Court Opinion

ID: 9704632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:41:35.72916+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:03.777987
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent. Under Commonwealth v. Mulgrew, 475 Pa. 271, 380 A.2d 349 (1977) the appellant is entitled to relief. Mulgrew, supra, held that a trial judge must charge the jury as to the consequences of returning a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. If the jury in the case before us had been so charged this could have changed the outcome of their deliberations and their ultimate verdict. It is possible that an informed decision, as mandated by Mulgrew, supra, was not made when the jury rendered its verdict.
Whether an issue is constitutional or not is not a fair way to determine whether the appellant is entitled to relief. If the error may have contributed to a miscarriage of justice, relief is warranted. Constitutional principles are not the only principles designed to insure a just result. Judicial law, as well as statutory law, seeks the same objective. The judgment of sentence should be reversed and a new trial granted.