Court Opinion

ID: 9641574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:35:08.401475+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:51:03.832185
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority acknowledges that the right of a defendant to a direct appeal may be waived and that such a waiver may be effectuated by the withdrawal of post-verdict motions provided the withdrawal is knowingly and intelligently made. See, e. g., Commonwealth v. Tate, 473 Pa. 478, 375 A.2d 341 (1977); Commonwealth v. Williams, 459 Pa. 589, 330 A.2d 854 (1975); Commonwealth v. Maloy, 438 Pa. 261, *67264 A.2d 697 (1970). The Court concludes, however, that in the case at bar the attempted waiver was not knowing and intelligent. This conclusion is based upon what I think is a strained reading of the record. I therefore dissent.
In Commonwealth v. Tate, supra, Mr. Chief Justice Eagen, speaking for a unanimous Court, noted that in order to establish an effective waiver of the right to appeal, “the accused must be advised that a failure to raise an issue in post-verdict motions precludes raising that issue on appeal”, supra, 473 Pa. at 480, 375 A.2d at 342. The Court finds that element to be lacking in the case at bar. This conclusion, however, is hard to square with the clear explanation by defendant’s lawyer made in the course of the colloquy conducted by the trial judge, and in the presence of the defendant, which preceded the acceptance of the defendant’s withdrawal of the post-trial motions:
MR. RIDGE: “. . . Mr. Taylor has been informed that by withdrawing this motion, he is waiving any of the potential objections that he may have had to the trial, to include, of course, any errors and admissions of possible prejudicial testimony, the Court's Charge, anything that defense counsel may have thought were possible grounds to give him a new trial. He has been advised that by waiving or withdrawing this particular motion, he is waiving forever these grounds as a possible source for a later appeal.” (Emphasis added.)
In his opinion filed pursuant to this Court’s remand order, the trial judge noted that the defendant “was an intelligent individual who appeared to understand everything that was said to him,” and that by reason of professional testing, Taylor’s lawyer deemed him to be of above average intelligence. The court went on to state:
“The defendant by his testimony at the evidentiary hearing would now want this Court to believe that he was under some sort of pressure in that he wanted out of the County Jail and further, that he thought that the withdrawal of such Motions related only to the three basic reasons stated in the Motions that were filed, and would *68not in any way bar his appealing later on the admission of Officer Rigazzi’s statement. This Court finds such testimony not credible. Considering the abilities of the defendant, the competency of his counsel, their advice to him, and the colloquy conducted by the Court, it can only be determined that the defendant’s decision to withdraw these Motions at the time was knowingly and intelligently given, with a full consideration of the consequences.”
I see no justification for this Court now to reverse the trial judge’s finding that the defendant was not to be believed when he stated at the hearing that he misunderstood what he was doing when he withdrew the motions.
LARSEN, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.