*1 [J-110-2016][M.O. – Todd, J.]
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA WESTERN DISTRICT COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 9 WAP 2016
: Appellant : Appeal from the Order of the Superior
: Court entered August 25, 2015 at No. v. : 1459 WDA 2013, vacating the order of
: the Court of Common Pleas of : Allegheny County entered August 27, SHAWN LAMAR BURTON, : 1993 at Nos. CP-02-CR-0004017-1993
: and CP-02-CR-0004276-1993 and Appellee : remanding.
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SUBMITTED: September 9, 2016 CONCURRING OPINION CHIEF JUSTICE SAYLOR DECIDED: MARCH 28, 2016
I join the majority opinion based upon the precedent established by Commonwealth v. Bennett , 593 Pa. 382, 930 A.2d 1264 (2007), supplemented by the present opinion’s developed explication of the unreasonableness in enforcing a strong presumption of access to public records at least as against unrepresented prisoners.
To the extent that the majority undertakes to reaffirm and buttress the logic of Bennett , however, I continue to have great difficulty with the approach to statutory construction by which the Bennett majority decoupled the “facts” contemplated by Section 9545(b)(ii) of the PCRA from the “claims” serving a s the explicit bases for statutory post-conviction relief per Section 9543(a). See Bennett , 593 Pa. at 402-10, 930 A.2d at 1275-80 (Saylor, J., dissenting).
