Response in Opposition to the Commonwealth's Motion to Vacate

and vacated a death sentence. Should the Commonwealth elect to properly appeal Judge Sannina'sorder vacating the death sentence, an appeal it has not taken, the Court should review theCommonwealth's appeal under its normal rules, with briefing by the parties, an opinion by thePCRA court, careful review of the PCRA court record, and, especially in this case, oral argument.From the Commonwealth's submission to this Court, one would think that Judge Sanninafound jurisdiction and constitutional error on a whim. Nothing could be farther from the truth.Judge Sannina spent many hours reviewing the sizable prior record in this case, from the trial andcapital sentencing, from earlier PCRA proceedings, and from federal court proceedings. JudgeSannina spent many hours reviewing the parties' written submissions, memoranda, pleadings,motions and amendments in the instant matter. Judge Sannina conducted an extensive in camerareview of documents created by the police and prosecutor. Judge Sannina held several oralarguments regarding jurisdiction, timeliness, the merits of the constitutional issues, and theappropriateness of granting a stay of execution. Judge Sannina held a lengthy evidentiary hearing,at which she heard live testimony, assessed the witnesses' credibility, and received and reviewednumerous exhibits. Judge Sannina heard lengthy closing arguments on timeliness, jurisdiction andthe merits.Judge Sannina expressly followed this Court's precedent in cases such asCommonwealth v. Morris, 822 A.2d 684 (Pa. 2003), Commonwealth v. Morris, 771 A.2d 721 (Pa.2001), and Commonwealth v. Bennett, 930 A.2d 1264 (Pa. 2007), regardingjurisdiction, timeliness,stays of execution, when an evidentiary hearing to assess these procedural issues should be held, andwhat factual issues a PCRA court should address in cases such as this. Judge Sannina also heededthe established precedent of the United States Supreme Court for cases of prose cut oria 1 misconductand governmental suppression of facts.Based upon her review of this massive record, live3