Commonwealth v. Alston
Commonwealth v. Alston
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
James Alston was found guilty on March 17, 1966 by a jury of assault and battery with intent to ravish
The contention now pressed is that perjury by a Commonwealth witness was employed to secure appellant’s conviction. The Commonwealth stipulated below that Miss Agnes Mallatrath did in fact lie concerning her qualifications as a medical technician with expertise in forensic laboratory diagnosis. Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 79 S. Ct. 1173 (1959), sets forth the guidelines governing any post-conviction claim that a conviction was procured through use of perjured testimony (supra at 269, 79 S. Ct. at 1177) : “[I]t is es
Napue thus requires that the perjured testimony have been employed with either the acquiescence or knowledge of the state. However, in a document attached to his post-conviction form which appellant denominated as a writ of habeas corpus, Alston admitted “that the state had no intention of purposely presenting this witness to perjuring [sic] herself to get a conviction and believes that the state presented this witness in good faith.” Given this admission, appellant’s allegation does not meet the Napue knowledge requirement.
Alternatively, Alston contends that the after-discovered evidence of Miss Mallatrath’s falsification of her qualifications is sufficient to support the grant of a new trial despite the fact that the Commonwealth had no knowledge at the time of trial of her prejury. The standards here applicable are enunciated in Commonwealth v. Schuck, 401 Pa. 222, 229, 164 A. 2d 13, 17 (1960), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 884, 82 S. Ct. 138 (1961) : “In order to justify the grant of a new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence, the evidence . . . must not be cumulative or merely impeach credibility, and must be such as would likely compel a different result: [citations omitted].” See also Commonwealth v. Clanton, 395 Pa. 521, 151 A. 2d 88
Finally, appellant contends that his post-conviction counsel was ineffective and that he was not present at his “hearing” as required by §9 of the Post Conviction Hearing Act, Act of January 25, 1966, P. L. (1965) 1580, §9, 19 P.S. §1180-9 (Supp. 1966). Assuming arguendo that appellant’s right to effective post-conviction counsel is identical to his right to effective trial counsel, we fail to find any reasonable alternative available to counsel which he did not employ sufficient to meet the test found in Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599,
Orders affirmed.
Alston has filed other Post Conviction Hearing Act petitions. His first, filed July 11, 1966, alleged that evidence was introduced at trial procured by an unconstitutional search and/or arrest, that a coerced confession was employed, that his trial counsel was incompetent, that he was denied counsel at a time when such was constitutionally required and that the Commonwealth unconstitutionally suppressed evidence. This petition was dismissed as untimely since Alston’s appeal was then pending before the Superior Court. His second is the one now under review. Other than the allegations of perjured testimony and after-discovered evidence, this petition includes an allegation that a constitutional right not recognized at the time of trial was violated. However, no facts are alleged to support this allegation. Finally, Alston filed a third petition on April 5, 1967 containing allegations identical to those pressed in his second petition.
In an attempt to explain the presence of seminal fluid on his handkerchief, Alston insisted that it had been employed during intercourse with the prosecutrix’s grandmother. It could therefore be argued, as does the Commonwealth, that Miss Mallatrath’s testimony was totally unnecessary since appellant admitted that his handkerchief contained seminal fluid. However, appellant perhaps would not have felt obliged to offer any explanation if the laboratory tests were never introduced, and thus we have not considered appellant’s testimony in evaluating his after-discovered evidence contention.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
The action of the majority again demonstrates a complete lack of judicial restraint. The author of the majority opinion granted the allocatur in this case apparently not because he disagreed with what the Superior Court had done, but rather with a preconceived design to express his views of what should be done in the myriad of cases such as this which are soon to find their way to the appellate courts. It is obvious from reading the majority opinion that the Court’s efforts in this respect have indeed been wasted because this case does not present the proper landscape in which we should render pronouncements determining the vexatious problem generated by Miss Mallatrath’s testimony. If the majority’s objective were to obviate possible future appeals in other cases in which Miss Mallatrath qualified and testified, it has certainly failed to achieve its purpose. The majority,
Moreover, the brief of appellant who appeared in pro persona, was most inadequate and of practically no assistance to the Court in helping to formulate any meaningful determination of this vexatious problem. For these reasons I must conclude that (1) this was a most improper case for the grant of allocatur, and (2) if the issues raised by appellant were important enough to warrant the grant of allocatur, this Court should have invoked Rule 80 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which permits our Court, in its discretion, to order oral argument and to appoint counsel in order to have an effectively litigated issue in the tradition of our heralded adversary system.
I dissent.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
I dissent solely because the question of the competency of Miss Mallatrath and its impact on the trial and resulting verdict is of such serious import that such question should be thoroughly briefed and orally argued before our Court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Commonwealth v. Alston, Appellant
- Cited By
- 19 cases
- Status
- Published