“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The axiom applies to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Criminal Procedural Rules Committee’s nine-word proposed amendment to Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 701 (Pleas of Guilty to Multiple Offenses): “with the agreement of the attorney for the commonwealth.”
For decades, Rule 701 (formerly Rule 1402) has been a fair and valuable tool to promote non-trial dispositions, providing that where a defendant is awaiting sentencing on one case, he or she may consolidate all open cases before the sentencing judge to plead guilty to them as well. The benefits are obvious: The procedure eliminates needless trials, avoids multiple listings before other judges, saves police witness time, spares complainants and civilian witnesses from multiple trips to court, establishes a unified sentencing plan, and ensures a unified post-sentence direct and probation violation process.
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