Commonwealth v. Tinson, Appellant
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
January 15, 1969
433 Pa. 328
Judgment affirmed.
Mr. Justice MUSMANNO did not participate in the decision of this case.
P. Richard Klein, and Corliss & Klein, for appellant.
Joseph R. Polito, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, and Norman J. Pine, District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE ROBERTS, January 15, 1969:
In 1959 appellant entered a plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter on an indictment charging murder and was sentenced to five-to-twelve years in prison.
Initially it should be noted that appellant also claims that he was denied his right to appeal. However since appellant entered a guilty plea, all claims which he might raise on appeal can be raised in the current collateral proceeding. Commonwealth v. Stokes, 426 Pa. 265, 232 A. 2d 193 (1967).
Appellant claims that his guilty plea was not knowingly and intelligently entered because his counsel did not discuss a plea of involuntary manslaughter, and that this was necessary to inform appellant of the nature of his offense and the possible punishments. Cf. Commonwealth ex rel. O‘Lock v. Rundle, 415 Pa. 515, 204 A. 2d 439 (1964). However in this case, appellant was charged with murder and thus a conviction of involuntary manslaughter was not possible. See Commonwealth v. Hardy, 347 Pa. 551, 32 A. 2d 767 (1943); Commonwealth v. Mayberry, 290 Pa. 195, 138 Atl. 686 (1927). Appellant was charged with twice beating the deceased, then finally dumping her out of his car and leaving her in a small clearing where she died. Under this charge, counsel correctly concluded that involuntary manslaughter was not in the case, and of course appellant was in no way prejudiced by not being told about involuntary manslaughter.
We thus conclude that appellant‘s guilty plea was valid and appellant was thus properly sentenced and
The Commonwealth first contends that appellant‘s claim is not cognizable in a Post Conviction Hearing Act proceeding. Under §3 of the Act, Act of January 25, 1966, P. L. (1965) 1580, §3,
Even were this not the case, since strict pleading rules do not apply to writs of habeas corpus, e.g., Commonwealth ex rel. Kennedy v. Mingle, 388 Pa. 54, 130 A. 2d 161 (1957), we could treat that part of appellant‘s petition attacking the constitutionality of the recommitment hearing as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Writs of habeas corpus may still be had in cases not covered by the PCHA, cf. Moss v. Pennsylvania, 257 F. Supp. 643 (M.D. Pa. 1966), so that were this case without the PCHA, habeas corpus relief would be possible in this proceeding.
We believe that it is irrelevant whether appellant appealed from the Parole Board determination. Although at least a limited right of appeal attacking an abuse of the board‘s discretion would seem allowable, see Commonwealth ex rel. Jones v. Rundle, 33 Pa. D. & C. 2d 9 (C.P. Dauphin Cty. 1963), it cannot be said that appellant waived his claims by failing to appeal, since he did not have counsel to assist him. Cf. Commonwealth v. Storch, 432 Pa. 121, 247 A. 2d 562 (1968); Commonwealth v. Mumford, 430 Pa. 451, 243 A. 2d 440 (1968); Commonwealth v. Satchell, 430 Pa. 443, 243 A. 2d 381 (1968). Thus we reach the merits of appellant‘s constitutional claim.
We start with the proposition that counsel is “required at every stage of a criminal proceeding where substantial rights of a criminal accused may be affected.” Mempa v. Rhay, 389 U.S. 128, 134, 88 S. Ct. 254, 257 (1967). Mempa held that counsel was required at a hearing to have probation revoked and sentence entered, a decision that had been anticipated by this Court three years earlier in Commonwealth ex rel. Remeriez v. Maroney, 415 Pa. 534, 204 A. 2d 450 (1964). Subsequent to Mempa, we held in Commonwealth v. Johnson, 428 Pa. 210, 236 A. 2d 805 (1968), that counsel was necessary on the day that sentence was formally pronounced.
The Commonwealth argues that this case is different from cases such as Mempa, Remeriez, and Johnson, because those cases involved “sentencing,” while here sentencing has already taken place. This distinction is completely untenable. We are helped not at all in determining appellant‘s constitutional rights by attaching artificial labels to describe the proceeding before us.1 Our reply to the Commonwealth‘s argument here
There is even greater need for counsel here than in the Johnson situation. In Johnson, we reasoned that counsel was necessary because even if the sentencing was for the most part a formality, “just a few words, if spoken effectively enough” by counsel might have aided the appellant. Id. at 215, 236 A. 2d at 808. In the case now before us, a full hearing took place, and there can be no doubt as to the value of counsel in developing and probing factual and legal situations which may determine on which side of the prison walls appellant will be residing. “[T]he aid of counsel in marshalling the facts, introducing evidence of mitigating circumstances and in general aiding and assisting the defendant to present his case . . . is apparent.” Mempa v. Rhay, supra at 135, 88 S. Ct. at 257.2
In light of this reasoning, it is clear that the Commonwealth‘s argument that counsel is not required at the recommitment hearing because the Parole Board is an administrative body from which there is only a limited right of review by the courts is without merit.
Since we have found appellant‘s guilty plea to have been validly entered, his original conviction stands. He is now entitled to have counsel reappointed to represent him at a new recommitment hearing before the Parole Board to determine the questions which were presented at appellant‘s 1966 hearing.
The order of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Chester County is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the case is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
DISSENTING OPINION BY MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BELL:
I dissent to that part of the Court‘s Opinion which gives a convicted criminal a Constitutional right to counsel (usually at the expense of the taxpayers) at a parole hearing, after he has allegedly broken his parole.