Court Opinion

ID: 9701837
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:40:09.932042+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:30.059462
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge
(dissenting):
The majority says that appellant’s privately retained trial counsel was not ineffective when he failed to appear to argue the post-trial motions he filed on appellant’s behalf.1 It reasons that because no meritorious issues *59were raised in those motions, the failure to argue them or to file a brief as directed by the lower court could not be termed ineffectiveness.2 I cannot agree with this analysis.
Even if we assume that the issues raised were without merit,3 it still does not follow that conscientious advocacy would not have affected the trial judge’s decision, at least as to sentence. Indeed, both the lower court’s order and opinion suggest that the opposite is true. Thus the order reads:
And now, March 6, 1975, counsel for the Defendant having failed to appear for the second time for argument and having failed to file briefs as directed by the order of Court, the Defendant’s Motions for a New Trial and for Arrest of Judgment are denied.
And in the opinion the court discusses defense counsel’s actions in considerable detail, indicating that the court viewed them with displeasure and found them relevant to the denial of post-trial relief and to the pronouncement of sentence:
On January 20, 1975, his [appellant’s] lawyer, John T. Grigsby, III, of the Philadelphia Bar, filed motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment ....
On January 25, 1975, we informed Mr. Grigsby that argument on the motions would be heard by the trial judge on February 20, 1975, and directed him to file his brief on or before February 10, 1975. Mr. Grigsby *60did not appear when the case was called for argument on February 20, 1975. According to the District Attorney, Mr. Grigsby telephoned him to say that he was ill and would not attend. On February 21, 1975, we advised Mr. Grigsby that the matter had been rescheduled for argument on March 6, 1975, and directed him to file his brief forthwith. No brief was filed, and again Mr. Grigsby failed to appear when the case was called on March 6, 1975. On this occasion, • Mr. Grigsby did not communicate with anyone to explain his absence. We thereupon made our Order denying the defendant’s motions and forwarded a copy to Mr. Grigsby. March 20, 1975, was fixed as the date for sentencing. Still nothing was heard from Mr. Grigsby until 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon of March 19, 1975 when a telegram was handed up to the trial judge, then on the Bench, requesting a continuance until March 29 because Mr. Grigsby was allegedly in trial in Luzerne County. We informed the defendant, who was confined in the Dauphin County Prison, of Mr. Grigsby’s request and that it would be denied. The defendant at this point, for the first time, advised the Court that Mr. Grigsby was no longer his counsel. On March 20, 1975, the defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than five years in the drug case and to a consecutive sentence of six months to two years on the firearms charge.
These statements quite belie the Commonwealth’s argument (which the majority has accepted) that “trial counsel’s failure to brief and appear for the [post-trial] motion, although unjustified, was harmless error, not prejudicial to Appellant.” Appellee’s brief at 7. In my view, it was most prejudicial.
Even if defense counsel’s nonfeasance had not damaged appellant’s case before the trial judge, I would not condone it by ignoring it, as the majority does. Counsel violated both the letter and spirit of the ABA Code of Professional Responsibility, Canons 6 and 7 (“A Lawyer *61Should Represent a Client Competently”; “A Lawyer Should Represent a Client Zealously Within the Bounds of the Law”), and of the ABA Standards Relating to the Defense Function (Approved Draft, 1971). Standard § 7.10 (“Post-trial motions”) establishes that “[t]he trial lawyer’s responsibility includes presenting appropriate motions, after verdict and before sentence, to protect the defendant’s rights.” The commentary to that Standard notes that “failure ... to pursue a motion once filed . . . has been considered to be ineffective assistance of counsel.” See also Standard § 1.2 (“Delays; punctuality”), Standard § 1.6 (“Client interests paramount”), and Standard § 3.9 (“Obligations to client and duty to court”). Where, as here, it appears on the record that an attorney has not complied with the standards governing his profession and may thereby have prejudiced his client’s interests, I would not assume without a further hearing that he had provided effective representation.
I would therefore vacate the judgment of sentence and remand the record to the lower court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether counsel was ineffective and whether he might have advanced his client’s case by appearing at the hearing on the post-trial motions and at sentencing. Commonwealth v. Twiggs, 460 Pa. 105, 111, 331 A.2d 440, 443 (1975).
The measure of counsel’s effectiveness has been stated by our courts many times: *62Commonwealth v. Bronson, 457 Pa. 66, 71, 321 A.2d 645, 647 (1974), quoting Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 604, 235 A.2d 349, 352-353 (1967) (emphasis in original). Given the present record, I would find it difficult to characterize trial counsel's behavior as a strategy “designed to effectuate his client’s interests.” Nevertheless, counsel should be afforded the opportunity to present any reasons he may have had for acting as he did. If the hearing judge were to determine that appellant had received ineffective assistance, appellant should be permitted to file and argue post-trial motions nunc pro tunc, with an appeal to be taken from their denial. If counsel were not found ineffective, the judgment of sentence should be reinstated.
*61“[Cjounsel’s assistance is deemed constitutionally effective once we are able to conclude that the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests . . . Although weigh the alternatives we must, the balance tips in favor of a finding of effective assistance as soon as it is determined that trial counsel’s decision had any reasonable basis.”
*62HOFFMAN, J., joins in this opinion.

. The question of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness is properly before us because appellant is represented on this appeal by counsel other than his trial counsel. Commonwealth v. Dancer, 460 Pa. 95, 331 A.2d 435 (1975). Although our courts have been reluctant to find retained counsel ineffective, Commonwealth ex rel. Marshall v. Maroney, 202 Pa.Super. 395, 196 A.2d 187 (1963), they have not *59refused to do so when required to by the facts of a given case. Commonwealth ex rel. Neal v. Myers, 424 Pa. 576, 227 A.2d 845 (1967).

. To support his claim of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness, appellant also asserts that counsel did not adequately cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses, and that he should have moved for a mistrial after the District Attorney made a prejudicial remark. I agree with the majority that these claims are not substantiated by the record.

. We have said that the test of whether counsel was ineffective for failure to raise a given issue in post-trial motions is whether that issue had merit. Commonwealth v. Learn, 233 Pa.Super. 288, 335 A.2d 417 (1975).