Commonwealth v. Gorby (Concurring Opinion)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
[J-83-2001] IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA EASTERN DISTRICT COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : : Appellee : : : v. : : : THOMAS J. GORBY, : : Appellant : No. 305 CAP On appeal from the orders of the Washington County Court of Common Pleas, No. 555(a)(b) 1986, dated April 18, 2000, and May 12, 2000, denying postconviction relief SUBMITTED: May 3, 2001 CONCURRING OPINION MR. JUSTICE SAYLOR DECIDED: December 31, 2001 Although I join the portion of the opinion announcing the judgment of the Court remanding the case to the PCRA court for an evidentiary hearing respecting Appellant s claim that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to investigate and present certain mitigating evidence during the penalty phase, I depart from the disposition of Appellant s guilt phase claims. The lead Justices decline to address such issues, concluding that they are inadequately developed within Appellant s brief. While I acknowledge that Appellant s brief is deficient in this respect, the Court has only recently addressed counsel s obligation to develop, to the extent possible, the nature of the claim asserted with respect to each individual facet of ineffective assistance of counsel. See Commonwealth v. Williams, ___ Pa. ___, ___, 782 A.2d 517, 525 (2001). Particularly, since Appellant s brief in this case was filed before the decision in Williams, I would not treat the failure to more fully develop the ineffectiveness claims as fatal to appellate review. In my view, however, Appellant s guilt phase claims would not entitle him to relief, particularly in light of trial counsel s testimony during the post-conviction hearing that Appellant admitted to having committed the crime, which, obviously, limited the avenues for presentation of the defense case. Accordingly, I concur in the result with respect to those claims. [J-83-2001] - 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
