# Commonwealth Ex Rel. Washington v. Maroney

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · November 14, 1967 · 427 Pa. 599

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9650759

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth Ex Rel. Washington, Appellant, v. Maroney
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** November 14, 1967
- **Citations:** 427 Pa. 599; 235 A.2d 349; 1967 Pa. LEXIS 525
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Bell
- **Judges:** Bell, Jones, Cohen, Eagen, O'Brien, Roberts, Musmanno
- **Cited by:** 1,024 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Red flag:** Overruled on other grounds by Commonwealth v. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153 (1987).
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9650759

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding of ineffectiveness cannot be made unless alternatives not chosen offer potential for success substantially greater than tactics used; therefore, if there was no reasonable basis for counsel's decision, his decisions were prejudicial to client

## Opinion text

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Chief Justice Bell:
This appeal involves several 1959 convictions during which defendant was represented by an attorney who had tried over a thousand criminal cases. It is to the credit of the attorney that he could not remem *614 her some details of exactly what happened in 1959. As so frequently happens in recent habeas corpus and recent post-conviction proceedings and appeals therefrom, there is no doubt of defendant’s guilt — indeed, in most of them, defendant relies solely upon recently created legal technicalities and does not even allege his innocence.
I would affirm all the convictions and judgments of sentences and the orders of the lowér Court which Avere entered in this habeas corpus proceeding.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9650759. Public record. Not legal advice.