# Commonwealth v. Colson

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · April 4, 1985 · 507 Pa. 440

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9753050

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Martin A. COLSON, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** April 4, 1985
- **Citations:** 507 Pa. 440; 490 A.2d 811; 1985 Pa. LEXIS 397
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Nix
- **Judges:** Nix, Larsen, Flaherty, McDermott, Hutchinson, Zappala, Papadakos
- **Cited by:** 138 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Red flag:** Abrogated on other grounds by Commonwealth v. Burke, 566 Pa. 402 (2001).
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9753050

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that a defendant who is represented by counsel has no constitutional right to act as co-counsel
- holding that there is no constitutional right for a represented defendant to act as co-counsel

## Opinion text

NIX, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Although I recognize that the United States Supreme Court is moving in the opposite direction, see Wainwright v. Witt, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 844 , 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985), I remain convinced that the death qualification process produces juries which are both prosecution prone and unrepresentative of the community. See Commonwealth v. Szuchon, 506 Pa. 228, 260 , 484 A.2d 1365, 1382 (1984) (Nix, C.J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Maxwell, 505 Pa. 152, 172-174 , 477 A.2d 1309, 1319 , cert. denied, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 370 , 83 L.Ed.2d — (1984) (Nix, C.J., dissenting). The results of that procedure are particularly offensive here since, as the majority acknowledges, the death penalty should never have been a factor in the case.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9753050. Public record. Not legal advice.