Commonwealth v. Krasner

I do not agree that defendant voluntarily and knowingly waived for an indefinite and unlimited period his right to a speedy trial as provided by Pa.R.Crim.P. 1100. An abiding temptation is to bend the rules when the case is nasty. Here, I suggest, the rules have been bent. Once bent, rules don’t work well.

In Commonwealth v. Coleman, 477 Pa. 400, 383 A.2d 1268 (1978) (plurality opinion), Justice O’BRIEN wrote that the defendant’s waiver was invalid because the form he signed “offer[ed] no explanation of what the right to a speedy trial involve[d].” 477 Pa. at 406, 383 A.2d at 1271.1 The form…