Pennsylvania v. Parrish (majority)
Annotate this CaseAppellant Michael Parrish appealed after the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County dismissed his petition for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). To the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Parrish raised numerous claims of error, including a layered ineffectiveness claim in connection with the failure of trial counsel to file a notice of appeal after his conviction and death sentence. The first layer of his claim was the contention that trial counsel were ineffective for not consulting with him regarding his appellate rights before failing to file a notice of appeal, and in so doing, violated a constitutional duty established in Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 528 U.S. 470 (2000). The second layer of the claim was Parrish’s assertion that his initial PCRA counsel’s stewardship of the failure to consult claim before the PCRA court was deficient, in that initial PCRA counsel failed to present any evidence or legal argument to substantiate the failure to consult claim. In his brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Parrish identified the evidence and legal theory that his initial PCRA counsel should have presented to the PCRA court. Parrish raised the second layer of his claim for the first time to the Supreme Court in this appeal, and the Supreme Court concluded he was permitted to do so without a finding of waiver based upon a recent decision in Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d 381 (Pa. 2021). Accordingly, the Supreme Court remanded this case for the introduction of evidence and legal argument so that the PCRA court could issue a decision on the merits of Parrish’s layered failure to consult claim.
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