Commonwealth v. Hinton

Rather than affirming the judgment of sentence, as does the majority, I should remand for further proceedings.

The majority agrees, and in any event it is settled, that the Commonwealth had the burden of proving that it exercised due diligence in trying to find appellant. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 472 Pa. 553, 372 A.2d 826 (1977); Commonwealth v. Kovacs, 250 Pa.Super. 66, 378 A.2d 455 (1977). The majority states, however, that “due diligence” means “only reasonable efforts.” At 58. I find this unhelpful, for two reasons. If “only reasonable efforts” is offered as a synonym for “due diligence”,…