Court Opinion

ID: 9652229
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:21:00.135813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:49.572816
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent, for I do not believe that, on the basis of the record before us, this Court can properly conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that the fifteen-year-old juvenile witness, Ronald Jankowski, was incompetent to testify.
The standard of review in cases involving the competency of infant witnesses is limited, and was set forth by this Court as the majority points out, in Rosche v. McCoy, as follows:
*413“The question of competency of persons said to be mentally immature due to infancy is to be determined in the discretion of the trial judge after an inquiry as to mental maturity once the face of infancy appears on the record or is obvious to the judge. This discretion, however, is not absolute but legal. Nevertheless, it will not be reversed in the absence of abuse.” Rosche v. McCoy, 397 Pa. 615, 620, 156 A.2d 307, 310 (1959). (Emphasis added.)
My review of the record satisfies me that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in holding Ronald Jankowski competent to testify. The finding of the trial judge in a matter of this sort, based on his appraisal of the appearance and demeanor of the witness before him, should not be overturned by this Court on a cold record absent some compelling evidence of error. Such evidence is not here present, and I would affirm the judgments of sentence.