Court Opinion

ID: 9750165
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:26:19.178458+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:03.483721
License: Public Domain

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
I concur fully in the majority’s determination that appellant’s incriminating statements were unconstitutionally obtained. I likewise agree that the warrant-less search of his residence was invalid and that the fruits of that search were improperly admitted into evidence at the degree of guilt hearing.
*597I must dissent, however, from the majority’s rejection of appellant’s attempt to have his plea of guilty vacated. Today’s majority decision newly adopts for this Commonwealth the principles recently announced by the United States Supreme Court in McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 90 S. Ct. 1441 (1970). Henceforth, “a defendant who alleges that he pleaded guilty because of a prior coerced confession is not, without more, entitled to a hearing on his [post conviction] petition . . .” Id. at 771, 90 S. Ct. at 1449 (emphasis added). This is a distinct departure from our previous decisions. “In Commonwealth v. Garrett, 425 Pa. 594, 597-98, 229 A. 2d 922, 925 (1967), we announced the rule that a defendant who had pled guilty at trial could nevertheless challenge an allegedly coerced confession collaterally, provided he could prove that the plea was primarily motivated by the confession.” Commonwealth v. Baity, 428 Pa. 306, 307, 237 A. 2d 172, 173 (1968).
As appellant could have reasonably relied upon this Court’s previous pronouncements in Garrett and Baity, it would be most unfair to bar his claim on the basis of today’s sudden change in the applicable law. He deserves, at the least, an opportunity to amend his motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment. Given such an opportunity, appellant might be able to make further material allegations concerning his 1966 guilty plea, possibly satisfying the more demanding requirements which the majority adopts today.