Court Opinion

ID: 9692581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:57:36.081561+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:35.416117
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
Appellant’s speedy trial claim was not raised in the trial court until post-trial motions. Since the question was not timely raised, it may not be considered on appeal. Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974); Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Trust Co., 457 Pa. 255, 322 A.2d 114 (1974); Commonwealth v. Agie, 449 Pa. 187, 189, 296 A.2d 741, 743 (1972).
To the extent the majority intimates that a motion to quash is the exclusive means of raising a speedy trial claim, I cannot agree. While this claim must be raised before the trial is commenced,* it may also be presented via some other procedural device. For example, in Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Patterson, 409 Pa. 500, 187 A.2d 278 (1963), the defendant moved to nolle pros the indictment for failure to afford a speedy trial. This Court reversed the judgment of sentence and discharged the appellant, Mr. Justice Eagen writing for a unanimous court: “Undoubtedly, the proper legal motion should have been to quash the indictment. However, the law is not so rigid as to base a deprivation of constitutional prerogatives upon a *357mere unfortunate choice of legal terminology by defense counsel.” 409 Pa. at 503-04, 187 A.2d at 279.
I concur in the result.

 Cf. Commonwealth v. Gates, 429 Pa. 453, 455, 240 A.2d 815, 816 (1963); Commonwealth ex rel. DeMoss v. Cavell, 423 Pa. 597, 601, 225 A.2d 673, 675 (1963); see also ABA Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Standards Relating to Speedy Trial § 4.1 (Approved Draft, 1968).