Court Opinion

ID: 9753709
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:24:07.878327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:40.855440
License: Public Domain

STEVENS, J.,
Dissenting.
¶ 1 I respectfully dissent from the Majority’s decision to reverse Appellant’s judgment of sentence and remand for further proceedings.
¶ 2 Our distinguished trial judges see and hear from defendants first-hand and are in a much better position than we, appellate court judges, to know when a defendant is manipulating the court system. Such is the case here.
¶ 3 In this case, the Majority gives more weight to the actions of the defendant than to the discretion of the learned trial judge, although there is nothing in the record to indicate that the trial judge abused his discretion. The Majority, by permitting a defendant to avoid a trial date without directly contacting his own attorney and the court to request a continuance, undermines the right of the trial judge to sanction those who manipulate our courts.
¶4 Continuances are governed by the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure as follows:
Rule 106. Continuances in Summary and Court Cases
*952(A) The court or issuing authority may, in the interests of justice, grant a continuance, on its own motion, or on the motion of either party.
(C) A motion for continuance on behalf of the defendant shall be made not later than 48 hours before the time set for the trial. A later motion shall be entertained only when the opportunity therefor did not previously exist, or the defendant was not aware of the grounds for the motion, or the interests of justice require it.
Pa.R.Crim.P. 106. Here, it is undisputed that Appellant’s counsel did not request a continuance until the morning of trial. Although the rule allows the trial court to entertain a later motion when the grounds for it did not previously exist, the decision to entertain such a motion is clearly placed within the discretion of the trial court. Pa.R.Crim.P. 106(c).
The grant or denial of a motion for a continuance is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will be reversed only upon a showing of an abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Ross, 465 Pa. 421, 422 n. 2, 350 A.2d 836, 837 n. 2 (1976). As we have consistently stated, an abuse of discretion is not merely an error of judgment. Mielcuszny v. Rosol, 317 Pa. 91, 93-94, 176 A. 236, 237 (1934). Rather, discretion is abused when “the law is overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will, as shown by the evidence or the record .... ” Commonwealth v. Chambers, 546 Pa. 370, 387, 685 A.2d 96, 104 (1996) (quoting Mielcuszny, 317 Pa. at 93-94, 176 A. at 236).
Commonwealth v. McAleer, 561 Pa. 129, 136, 748 A.2d 670, 673 (2000).
¶ 5 In this case, Appellant’s counsel explained to Judge Olszewski that a female claiming to be Appellant’s girlfriend left a message on counsel’s answering machine that there had been a death in Appellant’s family and that Appellant would not be appearing for trial. N.T. 6/17/02 at 4.2 As the Majority acknowledges, it is undisputed that Appellant voluntarily absented himself from court. Because I would find that Appellant has failed to show that “the law [was] overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised [was] manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will, as shown by the evidence or the record,” I would conclude that Judge Olszewski committed no abuse of discretion in refusing to delay the trial. McAleer, supra.
¶ 6 I would also specifically conclude it was not error for the trial judge to deny a mistrial on the claim that a witness for the prosecution improperly vouched for the truthfulness of another prosecution witness.
¶ 7 For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the judgment of sentence.

. Although in his brief to this Court Appellant asserts that he "notified his undersigned counsel that he had a death in the family and that he was traveling out of town to the funeral and would not be present on June 17, 2002 for the trial,” the transcript makes it clear that Appellant had not spoken to his counsel personally, nor had he personally left a message for counsel. Appellant's brief at 4, N.T. 6/17/02 at 4. Additionally, the message that counsel did receive does not appear to have made any mention that Appellant had to travel out of town for the funeral. Id.