Court Opinion

ID: 9694219
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:30:06.630078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:10:12.135179
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring:
I join in the majority opinion as I agree that the standard to evaluate counsel’s effectiveness on direct appeal should equally apply to ineffective counsel claims under the Post Conviction *320Relief Act. Although I joined Justice Montemuro’s opinion in Commonwealth v. Buehl, 540 Pa. 493, 658 A.2d 771 (1995), which held to the contrary, the protracted confusion in this area of the law convinces me that a separate standard for PCRA ineffectiveness claims is unworkable. Further, upon reflection, I am persuaded that the discrepancy in the language utilized in the PCRA and that espoused in Commonwealth v. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153, 527 A.2d 973 (1987), amounts to a distinction without a difference. Accordingly, I conclude that the better approach is that taken by the majority opinion.