*1 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 387 MAL 2017

: Respondent : : Petition for Allowance of Appeal from : the Order of the Superior Court v. :

: : HOWARD WILLIAM DEWEESE, :

: Petitioner : ORDER PER CURIAM

AND NOW , this 7th day of November, 2017, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED . The issue, as stated by Petitioner, is:

Did the Superior Court err in denying PCRA relief where [Petitioner’s] trial counsel failed to preserve for direct appeal the testimony of 14 witnesses who were prevented by the trial counsel from offering exculpatory testimony that was crucial to the defense and that would have directly contradicted the Commonwealth’s primary witnesses at trial?