# Brown v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · October 31, 1980 · 491 Pa. 411

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6262274

## Case

- **Full name:** Roy A. BROWN v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF PROBATION AND PAROLE
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** October 31, 1980
- **Citations:** 491 Pa. 411; 421 A.2d 203; 1980 Pa. LEXIS 870
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Roberts
- **Judges:** Brien, Flaherty, Kauffman, Larsen, Nix, Roberts
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6262274

## Opinion text

ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the summary affirmance of an order of the Commonwealth Court denying pro se appellant Roy Brown’s petition for review of a Board of Probation and Parole’s recomputation of sentence. The matter should first be remanded for a determination of whether there has been an “intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right” to counsel. See Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464 , 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023 , 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938); Commonwealth v. Cooney, 439 Pa. 324 , 266 A.2d 650 (1970) (record remanded for determination whether pro se PCHA appellant knowingly waived right to counsel); see also Bronson v. Pa. Board of Probation and Parole, 492 Pa. -, 421 A.2d 1021 (1980) (indigent parole violator seeking review of Board determination entitled to counsel).
NIX, J., joins this dissenting opinion.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6262274. Public record. Not legal advice.