Section 702. Final Orders

(a) General rule.—An appeal authorized by law from a final order shall be taken to, and petitions for allowance of appeal from a final order shall be filed in, the appellate court vested by law with jurisdiction over appeals from such order.

(b) Matters tried with capital offenses.—If an appeal is taken to the Supreme Court under Rule 1941 (review of death sentences), any other appeals relating to sentences for lesser offenses imposed on a defendant as a result of the same criminal episode or transaction and tried with the capital offense shall be taken to the Supreme Court.

(c) Supervision of special prosecutions or investigations.—All petitions for review under Rule 3331 (review of special prosecutions or investigations) shall be filed in the Supreme Court.

Official Note

Because of frequent legislative modifications it is not desirable to attempt at this time to restate appellate court jurisdiction in these rules. However, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts publishes from time to time at 204 Pa. Code § 201.2 an unofficial chart of the Unified Judicial System showing the appellate jurisdiction of the several courts of this Commonwealth, and it is expected that the several publishers of these rules will include a copy of the current version of such chart in their respective publications.

Subdivisions (b) and (c) are based upon 42 Pa.C.S. § 722(1) (direct appeals from courts of common pleas). Under Rule 751 (transfer of erroneously filed cases) an appeal from a lesser offense improvidently taken to the Superior Court or the Commonwealth Court will be transferred to the Supreme Court for consideration and decision with the capital offense.

Under Rule 701 (interlocutory orders) the jurisdiction described in Subdivision (c) extends also to interlocutory orders. See Rule 102 (definitions) where the term ‘‘appeal’’ includes proceedings on petition for review. Ordinarily Rule 701 will have no application to matters within the scope of Subdivision (b), since that subdivision is contingent upon entry of a final order in the form of a sentence of death; the mere possibility of such a sentence is not intended to give the Supreme Court direct appellate jurisdiction over interlocutory orders in homicide and related cases since generally a death sentence is not imposed.

The provisions of this Rule 702 amended through April 26, 1982, effective September 12, 1982, 12 Pa.B. 1536. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (39561) and (39562).