Commonwealth v. Stewart, J.

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: May 28, 2026
• Docket: 282 WAL 2025
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA WESTERN DISTRICT

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 282 WAL 2025 : Respondent : : Petition for Allowance of Appeal : from the Unpublished Order of v. : the Superior Court at No. 709 : WDA 2024 entered on October : 21, 2024, dismissing the JEROME JULIAN STEWART, : Judgment of Sentence of the : Washington County Court of Petitioner : Common Pleas at No. CP-63-CR- : 0001862-2021 entered on March : 1, 2024

ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 28th day of May, 2026, given the Superior Court's dismissal of

Petitioner’s appeal due to former counsel’s failure to file an appellate brief, the Petition

for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED, the Order of the Superior Court is VACATED, and

the matter is REMANDED to the Superior Court to establish a briefing schedule premised

upon the Rule 1925(b) statement filed by Petitioner on July 3, 2024. Cf. Commonwealth

v. Holmes, 79 A.3d 562, 577 (Pa. 2013) (allowing for consideration of an ineffectiveness

claim on direct appeal where it is “both meritorious and apparent from the record so that

immediate consideration and relief is warranted”); Pa.R.A.P. 1925(c)(3) (allowing an

appellate court to remand for the appointment of new counsel and the filing of a Rule

1925(b) statement nunc pro tunc where it is clear that appellate counsel was per se

ineffective in not filing the statement); Pa.R.A.P. 1113(d) (allowing a criminal defendant

to file an application for nunc pro tunc relief, rather than proceed via the Post-Conviction Relief Act, where the defendant directed counsel to file a Petition for Allowance of Appeal,

but counsel did not timely do so). The issues in Petitioner’s Superior Court brief shall be

limited to those identified in his Rule 1925(b) statement, as well any other non-waivable

issues that present counsel may identify.

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