Court Opinion

ID: 9713325
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:13:19.694128+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:18.142882
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. This Court has held that in order to reach the merits of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness, an appellant must raise the issue of each successive attorney’s ineffectiveness. This logic is now leading us into becoming entrapped in a legal morass.
In the case before us, PCHA counsel, alleged in the PCHA petition that trial counsel was ineffective. However, since PCHA counsel failed to include a claim that appellate counsel was also ineffective, the issue was waived. Similarly, present counsel alleged before this Court that trial and appellate counsel were ineffective but failed to include a claim that PCHA counsel was ineffective. Therefore, the majority reasons, the claim of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness is waived. Does this mean that if a fifth attorney were to take appellant’s case and allege that trial counsel, appellate *234counsel, PCHA, and present counsel were all ineffective, this Court would finally reach the merits of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness?
I am aware that there may be different reasons for trial counsel to employ one strategy or another and that therefore trial counsel’s effectiveness may sometimes only be determined through an evidentiary hearing. However, there are no strategic reasons for not raising issues at the appellate stage and this Court can determine of its own accord whether counsel beyond the trial level was ineffective or not. Therefore, we should remove ourselves from hyper-technicalities and infer the allegation of PCHA counsel’s ineffectiveness and decide the issues of ineffectiveness on the merits.