Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Hendrick

Full title: Commonwealth ex rel. Smith, Appellant, v. Hendrick

Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Date published: Apr 26, 1966

218 A.2d 917 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1966)

218 A.2d 917

Opinion

December 13, 1965.

April 26, 1966.

Criminal Law — Trial — Time — Request for final disposition of indictment — Act of June 28, 1957, P.L. 428.

Relator contended that he requested of a clerk of the court of common pleas a final disposition of his indictment. The record showed that relator was convicted upon his plea of guilty two months after his request.

It was Held that there was no merit to relator's contention that he was not tried within the 180 day time limit set by the Act of June 28, 1957, P.L. 428.

Before ERVIN, P.J., WRIGHT, WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, FLOOD, JACOBS, and HOFFMAN, JJ.

Appeal, No. 796, Oct. T., 1965, from order of Court of Common Pleas No. 1 of Philadelphia County, June T., 1965, No. 6887, in case of Commonwealth ex rel. James Smith v. Edward J. Hendrick, Superintendent. Order affirmed.

Habeas corpus. Before REED, J.

Order entered dismissing petition. Petitioner appealed.

James Smith, appellant, in propria persona. Ronald McCaskill and Joseph M. Smith, Assistant District Attorneys, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, Jr., First Assistant District Attorney, and James C. Crumlish, Jr., District Attorney, for appellee.

Submitted December 13, 1965.

OPINION BY HOFFMAN, J., April 26, 1966:

The only question in this appeal is whether appellant's rights were denied under the Act of June 28, 1957, P.L. 428, § 1, 19 P. S. § 881, which provides that a person in prison and untried ". . . shall be brought to trial within one hundred eighty (180) days after he shall have caused to be delivered to the District Attorney of the County in which the indictment is pending and the appropriate court written notice of the place of his imprisonment and his request for a final disposition to be made of the indictment. . . ."

Appellant contends that in August of 1965 he made such a request of a Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. We need not consider whether such a request would satisfy the above statutory requirements. The record reflects that appellant was convicted upon his plea of guilty on October 14, 1965, two months after his request. Consequently, there is no merit to appellant's contention that he was not tried within the 180 day time limit set by statute.

Order affirmed.