Court Opinion

ID: 9758540
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:35:17.240193+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:52.706859
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress an incriminating oral statement made by appellant which was the product of an unnecessary delay between arrest and arraignment.
Ordinarily, when this Court finds that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress, we need do no more than order a suppression hearing. Here, however, we have before us all the facts of record necessary to *226decide the issue, which has been thoroughly briefed and argued. It is clear the suppression motion would be successful. Therefore, in the interest of judicial economy, it is appropriate to proceed to the merits of appellant’s claim. See Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Myers, 438 Pa. 218, 261 A.2d 550 (1970); Commonwealth v. Gist, 433 Pa. 101, 249 A.2d 351 (1969).
Because appellant’s in-custody oral statement should have been suppressed as the product of an unnecessary delay between arrest and arraignment, see Pa.R.Crim.P. 122 (formerly 116); Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1972), I agree that judgment of sentence should be reversed and a new trial granted.