Commonwealth v. Ciptak

ORDER

The Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED. Petitioner asserts that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the trial court’s imposition of the costs of prosecution without first determining petitioner’s ability to pay pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 1407(c). In the instant matter, trial counsel and appellate counsel are both members of the same public defender’s office. As a general rule, a public defender may not argue the ineffectiveness of another member of the same public defender’s office since appellate counsel, in essence, is deemed to have asserted a claim of his or…