Court Opinion

ID: 9629959
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:54:38.38791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:28.098268
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent. The majority ignores (1) a clear violation of rule 1100, (2) a textbook case of ineffective assistance *29of trial counsel, and (3) appellant’s inartfully expressed challenge to the voluntariness of his plea.
The Commonwealth’s brief in this case states that this Court ordered a new trial on December 7, 1973, and that the first listing of the case was January 23, 1974. This was a delay of 47 days. At the first listing the case was continued until February 13, 1974, to allow time for a court ordered psychiatric examination of appellant. On February 13th the case was continued until February 14th. On the 14th it was continued until February 15th. On the 15th it was placed in the “Ready Pool for Room 613.” The case was not heard until April 16, 1974. From February 15th until April 16th is a delay of another 59 days. There is nothing in the record, by the Commonwealth’s own admission, to explain this delay of 106 days, nor is there anything that in any way indicates that appellant contributed to or had any control over this delay. There is no doubt that rule 1100, which, at that time, allowed 90 days for a new trial, was violated.
The majority states that “failure to [seek the remedy of dismissal of all charges for a violation of rule 1100] is not an automatic indication of ineffectiveness of defense counsel.” I cannot conceive of any circumstances in which defense counsel could claim to be serving the best interests of his client while failing to pursue a course of action which would completely free his client. This iss even more true when the client has already been convicted of the crimes charged once, and thus has little if any interest in preserving his reputation by standing trial and winning an acquittal. Just as there was a clear violation of rule 1100, there is a clear case of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
The majority states that “the claimed ineffectiveness [of trial counsel] is not an independent ground for relief on appeal, but relates to the validity of the plea.” Without arguing the accuracy of this statement, I cannot agree with the majority that appellant is not challenging *30the validity of his plea. If he had been effectively assisted by trial counsel he would have been discharged because of the violation of rule 1100. As a result of the discharge, he would not have been required to plead to the charges. Thus, his plea was not knowing, intelligent or voluntary because he was never told that he could go free.
What is even more disturbing about this case is that appellant had filed a pro se petition for discharge which was never ruled upon. The majority uses this to show that appellant acted knowingly at his guilty plea hearing. To the contrary, it demonstrates not only that appellant was severely prejudiced by trial counsel’s ineffectiveness, but also that the trial court was prevented from ruling on a meritorious claim because of counsel’s neglect.
Finally, the majority asserts that “the validity of a guilty plea may not normally be raised for the first time on direct appeal from the judgment of sentence.” I disagree. There is nothing in our rules of criminal procedure which requires the filing of a motion to withdraw the plea before this Court can consider the validity of the plea. Moreover, the majority makes no distinction between claims which may be decided on the record and those which require evidentiary hearings to be resolved. In view of the burden which the trial courts already bear, I am loath to interpose another step, which will often be completely unnecessary, between judgment of sentence and appeal. This Court has long been able to decide when a case must be remanded for an evidentiary hearing, and has long felt free to do so. The effective administration of justice is not well served by the majority’s suggested procedure which will do little to lighten our case load, at the cost of greatly increasing the load on the trial courts of the Commonwealth.
NIX and MANDERINO, JJ., join in this opinion.