Commonwealth v. Piscanio

608 A.2d 1027, 530 Pa. 293, 1992 Pa. LEXIS 304
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 18, 1992
DocketNo. 107 E.D. Appeal Docket 1986
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 608 A.2d 1027 (Commonwealth v. Piscanio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Piscanio, 608 A.2d 1027, 530 Pa. 293, 1992 Pa. LEXIS 304 (Pa. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

ZAPPALA, Justice.

The issue presented is whether an appeal of the denial of bail divests the trial court of jurisdiction to try the case. We find, based on the facts of the case sub judice, that the trial court had jurisdiction to proceed to trial notwithstanding Appellee Michael Piscanio’s appeal. For this reason, we now reverse the order of the Superior Court.

Appellee was arrested and charged with passing bad checks and theft by deception. Prior to trial, Appellee filed inter alia an appeal to the Superior Court from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County that denied him bail.1 While this appeal was pending before the Superi- or Court, Appellee’s criminal trials began. Appellee was convicted on July 13, 1981, following a jury trial, of three counts each of passing bad checks and theft by deception. At a second trial completed on December 21, 1981, Appellee also was found guilty by a jury of one count each of passing bad checks and theft by deception. Appellee then elected to proceed without argument or filing a brief in support of his consolidated motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment. The trial court denied Appellee’s motions on July 1, 1983. Following sentencing on August 19, [295]*2951983, Appellee filed a motion to vacate the trial court’s July 1, 1983, order and reinstate his post verdict motions. While this motion was pending before the trial court, Appellee filed an appeal with the Superior Court on August 22,1983.2 The trial court three days later denied Appellee’s motion to vacate the July 1, 1983, order.

The Superior Court in an order and memorandum opinion reversed the judgment of sentence of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County and remanded the case for a new trial. The Superior Court reasoned that although the trial judge found that the issues raised were meritless and/or the orders appealed from interlocutory, proceeding to trial upon such grounds only became possible after the adoption of Rule 1701(b)(6) which became effective subsequent to Appellee’s trial. The Superior Court then based its decision to reverse and remand for a new trial on Commonwealth v. Hall, 327 Pa.Super. 390, 476 A.2d 7 (1984). The Superior Court failed to consider Pa.R.A.P. 1701 in its entirety and in so doing misapplied Commonwealth v. Hall.

The then-applicable Pa.R.A.P. 1701 provided:

(a) General rule. Except as otherwise prescribed by these rules, after an appeal is taken or review of a quasijudicial order is sought, the trial court or other government unit may no longer proceed further in the matter.
(b) Authority of a trial court or agency after appeal. After an appeal is taken or review of a quasijudicial order is sought, the trial court or other government unit may:
(1) Take such action as may be necessary to preserve the status quo, correct formal errors in papers relating to the matter, cause the record to be transcribed, approved, filed and transmitted, grant leave to appeal in forma pauperis, grant supersedeas, and take other action permitted or required by these rules or otherwise [296]*296ancillary to the appeal or petition for review proceeding.
(2) Enforce any order entered in the matter, unless the effect of the order has been superseded as prescribed in this chapter.
(3) Grant reconsideration of the order which is the subject of the appeal or petition, if:
(i) an application for reconsideration of the order is filed in the trial court or other government unit within the time provided or prescribed by law; and
(ii) an order expressly granting reconsideration of such prior order is filed in the trial court or other government unit within the time prescribed by these rules for the filing of a notice of appeal or petition for review of a quasijudicial order with respect to such order, or within any shorter time provided or prescribed by law for the granting of reconsideration.
A timely order granting reconsideration under this paragraph shall render inoperative any such notice of appeal or petition for review of a quasijudicial order theretofore or thereafter filed or docketed with respect to the prior order, and the clerk of any court in which such an inoperative notice or petition is filed or docketed shall upon praecipe of any party note on the docket that such notice or petition has been stricken under this rule. Where a timely order of reconsideration is entered under this paragraph, the time for filing a notice of appeal or petition for review begins to run anew after the entry of the decision on reconsideration, whether or not that decision amounts to a reaffirmation of the prior determination of the trial court or other government unit.
(4) Authorize the taking of depositions or the preservation of testimony where required in the interest of justice.
(5) Take any action directed or authorized on application by the appellate court.
[297]*297(c) Limited to matters in dispute. Where only a particular item, claim or assessment adjudged in the matter is involved in an appeal, or in a petition for review proceeding relating to a quasijudicial order, the appeal or petition for review proceedings shall operate to prevent the trial court or other government unit from proceeding further with only such item, claim or assessment, unless otherwise ordered by the trial court or other government unit or by the appellate court or a judge thereof as necessary to preserve the rights of the appellant.
(d) Certain petitions for review. The filing of a petition for review (except a petition relating to a quasijudicial order) shall not affect the power or authority of the government unit to proceed further in the matter but the government unit shall be subject to any orders entered by the appellate court or a judge thereof pursuant to this chapter.

Subsection (b)(6) which became effective September 15, 1983, authorized the trial court to proceed further in any matter in which a nonappealable interlocutory order has been entered, notwithstanding the filing of a notice of appeal or a petition for review of the order.

In Commonwealth v. Hall, supra, the Superior Court addressed the issue of whether the lower court erred in proceeding to trial while Hall’s separate appeals from orders denying his pre-trial motions for writ of habeas corpus and to recuse the trial judge were pending. The trial court instituted the trial, despite the two pending appeals, on the apparent belief that the appeals were improperly filed due to the interlocutory and nonappealable nature of the orders. Following trial, Hall was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm without a license.

The Superior Court found that the trial court did not err in instituting trial due to Hall’s pending appeal from the order denying his motion for a writ of habeas corpus. The court reasoned that the appeal was filed pro se prior to Hall acquiring leave to proceed pro se and for that reason had no legal effect since he was represented by counsel. The [298]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
608 A.2d 1027, 530 Pa. 293, 1992 Pa. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-piscanio-pa-1992.