Commonwealth v. Tolbert

The only issue raised on appeal is whether a new trial is required because defense counsel was ineffective by waiving appellant’s right to be present at the selection of the jury and then proceeding to select a jury in appellant’s absence. This Court has already ruled that under such circumstances counsel must be considered ineffective. Commonwealth v. Graves, 238 Pa.Super. 452, 356 A.2d 813 (1976). Because I dissented from the Graves *27decision and still do not agree with its reasoning, I have written the following dissent in the present case.

Appellant argues that counsel’s waiver of…