Commonwealth v. Cook, W., Aplt.

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: September 7, 2021
• Docket: 21 EAP 2021
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA EASTERN DISTRICT

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 21 EAP 2021 : Appellee : : : v. : : : WESLEY COOK, : : Appellant :

ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 7th day of September, 2021, the order of the Superior Court

transferring this appeal, see Commonwealth v. Cook, 290 EDA 2019, is VACATED. This

appeal is TRANSFERRED to the Superior Court for disposition.

This Court lacks direct appellate jurisdiction over an appeal taken by a defendant

who had formerly been subject to a death sentence, but who is now sentenced to life

imprisonment. See Commonwealth v. Rompilla, 983 A.2d 1207, 1211 (Pa. 2009)

(observing that this Court’s direct appellate jurisdiction over PCRA orders in capital

matters “plainly does not encompass cases in which the death penalty was imposed at

one time but subsequently was vacated and a judgment of sentence of life imprisonment

was imposed”). Rather, the Superior Court has exclusive, direct appellate jurisdiction

over an appeal from an order involving a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment. See

42 Pa.C.S. §742 (“The Superior Court shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction of all

appeals from final orders of the courts of common pleas, . . . except such classes of appeals as are by any provision of this chapter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the

Supreme Court or the Commonwealth Court.”).

The Superior Court is directed to address whether the PCRA petitions were timely

filed in light of Commonwealth v. Reid, 235 A.3d 1124 (Pa. 2020), which was issued after

the PCRA court reinstated these appeals.

Jurisdiction relinquished.

Chief Justice Baer and Justices Saylor and Todd did not participate in the

consideration or decision of this matter.

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