Commonwealth v. Masker

CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION BY

BOWES, J.:

Insofar as the majority concludes that issues of ineffective assistance of counsel during a Sexually Violent Predator (“SVP”) hearing are not cognizable under the PCRA statute,1 I respectfully dissent based on our Supreme Court’s decisions in Commonwealth v. Grant, 572 Pa. 48, 813 A.2d 726 (2002) and Commonwealth ex rel. Dadario v. Goldberg, 565 Pa. 280, 773 A.2d 126 (2001), and the analysis employed by the United States Supreme Court in Padilla v. Kentucky, - U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 176 L.Ed.2d 284 (2010). However, because I believe that…