Com. v. Caterbone, S. ( 2019 )

J-A11042-19
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
OF PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee
v.
STANLEY J. CATERBONE
Appellant No. 1188 MDA 2018
Appeal from the Order Dated June 28, 2018
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County
Criminal Division at No: CP-36-MD-0001088-2018
BEFORE: BOWES, OLSON, and STABILE, JJ.
JUDGMENT ORDER BY STABILE, J.: FILED: MAY 2, 2019
Appellant, Stanley J. Caterbone, appeals pro se from the order the Court
of Common Pleas of Lancaster County dated June 28, 2018, denying his
petition to proceed in forma pauperis. Upon review, we affirm.
The relevant procedural history of the case can be summarized as
follows. On June 21, 2018, Appellant filed a pro se “application for trial de
novo,” along with a petition requesting to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP).
On June 28, 2018, the trial court entered an order denying Appellant’s IFP
petition.
Appellant timely appealed the order. Accordingly, the trial court
directed Appellant to file a concise statement of matters complained of on
appeal. In response, Appellant filed a 33-page concise statement raising
several issues, none of them involving the order appealed.
J-A11042-19
In its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, the trial court noted that the “purported
concise statement is a rant accusing the Lancaster City Police Department and
Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office of colluding against him.” Trial
Court Opinion, 10/17/18, at 2. The trial court also noted that it was “unable
to discern any legitimate appellate issue in Appellant’s 1925(b) statement.
The [trial court] finds that Appellant’s concise statement is the functional
equivalent of no concise statement at all and deemed a waiver.” Id.
Upon review of the record, we are constrained to reach the same
conclusions. Accordingly, we affirm. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Reeves,
907 A.2d 1, 2 (Pa. Super. 2006) (a concise statement of matters complained
of that is too vague to allow the court to identify the issues raised on appeal
is the functional equivalent of no concise statement at all, for the purposes of
waiver).
Order affirmed.1 Commonwealth’s motion to quash denied as moot.
____________________________________________
1 Similarly, on appeal, Appellant filed a 72-page, mostly single-spaced
appellate brief, consisting mostly of a dissertation on the topic of mind control,
never addressing the reasons why we should reverse the trial court.
Additionally, Appellant’s brief fails to comply with the requirements of
Pa.R.A.P. 2111(a). Because of the deficiencies and the unintelligible argument
raised before us, we are unable to conduct any meaningful review. Thus, even
if the issues had been preserved in a proper statement of errors, we would
have exercised our “discretionary authority to quash, dismiss or deny
allowance of appeal based upon the substantial defects of [A]ppellant’s brief.”
Commonwealth v. Maris, 629 A.2d 1014, 1017 (Pa. Super. 1993).
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J-A11042-19
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 5/2/2019
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