Com. v. Matthews

Full title: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. James Russell MATTHEWS, Appellant

Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Date published: Jan 4, 1980

417 A.2d 696 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1980)

417 A.2d 696

Opinion

Submitted June 29, 1979.

Filed January 4, 1980.

Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County, Criminal Division, Nos. 282, 314 of 1977, Kosik, J.

Todd J. O'Malley, Scranton, for appellant.

Ernest D. Preate, District Attorney, Scranton, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before HESTER, HOFFMAN and CATANIA, JJ.^_

_ President Judge Francis J. Catania of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, is sitting by designation.

HESTER, Judge:

Having fully reviewed the record and briefs submitted by counsel, we find that the issues and arguments presented to be identical to those presented by a co-defendant, William Bazil Yannariello in his appeal, Commonwealth v. Yannariello, No. 2608 October Term, 1978; J. 822/1979; decided before Price, Gates, and Dowling, JJ.

Judge Dowling has written an opinion for the majority of that panel which was filed October 5, 1979, 270 Pa. Super. 312, 411 A.2d 543 (1979) wherein he reversed the conviction of Yannariello and remanded for a new trial on the grounds that Yannariello and appellant were represented by the same counsel and a conflict arose between their interests during trial. The trial court refused to grant a severance. Both were convicted. We agree with the reasoning of Judge Dowling. We will not reiterate the same herein.

Accordingly, the judgment of sentence is reversed and the case is remanded for a new trial.