Court Opinion

ID: 9694489
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:44:00.823414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:02.435893
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring.
While I wholeheartedly join in the majority opinion, I write separately to express my unfeigned consolation that once again there is vitality to Pa.R.Crim.Pro. 1100 and that, perhaps, reports of its demise in this Commonwealth have been greatly exaggerated. See, Commonwealth v. Bond, 516 Pa. 171, 532 A.2d 339 (1987) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Koonce, 511 Pa. 452, 515 A.2d 543 (1986) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Monosky, 511 Pa. 148, 511 A.2d 1346 (1986) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Terfinko, 504 Pa. 385, 474 A.2d 275 (1984) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Manley, 503 Pa. 482, 469 A.2d 1042 (1983) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Green, 503 Pa. 278, 469 A.2d 552 (1983) (Zappala, J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Crowley, 502 Pa. 393, 466 A.2d 1009 (1983) (Zappala, J., dissenting). It should come as great solace to the defense bar of this Commonwealth that the rule has been resurrected.
I must also specifically concur in the accurate statement of the majority that the former demise of the rule was greatly hastened by a Superior Court which “is more and more inclined to accept any and every excuse for failure to bring a criminal case to trial within the period prescribed by Rule 1100”. At p. 89-90. The purpose of the rule cannot *92be advanced if we continuously make excuses for the failure to enforce it. It is for these reasons that I strongly concur in the great stride made by the majority today in recognizing this fact.