Court Opinion

ID: 9731857
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:00:13.988634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:21.633498
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts :
In Commonwealth v. Williams, 432 Pa. 557, 248 A. 2d 301 (1968), a majority of this Court held that an unobjected to error in the judge’s charge was “basic and fundamental error,” and hence could still be raised on appeal. In the instant case, the majority refuses to consider an unobjected to error in the charge, an error which, to me, was at least as damaging as the error in Williams. Thus the majority demonstrates, once again, that it cannot apply its own “test” with any degree of uniformity. See Commonwealth v. Scoleri, 432 Pa. 571, 582-83, 248 A. 2d 295, 300-301 (1968) (concurring opinion) ; Commonwealth v. Williams, 432 Pa. at 569-71, 248 A. 2d at 307-308 (dissenting opinion). It being my view that the unobjected to error in the instant case cannot now be raised, see Commonwealth v. Simon, 432 Pa. 386, 248 A. 2d 289 (1968), I concur in the majority’s decision to affirm the judgment of sentence.