Pennsylvania v. Turner (majority)
Annotate this CaseThe Commonwealth appealed a court of common pleas order that declared Section 9543(a)(1)(i) of the Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) was unconstitutional as applied to Petitioner Emma Turner. The PCRA court held that barring Petitioner from obtaining collateral relief on her timely claim of trial counsel ineffectiveness because she had completed serving her sentence, as Section 9543(a)(1)(i) requires, would violate Petitioner’s constitutional due process right to be heard on this issue. The PCRA court, therefore, permitted Petitioner to proceed with her PCRA petition, despite her ineligibility under Section 9543(a)(1)(i), granted an evidentiary hearing, and ultimately awarded her a new trial. Because the Supreme Court concluded that Petitioner had no due process right to be heard outside of the limits imposed by Section 9543(a)(1)(i) of the PCRA, and that she had the opportunity to attempt to vindicate her claim on direct appeal under "Commonwealth v. Bomar," (826 A.2d 831 (Pa. 2003)), or within the time frame permitted by the PCRA, the Court reversed the PCRA court's decision and held that this section was constitutional as applied to Petitioner.
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