Court Opinion

ID: 9719698
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:00:14.87504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:09.125837
License: Public Domain

*309Justice CASTILLE,
concurring.
I join the Majority Opinion with the exception of the statement suggesting that it is “troubling that counsel did not, at a minimum, expressly apprise Appellant in advance of his intention to admit guilt of voluntary manslaughter” and the ensuing discussion of that point. See Majority op. at 305-07, 888 A.2d at 722.
The issue posed on this appeal is one of counsel ineffectiveness and, as the Majority properly notes, the claim must be measured by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), which requires a showing of actual prejudice, and not by United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984), which permits a presumption of prejudice in certain, very limited instances where the defendant is effectively denied meaningful counsel at all. As the Majority necessarily notes in rejecting appellant’s attempt to expand Cronic, nothing in existing law requires a specific advance disclosure from counsel that he intends to concede a lesser offense in argument, and that is all that is necessary to resolve the question actually before us on this collateral attack. This is so because even if such a requirement were to be foisted upon defense counsel in the future, such a requirement could not operate retroactively to call into question the historical performance of counsel here. Commonwealth v. Hughes, 581 Pa. 274, 865 A.2d 761, 819 (2004) (Castille, J., joined by Eakin, J., concurring and dissenting) (“collateral attack is simply not the place for courts to innovate new holdings concerning trial issues, since counsel cannot be faulted for failing to predict those new rulings.”).
It may be preferable that counsel “specifically discuss” an intention to concede a lesser offense in closing before he does so, but for purposes of Strickland analysis I am not troubled when such an affirmative disclosure does not occur. Counsel’s limited “concession” in this bench trial, where the evidence easily supported a verdict of first degree murder, was perfectly rational and it was spectacularly successful. Far from being “prejudiced” by counsel’s conduct, appellant should be *310appreciative of the course the counsel undertook, whether appellant was consulted, or not.
In my view, to require counsel to discuss his specific intention with his client merely to permit the client to object or “express reservations” on the record delves too deeply into matters of trial tactics, and in a fashion which may seriously undermine counsel’s effectiveness and the client’s interests. This is particularly so where, as here, the trial is non-jury. Such a requirement would run the risk that the defendant will display to the factfinder a stubborn and unrealistic unwillingness to recognize any responsibility in a case where the course of trial has made it readily apparent that there is no colorable factual or legal defense to the lesser crime counsel intends to concede.1 Where a trial is non-jury, this forced revelation may seriously undermine the only rational strategy available to counsel. In the real world in a case such as the one sub judice, counsel’s “effective” performance under the Majority’s preference may well ensure only that a stubborn client receives a verdict of murder, rather than one of manslaughter. Rather than intrude into such trial strategy matters, I would continue to trust in the professionalism and assumed competence of the trial defense bar.

. In making this point, I am assuming appellant truly felt this way only for argument's sake; in reality, I suspect, he was relieved with the tactic and the verdict when rendered.