Opinion

Commonwealth v. Brown

  • 287 Pa. Super. 450
  • 430 A.2d 690
  • 1981 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2784
Court
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
May 29, 1981
Status
Published
On the bench
Cercone, Montgomery, Watkins
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 7.5%

The opinion

PER CURIAM:

This is a direct pro se appeal from judgment of sentence. Appellant was convicted of one count of rape and sentenced to ten to twenty years imprisonment.

Among his numerous assignments of error appellant presents multiple claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. These claims were not considered by the court below; although appellant attempted to present them to it for determination the court refused to take up the question. There, as here, the presentation of the ineffectiveness claim was uncounseled. Our courts have often said that it is unrealistic “to expect a layman to ferret out instances of ineffectiveness without assistance of counsel.” Commonwealth v. Strachan, 460 Pa. 407, 410 , 333 A.2d 790, 791 (1975); see also Commonwealth v. Dancer, 460 Pa. 95 , 331 A.2d 435 (1975). Therefore, we order judgment of sentence vacated, and the case remanded for appointment of counsel and the determination of such ineffectiveness claims as appellant, by appointed counsel other than the Public Defender’s Office, shall make there. If the lower court finds that counsel was effective it shall order the judgment of sentence reinstated. In the latter event appellant, with the assistance of counsel, may present on appeal, at a new term and number, those *452 questions not waived at trial, as well as any questions appropriate concerning the mandated hearing on the effectiveness of trial counsel.

Judgment of sentence vacated and case remanded for proceedings consistent herewith.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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