Commonwealth v. Lausell, D., Jr.

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: July 11, 2023
• Docket: 580 MAL 2022
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 579 MAL 2022 : Respondent : : Petition for Allowance of Appeal : from the Unpublished v. : Memorandum and Order of the : Superior Court at No. 825 MDA : 2022 entered on November 14, DAVID LAUSELL, JR., : 2022, affirming the PCRA Order of : the Lancaster County Court of Petitioner : Common Pleas at No. CP-36-CR- : 0003033-2016 entered on May 20, 2022

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 580 MAL 2022 : Respondent : : Petition for Allowance of Appeal : from the Unpublished v. : Memorandum and Order of the : Superior Court at No. 826 MDA : 2022 entered on November 14, DAVID LAUSELL, JR., : 2022, affirming the PCRA Order of : the Lancaster County Court of Petitioner : Common Pleas at No. CP-36-CR- : 0003034-2016 entered on May 20, : 2022

ORDER

PER CURIAM DECIDED: July 11, 2023

AND NOW, this 11th day of July, 2023, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is

GRANTED, LIMITED TO the following issue, as stated by petitioner:

Whether Petitioner was denied the effective assistance of PCRA and trial counsel where PCRA counsel filed a Turner/Finley No-Merit Letter before the PCRA Court and did not contest the “mixed motive” of the Commonwealth where it seized a vehicle without a warrant and then performed a warrantless search of the vehicle and PCRA counsel failed to address the claim at all in a subsequent Turner/Finley No-Merit Brief before the Superior Court?

Allocatur is DENIED as to the remaining issue. The judgment of the Superior Court

is VACATED, and the matter is REMANDED to the Lancaster County Court of Common

Pleas for reconsideration in light of Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d 381 (Pa. 2021).

[579 MAL 2022 and 580 MAL 2022] - 2