Com. v. Hackworth, S. ( 2017 )

J-S66043-17
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee
v.
SHANE CODY HACKWORTH,
Appellant No. 743 WDA 2017
Appeal from the PCRA Order March 10, 2017
in the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County
Criminal Division at No.: CP-25-CR-0000253-2009
BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., DUBOW, J., and PLATT, J.*
MEMORANDUM BY PLATT, J.: FILED DECEMBER 19, 2017
Appellant, Shane Cody Hackworth, appeals, pro se, from the order of
March 10, 2017, dismissing, without a hearing, his first petition filed pursuant
to the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546. Because
the petition is untimely without applicable exception, we affirm.
We take the underlying facts and procedural history in this matter from
our independent review of the certified record. On February 19, 2009, the
Commonwealth filed a criminal information charging Appellant with possession
with intent to deliver and related offenses. Appellant entered an open guilty
plea to one count each of possession with intent to deliver and possession of
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* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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drug paraphernalia on May 5, 2009. On July 9, 2009, the trial court sentenced
Appellant to an aggregate term of incarceration of not less than twelve nor
more than twenty-four months. Appellant did not file a direct appeal.
On December 15, 2016, Appellant, acting pro se filed a motion to
terminate sentence. On January 9, 2017, the PCRA court filed an order
deeming Appellant’s filing to be a PCRA petition and appointing counsel. On
February 6, 2017, appointed counsel filed a motion to withdraw in the PCRA
court, together with a Turner/Finley letter.1 On February 17, 2017, the PCRA
court issued notice of its intent to dismiss the petition pursuant to
Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 907. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 907(1). That
same day, the PCRA court issued an order granting counsel’s motion to
withdraw. On March 10, 2017, the PCRA court dismissed the petition as
untimely. The instant, timely appeal followed. The PCRA court did not order
Appellant to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal. See
Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). Nevertheless, Appellant filed a Rule 1925(b) statement.
See id. On June 13, 2017, the PCRA court issued an opinion referencing its
opinion of February 17, 2017. See Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a).
On appeal, Appellant raises the following questions for our review:
1) Was the Appellant prejudiced by the Commonwealth by [sic]
the untimely delay in charging the Appellant for (2) months while
the Appellant was held in custody?
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1 See Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988);
Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa. Super. 1988) (en banc).
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2) Did the probation officer go beyond their [sic] duties and
conduct an illegal search to circumvent the search warrant
requirement by acting as police officers “stalking horses/switching
hats”?
3) Was Appellant’s previous counsel ineffective for not filing pre[-
] trial and post[-]trial motions?
4) Was Appellant[’]s counsel, [] who was appointed by the Erie
County courts to represent Appellant on this case, on the recent
motions, ineffective for not acknowledging the errors of law[?]
(Appellant’s Brief, at 2-3) (unnecessary capitalization omitted).
Appellant appeals from the dismissal of his PCRA petition. To be eligible
for relief pursuant to the PCRA, Appellant must establish that his conviction or
sentence resulted from one or more of the enumerated errors or defects found
in 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2). Our standard of review for an order denying
PCRA relief is well settled:
This Court’s standard of review regarding a PCRA court’s
order is whether the determination of the PCRA court is supported
by the evidence of record and is free of legal error. Great
deference is granted to the findings of the PCRA court, and these
findings will not be disturbed unless they have no support in the
certified record.
Commonwealth v. Carter, 21 A.3d 680, 682 (Pa. Super. 2011) (citations
and quotation marks omitted). However, “if a PCRA [p]etition is untimely, a
trial court has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition.” Commonwealth v.
Hutchins, 760 A.2d 50, 53 (Pa. Super. 2000) (citations omitted).
In the instant matter, Appellant filed his PCRA petition on December 15,
2016. The PCRA provides that “[a]ny petition under this subchapter, including
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a second or subsequent petition, shall be filed within one year of the date the
judgment becomes final[.]” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). A judgment becomes
final for PCRA purposes “at the conclusion of direct review, including
discretionary review in the Supreme Court of the United States and the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, or at the expiration of time for seeking the
review.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(3).
Here, Appellant’s sentence became final on August 10, 2009,
approximately thirty days2 after the trial court imposed sentence and
Appellant did not file a direct appeal with this Court. See id.; Pa.R.A.P.
903(a). Therefore, Appellant had one year, until August 10, 2010, to file a
timely PCRA petition. Because Appellant did not file this petition until
December 15, 2016, the petition is facially untimely. Thus, to obtain PCRA
relief, he must plead and prove that his claim falls under one of the statutory
exceptions to the one-year time bar provided at section 9545(b). See 42
Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii).
Section 9545 provides that the court can still consider an untimely
petition where the petitioner successfully pleads and proves that:
(i) the failure to raise the claim previously was the result of
interference by government officials with the presentation of the
claim in violation of the Constitution or laws of this Commonwealth
or the Constitution or laws of the United States;
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2 The thirtieth day, August 8, 2009, was a Saturday.
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(ii) the facts upon which the claim is predicated were
unknown to the petitioner and could not have been ascertained by
the exercise of due diligence; or
(iii) the right asserted is a constitutional right that was
recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after the time period provided in
this section and has been held by that court to apply retroactively.
Id.
Further, a petitioner who wishes to invoke any of the above exceptions
must file the petition “within 60 days of the date the claim could have been
presented.” Id. at § 9545(b)(2). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has
repeatedly stated that it is an appellant’s burden to plead and prove that one
of the above-enumerated exceptions applies. See, e.g., Commonwealth v.
Abu-Jamal, 941 A.2d 1263, 1268 (Pa. 2008), cert. denied, 555 U.S. 916
(2008).
Here, in his PCRA petition, Appellant contends that he qualifies under
the newly discovered facts exception. (See PCRA Petition, 12/15/16, at 2).
Appellant’s “fact” consists of the fact that he recently had other inmates
assisting him in the law library, and that research led him to the conclusion
that his conviction was illegal. (See Motion for Reconsideration, 2/27/17, at
1-2). However, subsequent research revealing decisional law is not a new
“fact” under section 9545(b)(1)(ii) of the PCRA. See Commonwealth v.
Brandon, 51 A.3d 231, 234-35 (Pa. Super. 2012). As our Supreme Court
has stated:
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Law is a principle; fact is an event. Law is conceived; fact
is actual. Law is a rule of duty; fact is that which has been
according to or in contravention of the rule. Put another way, a
“fact,” as distinguished from the “law,” is that which is to be
presumed or proved to be or not to be for the purpose of applying
or refusing to apply a rule of law. Consistent with these
definitions, an in-court ruling or published judicial opinion is law,
for it is simply the embodiment of abstract principles applied to
actual events. The events that prompted the analysis, which must
be established by presumption or evidence, are regarded as fact.
Commonwealth v. Watts, 23 A.3d 980, 986-87 (Pa. 2011) (citations, some
quotations, and some punctuation omitted). Thus, Appellant is not entitled
to relief because his finding new legal theories after doing research was not
an “event that spawned a new claim.” Id. at 987.
Therefore, because the record demonstrates that Appellant’s PCRA
petition is untimely with none of the statutory exceptions to the time bar
proven, we affirm the order of the court dismissing Appellant’s PCRA petition.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 12/19/2017
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