Court Opinion

ID: 9717489
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:04:21.142473+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:53.458234
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Judge,
concurring:
I join in Judge Popovich’s well-reasoned opinion. Appellant has attempted to paint himself as a victim of court delay, racked by the uncertainty arising from the failure of the court to impose sentence until seven and one half years after post-verdict motions were denied. His silence during that delay, however, proves the illusory nature of the tragic image he paints. Appellant had but to assert his speedy trial right and sentence would undoubtedly have been imposed.
*145Here, either appellant (like the court and counsel) was ignorant of the fact that sentence had not been imposed and therefore suffered no anxiety, or he knew sentence had not been imposed but elected to stay silent, thus deciding not to borrow trouble from the future. In either case, he made no assertion of his speedy trial right and established no actual prejudice arising from the lengthy but understandable delay in imposing sentence. Hence, his speedy trial claim must fail. See Commonwealth v. Glover, 500 Pa. 524, 458 A.2d 935 (1983).
Likewise, I agree that there is not the slightest appearance of vindictiveness arising from the imposition of the sentence consecutive to the one appellant was already serving. Cf. Commonwealth v. Rocco, 375 Pa.Super. 330, 544 A.2d 496 (1988) (discussing vindictiveness in sentencing generally).
Hence, I join the majority opinion.