Court Opinion

ID: 9750783
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:32:26.122364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:21.953912
License: Public Domain

*184VAN der VOORT, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. Our Pennsylvania Courts have consistently held that, when a defendant wants to challenge the validity of his guilty plea, he must file a petition in the trial court to withdraw his plea. Assuming, as does the majority of our court, that the defendant has not waived his right to challenge the validity of his guilty plea by not taking a direct appeal (an assumption I would not make), our court should not make the determination that defendant’s guilty plea was invalid. The correct procedure in my judgment is for our court to remand the case to the court below to allow the defendant-appellant to petition that court to withdraw his plea.