In re Four Pennsylvania Skill Amusement Devices and One Ticket Redemption Terminal Containing $18,692.00 in U.S. Currency — Appeal of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Monroe County

Summary

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas order granting motions for return of property and suppression of evidence involving seized skill amusement devices, a ticket redemption terminal, and $18,692. The court held that the trial court retained jurisdiction under Pa.R.A.P. 1701(b)(6), notwithstanding the Commonwealth’s interlocutory appeal concerning recusal and the absence of a remand. The court also held that any failure to include detailed findings in the original order was waived and, in any event, was adequately addressed by the trial court’s subsequent Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion.

Holdings

1. The trial court retained jurisdiction because the prior appeal from the denial of recusal involved a non-appealable interlocutory order, and Pa.R.A.P. 1701(b)(6) permits a trial court to proceed in a matter notwithstanding a notice of appeal from a non-appealable interlocutory order.
2. The trial court retained jurisdiction notwithstanding the absence of a formal remand because the prior appeal was interlocutory and Pa.R.A.P. 1701(b)(6) applied.
3. Reversal or remand was unnecessary because any challenge to the absence of findings and conclusions was waived, and, in any event, the trial court’s later Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion supplied detailed findings and legal reasoning sufficient for meaningful appellate review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court retained jurisdiction to enter the February 8, 2023 order while the Commonwealth’s prior interlocutory recusal appeal and related appellate proceedings were pending.
2. Whether Pa.R.A.P. 2572 deprived the trial court of jurisdiction because the Superior Court had not yet remanded the record.
3. Whether the February 8, 2023 suppression and return-of-property order had to be reversed or remanded because it did not itself contain detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law required by Pa.R.Crim.P. 581(I).

Disposition

affirmed