismissed because the Commonwealth’s evidence was suppressed. Under these circumstances, appellee was required to demonstrate affirmatively her nonculpability. This she did not do. Moreover, the trial court did not find that appellee had proven freedom from criminal responsibility. To opine that appellee had been grossly overcharged, as the trial court did, or to suggest that there was no incriminating evidence except that which had been suppressed, was most certainly not equivalent to a finding of nonculpability. In the absence of such proof, the order granting expungement should be reversed. Thus, my dissent.