Court Opinion

ID: 9750642
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:15:36.013974+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:15.602660
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, as I regard representation by counsel whose dereliction forecloses effective merits review of all claims raised on appeal to be the functional equivalent of having no counsel at all. I do not see a material difference between forfeiting the entire appeal based on untimely filing; failure to perfect the appeal; and failure to file a brief which can be considered on the merits. In each event, the client garners no effective appellate merits review of any issue.
*277The majority expresses the concern that extending the presumption of prejudice to a defect in an appellate brief “essentially would transform the exception into a rule, as many appellate briefs contain at least one arguable defect.” Majority Opinion, at 275, 971 A.2d at 1227. However, as Appellee stresses throughout his present brief, the situation at hand is one in which counsel on direct appeal forfeited one-hundred percent of the claims raised on appeal. Since this simply is not the norm in appellate litigation, I do not believe the majority’s floodgates concern carries a great deal of force. Moreover, this is not an issue entailing relief from the judgment of sentence. Rather, it concerns only the provision of the one appeal as of right to which Appellee was and is constitutionally entitled.
For the above reasons, I would affirm the order of the Superior Court.