Commonwealth v. Shadd

309 A.2d 780, 454 Pa. 148, 1973 Pa. LEXIS 741

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: October 3, 1973
• Docket: Appeal, 481
• Status: Published

Opinions

Opinion by

Me. Justice Nix,

In May of 1960, appellant Ronald Shadd was tried before a judge and jury and convicted of first degree murder. Post-trial motions were filed but later withdrawn, and a sentence of life imprisonment was imposed. In October, 1965, appellant filed a petition for habeas corpus alleging that his trial had been tainted by the introduction of testimony that he stood mute when confronted at a police station interview by a co-defendant’s statement implicating him in the homicide. The trial court dismissed the petition and an appeal to this .Court followed in which we recognized that the doctrine of tacit admission was in conflict with the protections afforded under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). We refused the requested relief to the appellant holding that this newly acknowledged right need not be applied retroactively. Commonwealth ex rel. Shadd v. Myers, 423 Pa. 82, 223 A. 2d 296 (1966).

That decision, however, did vacate the order of the court below and remanded the record for a hearing solely to determine if the appellant effectively waived his right to the assistance of counsel in the prosecution of the new trial motion and an appeal from the Judgment of Sentence. See Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 (1963). A review of the briefs filed with this Court and the entire record, certified by the court below fails to indicate whether a hearing was held pursuant to the order of remand and any disposition that may have been made.

On June 21, 1968, almost two years after the date of our decision, appellant filed a petition pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act¹ again challenging the use of a tacit admission at his trial. A hearing was held on that petition, and appellant was granted leave “to file a motion for new trial nunc pro tunc to the issues raised as a result of admission of Petitioner’s tacit admission at the time of Ms trial, the admission of the codefendant’s confession and the effect thereof.”² Pursuant to tMs order a motion was filed and after argument denied. TMs appeal is from the denial of that motion for a new trial.

In our first review of this case although recognizing that tacit admissions were no longer consistent with the protections now understood to be embraced by the Fifth Amendment a majority of the members of this Court determined that we were not required by the Federal Constitution to give retroactive effect to this newly recognized right and elected not. to do so. Relying heavily on an analogy with Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965) and Tehan v. Shott, 382 U.S. 406 (1966) this Court held that this protection would be awarded prospectively and would not be considered in a collateral attack on a judgment finalized several years previously.

In Commonwealth v. Dravecz, 424 Pa. 582, 592-595, 227 A. 2d 904 (1967), (Eagen, J., concurring, joined by Jones, Cohen and O’Brien, JJ.) four members of this Court expressed the view that the bar against tacit admissions should apply to all cases not finalized before the pronouncement in Miranda on June 13, 1966. These members of the Court further concluded that a case on direct appeal was not a final judgment. In Commonwealth v. Little, 432 Pa. 256, 248 A. 2d 32 (1968) after adopting the view of the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Eagen in Bravees, supra, this Court proceeded to hold a judgment was not final where the right to appeal had been granted nunc pro tunc. Most pertinent to our present inquiry the Court in Little observed: “The Commonwealth argues that Shadd covers the instant case because we there remanded for a Douglas hearing to determine whether Shadd had been denied his right to appeal. The next step in the Commonwealth’s argument is a complete non sequitur, for it states that Shadd makes clear that, should an appeal nunc pro tunc be allowed, the tacit admission question could not be raised. On the contrary, there is not the slightest intimation in Shadd that such was the case. We merely held that the tacit admission could not be collaterally attached. We said nothing at all concerning the using of the tacit admission question on a nunc pro tunc appeal.” (Emphasis added.)

The Court en Banc in reaching the conclusion that the appellant was not entitled to a new trial relied heavily on the “law of the case” doctrine.³

There is a serious question as to whether or not the doctrine of the “law of the case” is applicable to criminal cases particularly where the wrong complained of is an alleged violation of a recognized constitutional right. Accepting however, for the purpose of argument, that such a doctrine has some general applicability in this area of the law, it clearly does not apply in the present instance. In our original decision we concluded only that the appellant was not entitled to the benefit of this new protection because of the procedural posture of the case at that time. Thus, even if the doctrine is applicable in this area of the law, it would not come to play under the present factual setting in view of the fact that this Court has never ruled on the issue as to whether the appellant was to be granted relief for this complaint on an appeal nunc pro tunc.

In Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Myers, 438 Pa. 218, 261 A. 2d 550 (1970), we observed: “No one would suggest that this Court would be violating any settled principles of law by making a change in the law and reversing a conviction, even though the law at the time of conviction supported the conviction. This has occurred innumerable times, in practically every landmark constitutional criminal case. Nor should the result be any different where the appeal is nunc pro tunc rather than immediately after conviction.” 438 Pa. at 236. See also Commonwealth v. Johnson, 451 Pa. 528, 304 A. 2d 139 (1973).⁴

The judgment of sentence is reversed and a new trial awarded.

Mr. Justice Eagen concurs in the result. Mr. Justice Manderino concurs in the result.

1 Act of January 25, 1966, P. L. (1965), 1580, §1 et seq., 19 P.S. §1180-1 et seq. (Supp. 1973-74).

2 A review of the Notes of Testimony under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act suggests that counsel and the Court at that time were also unaware as to whether or not there had been any prior proceeding pursuant to our remand. The Court proceeded as if that hearing was for the purpose of determining a violation of the appellant’s Douglas rights. The Order subsequently entered would suggest that the Court did find a violation at least to the limited extent of the issues set forth therein. Since no appeal was taken from this Order the Commonwealth cannot now be heard to complain as to its effect.

3 “However, it is dear that we are bound to follow tbe law applicable to petitioner set forth in Ms earlier appeal; that regardless of tbe law set forth in the cases cited by petitioner, all of wMch followed Com. ex rd. Shadd, the express holding in petitioner’s original appeal is the ‘law of the case and we are legally required to follow the law as stated herein. If, arguendo, the Court’s original Opinion has been made palpably erroneous because of later decisions, the law of the case’ doctrine is still applicable to us; the appellate court alone has the authority to correct such error.” (Citations omitted.) See Opinion of Court en Banc p. 4, See Reamer’s Estate, 331 Pa. 117, 200 A. 35 (1938).

4 In view of our decision, we have not considered appellant’s other contentions.