Court Opinion

ID: 9763819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:56:28.344984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:49.854478
License: Public Domain

NIGRO, Justice,
concurring.
I join the majority opinion but write separately only to clarify my position in Commonwealth v. Marrero, 561 Pa. 100, 748 A.2d 202 (2000), which the majority relies upon in reaching its conclusion on how claims of appellate counsel’s ineffectiveness are to be developed in PCRA capital cases. In Marrero, I found the appellant’s ineffectiveness claims were waived in light of the fact that the appellant merely added a boilerplate claim of appellate counsel’s ineffectiveness in his questions presented for review section. The appellant in Marrero never mentioned, much less discussed, his claim of appellate coun*586sel’s ineffectiveness in the discussion section of his brief. In my view, in order to avoid a finding of waiver, the appellant’s discussion section must not only address each prong of the ineffectiveness standard as it relates to trial counsel but must, at the very least, include a properly-layered assertion that all prior appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to raise trial counsel’s ineffectiveness.