Opinion
October 3, 1967.
Criminal law — Criminal procedure — Post-conviction petition — Necessity for hearing — Allegation of invalid guilty plea — Silent record — Post Conviction Hearing Act.
1. When a petition for post-conviction relief is filed under the Post Conviction Hearing Act of 1966, P. L. (1965) 1580, which attacks the voluntariness of petitioner's guilty plea which formed the basis of the judgment of sentence against him and the allegations, if true, entitle petitioner to relief and are not refuted by the record, he is entitled to a hearing to determine the truth or falsity of his allegations.
2. Commonwealth v. Wood, 425 Pa. 612, followed.
Before BELL, C. J., MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O'BRIEN and ROBERTS, JJ.
Petition for leave to appeal, No. 119, Jan. T., 1968, from order of Superior Court, Oct. T., 1967, No. 496, affirming order of Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware County, June T., 1957, Nos. 238 to 241, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Edward Dennis. Petition for allocatur granted, order of Superior Court reversed, order of Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware County vacated, and case remanded for hearing.
Same case in Superior Court: 210 Pa. Super. 736.
Petition under Post Conviction Hearing Act.
Petition dismissed without hearing, order by CURRAN, J. Petitioner appealed to Superior Court which affirmed order. Petition for allocatur filed in Supreme Court.
Edward Dennis, petitioner, in propria persona.
Ralph B. D'Iorio and Vram Nedurian, Jr., Assistant District Attorneys, John R. Graham, First Assistant District Attorney, and Paul R. Sand, District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Petitioner seeks the allowance of an appeal from the order of the Superior Court, affirming the dismissal without hearing by the Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware County of his petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act. In his petition for post-conviction relief, petitioner attacks the voluntariness of the guilty plea which forms the basis of the judgment of sentence.
The allegations of the petition, if true, entitle petitioner to relief, and since his allegations are not refuted by the record, he is entitled to a hearing, to determine the truth or falsity of his allegations. Commonwealth v. Wood, 425 Pa. 612, 230 A.2d 729 (1967).
The prayer of the petition is granted, an appeal is allowed, the order of the Superior Court is reversed, the order of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware County is vacated, and the case is remanded to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware County, with instructions to conduct a hearing to determine the voluntariness of petitioner's guilty plea.