Commonwealth v. Thomas

KELLY, Judge:

In this case we are called upon to determine whether a second PCRA petition 1 must be reviewed under the standard of Commonwealth v. Lawson, 519 Pa. 504, 549 A.2d 107 (1988), when the second PCRA petition is identical to a first PCRA petition dismissed on grounds of procedural default, except in raising a claim of ineffectiveness with respect to prior PCRA counsel’s procedural default. We find that a second petition must be treated as a first petition nunc pro tunc in such circumstances, and falls outside the ambit of the restrictive standard for review of second or subsequent…