Nos. 257 and 672 January Term 1977, Appeals from Judgments of Sentence of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, Criminal Division, Nos. 994 and 996 October Term 1977
Norman C. Henss, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Robert B. Lawler, Chief, Appeals Div., Asst. Dist. Atty., Ann C. Lebowitz, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellee.
Eagen, C. J., and O'Brien, Roberts, Nix, Manderino, Larsen and Flaherty, JJ.
On December 15, 1976, the appellant, Howard Edwin May, tendered pleas of guilt to murder of the second degree and to robbery. Following an extensive colloquy, the guilty pleas were accepted by the trial judge and judgment of sentence of life imprisonment on the murder conviction and a concurrent judgment of sentence of ten to twenty years imprisonment on the robbery conviction were imposed.
May filed an appeal from the judgment of sentence imposed on the murder conviction in this Court. An appeal from the sentence imposed on the robbery conviction was
filed in the Superior Court and certified here. After the appeals were consolidated, May petitioned this Court to remand the matter to the trial court to enable him to file a motion for leave to withdraw the guilty plea.*fn1 We granted the petition "for the purpose stated . . . ."
On remand, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing and, as a result, ruled May was not entitled to withdraw his guilty pleas.*fn2 From the judgments of sentence, May now appeals.
The sole issue properly preserved for review is whether May's pleas were knowingly and intelligently entered because he allegedly did not fully understand the significance of the ...