Court Opinion

ID: 9708063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:29:02.564969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:41.810535
License: Public Domain

*525WIEAND, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result. In view of appellant’s averments that there was a plea bargain by which the District Attorney agreed to recommend a sentence of imprisonment for not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years, which was not placed on the record, and in view of guilty plea counsel’s failure to act when the District Attorney failed to comply therewith, appellant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of his counsel’s stewardship. At that hearing he is entitled to be represented by counsel who is not associated with the Office of the Public Defender.
The need for such an evidentiary hearing, however, does not alone require that the sentence be vacated. I concur in the decision to vacate the sentence only because the trial court failed to comply with the mandate of Commonwealth v. Riggins, 474 Pa. 115, 377 A.2d 140 (1977), which requires that the reasons for the sentence be articulated on the record.