Commonwealth v. Ricker, D.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 588 MAL 2015 : Respondent : : Petition for Allowance of Appeal from : the Order of the Superior Court v. : : : DAVID EDWARD RICKER, : : Petitioner : ORDER PER CURIAM AND NOW, this 18th day of April, 2016, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED. The issue, as stated by Petitioner, is: Whether the Pennsylvania Superior Court wrongly held, in a published opinion of first impression, that a defendant does not have a state or federal constitutional right to confront the witness against him at a preliminary hearing and that a prima facie case may be proven by the Commonwealth through hearsay evidence alone, which is what the trial and magisterial district courts concluded in Petitioner’s case? Justice Donohue did not participate in the consideration or decision of this matter.