Com. v. Lord

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Writing for the Court: NIGRO, Justice.
• Citation: 553 Pa. 415,719 A.2d 306
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Frank LORD, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 28 October 1998

553 Pa. 415
719 A.2d 306

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee,
v.
Frank LORD, Appellant

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 18, 1996.

Decided October 28, 1998.

Reargument Denied January 19, 1999.

Stanley M. Shingles, Blue Bell, for Frank Lord.

Dennis McAndrews, Wayne, William R. Toal, III, Media, for the Com.

553 Pa. 416

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO and NEWMAN, JJ

OPINION

NIGRO, Justice.

In this criminal case, the issue before the Court is whether Pa. R.Crim. P. 1410 precludes an appellate court from deeming an issue waived when an Appellant fails to raise that issue in his Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal pursuant to Pa. R.A.P.1925(b).

In April of 1992, David Mucker, a narcotics detective, was working undercover in Jim's Bar in Norwood Borough. At that time, Mucker became associated with a woman named Maryann Goldy. Mucker purchased methamphetamine from Goldy on several different occasions. On some of these occasions, Goldy had the methamphetamine with her; other times, she made a phone call to procure it.

On one of these occasions, Mucker gave Goldy $340 for two "eightballs" of methamphetamine. Goldy then telephoned a man she referred to as "Frank." A short time later, Goldy met Appellant in the bar. The pair then left the bar and met outside. Two other detectives, who were parked in a van about fifty feet from the bar, observed as Goldy handed Appellant cash in exchange for an unidentifiable item. Forty-five seconds after this exchange, Goldy handed Mucker the methamphetamine.

Appellant was subsequently arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, delivery or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and criminal conspiracy. On August 5, 1994, the jury returned a guilty verdict on the charges of delivery of a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy. Appellant filed a timely appeal and submitted a Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal with the trial court pursuant to Pa. R.A.P.1925(b).

On appeal to the Superior Court, Appellant raised ten issues. The Superior Court addressed five of these issues, deeming the remaining five issues waived due to Appellant's failure to

553 Pa. 417

include them in the Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal.¹ The Superior Court explained that it considered the issues waived because "it is difficult to review a case adequately without a trial court opinion dealing with the issues. . . ." Super. Ct. Mem. Op. at 7

Appellant filed a Petition for Allowance of Appeal with this Court. We granted allocatur limited to the issue of whether Pa. R.Crim. P. 1410 precludes an appellate court from asserting the waiver of an appellate issue because that issue was omitted from the Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal.

Pa. R.A.P.1925 provides, in pertinent part:

(a) General Rule. Upon receipt of the notice of appeal the judge who entered the order appealed from, if the reasons for the order do not already appear of record, shall forthwith file of record at least a brief statement, in the form of an opinion, of the reasons for the order, or for the rulings or other matters complained of, or shall specify in writing the place in the record where such reasons may be found. (b) Direction to file statement of matters complained of. The lower court forthwith may enter an order directing the appellant to file of record in the lower court and serve on the trial judge a concise statement of the matters complained of on the appeal no later than 14 days after entry of such order. A failure to comply with such direction may be

553 Pa. 418

considered by the appellate court as a waiver of all objections to the order, ruling or other matter complained of.

Pursuant to this rule, issues have been considered waived where no 1925(b) statement was filed or where an issue was not included in a filed statement. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Phillips, ...