Commonwealth v. Brown

I join the Majority Opinion in its entirety. I write solely in response to Mr. Justice Baer’s Dissenting Opinion.

The latter part of the Dissenting Opinion makes some thoughtful points, albeit on an issue and theory of relief not raised or briefed by the parties, i.e., whether this case should be deemed subject to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546, at all, or should fall within traditional habeas corpus review. The availability of habeas corpus review in instances where the PCRA effectively is unavailable is a point I have addressed in other eases. See Coady v.…