Commonwealth v. Brown, L., of: Fam. Membs. - 32 EM 2023

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: April 3, 2024
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA EASTERN DISTRICT

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : No. 32 EM 2023 : : v. : : : LAVAR BROWN : : : PETITION OF: FAMILY MEMBERS OF : MURDER VICTIMS MICHAEL : RICHARDSON AND ROBERT CRAWFORD :

ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 3rd day of April, 2024, upon consideration of the Petition for

Exercise of King’s Bench Jurisdiction filed by the Family Members of Murder Victims

Michael Richardson and Robert Crawford (King’s Bench Petition), the Application for

Leave to File Amicus Curiae Memorandum In Support of Petition for Exercise of King’s

Bench Jurisdiction (Application to File Memorandum) filed by the Office of Attorney

General (OAG), and the Application for Leave to File Amicus Reply to Responses

(Application to File Responses) also filed by the OAG, and the various answers thereto,

it is hereby ordered:

1. The Application to File Memorandum and the Application to File Responses

are hereby GRANTED, and the Prothonotary is hereby directed to docket the

Memorandum and Responses attached to the applications.

2. The King’s Bench Petition is GRANTED, and the Court hereby exercises

King’s Bench jurisdiction to review the May 5, 2023 Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County in Commonwealth v. Brown (CP-51-CR-0407441-2004), vacating

the judgment of sentence entered by the court on October 24, 2004, pursuant to the Post

Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 9541-9546.

3. The parties are directed to brief the following issue, as framed by the Court:

Whether, and via what procedure, a common pleas court judge may grant

PCRA relief based upon concessions of the parties. See Commonwealth

v. Brown, 196 A.3d 130 (Pa. 2018).

4. A briefing schedule will follow. The Prothonotary is directed to list this

matter for oral argument. (See Pa. Supreme Court IOP § 3(A)(2)(c) (“The following cases

shall be listed for oral argument . . . upon completion of the briefing schedule or as soon

as practicable: . . . . “All other cases that have been designated by the Court as suitable

for argument.”).)

5. The OAG is invited to participate as amicus as well as participate in oral

argument.

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