CORBETT v. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PHILA CTY, 32 EM 2006 (Pa. 7-28-2006)

No. 32 EM 2006.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District.
July 28, 2006.

Petition for Issuance of Writ of Prohibition and Immediate Stay Pending Review and Application for Leave to File Original Process

ORDER
PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 28th day of July, 2006, the petition for writ of prohibition is GRANTED, on the ground that applications for disclosure of protected matters pertaining to the affairs of the Sixteenth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury are properly directed to Senior Judge Barry F. Feudale, who continues to handle residual grand jury matters under the jurisdiction and authority conferred upon his appointment as supervising judge. See In re Application of D. Michael Fisher, Attorney General ofPa., Requesting An Order Directing That An Additional MulticountyInvestigating Grand Jury Having Statewide Jurisdiction Be Convened, No. 276 MM 1999 (Dec. 3, 2004 Order of Chief Justice CAPPY) (“All applications and motions relating to the work of the Sixteenth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury shall be presented to Senior Judge Feudale as Supervising Judge”); Pa.R.Crim.P. 229 (“Except as otherwise set forth in these rules, the court shall control the original and all copies of the transcript and shall maintain their secrecy.”); id., Comment (“Reference to the court in this rule and in Rule 230 is intended to be to the supervising judge of the grand jury.”). The PCRA court’s orders of November 18, 2005, and February 10, 2006, in the matter of Commonwealthv. McKnight, No. CP 1010-1064 1/1 (C.P. Phila), are vacated insofar as they require disclosure of grand jury transcripts, without prejudice to the PCRA petitioner’s ability to present his application in the appropriate forum.