Com. v. Walker, T. ( 2023 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee :
:
v. :
:
TERRY D. WALKER :
:
Appellant : No. 409 EDA 2023
Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered January 5, 2023
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0608421-2005
BEFORE: BOWES, J., NICHOLS, J., and KING, J.
MEMORANDUM BY KING, J.: FILED OCTOBER 27, 2023
Appellant, Terry D. Walker, appeals pro se from the order entered in the
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, denying as untimely his fourth
petition filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”).1 We affirm.
The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. On
January 20, 2005, Appellant bound Joseph Smith (“Victim”) with zip ties,
robbed him, and shot him multiple times in the back of a white minivan.
Following a trial presided over by the Honorable Renee Cardwell Hughes, a
jury convicted Appellant of first-degree murder, robbery, and possession of
an instrument of crime on March 5, 2007. On March 7, 2007, the court
sentenced Appellant to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without parole
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1 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546.
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followed by an aggregate term of 12½ to 25 years of imprisonment. This
Court affirmed the judgment of sentence on June 15, 2009, and our Supreme
Court denied allowance of appeal on November 25, 2009. See
Commonwealth v. Walker, 981 A.2d 325 (Pa. Super. 2009) (unpublished
memorandum), appeal denied, 603 Pa. 703, 983 A.2d 1249 (2009).
Thereafter, Appellant unsuccessfully litigated three PCRA petitions.
On May 20, 2022, Appellant filed the current PCRA petition, his fourth,
alleging that the judge who presided over Appellant’s preliminary hearing
erred by allowing hearsay evidence alone to establish a prima facie case. On
November 22, 2022, the PCRA court issued Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice of its
intent to dismiss the petition without a hearing. Appellant filed responses on
December 8, 2022, and December 16, 2022, alleging in part that he recently
learned that Judge Hughes’ reasonable doubt jury instructions were
unconstitutional. The PCRA court dismissed Appellant’s petition as untimely
on January 5, 2023. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal on January 27,
2023. On February 8, 2023, the court ordered Appellant to file a concise
statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b),
and Appellant complied on February 22, 2023.
Appellant raises the following issue for our review:
Whether counsel provided effective assistance, pursuant to
the 6th Amendment?
(Appellant’s Brief at 4) (subsections omitted).
On appeal, Appellant asserts that this Court should take judicial notice
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of our Supreme Court’s recent decision in Commonwealth v. Drummond,
___ Pa. ___, 285 A.3d 625 (2022), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 143 S.Ct.
1766, 215 L.Ed.2d 659 (2023), which invalidated a hypothetical used by Judge
Hughes to explain reasonable doubt to the jury.2 Appellant argues that Judge
Hughes gave a nearly identical hypothetical to the jury at his trial. Appellant
claims that our Supreme Court’s ruling in Drummond satisfies the newly
discovered fact and newly recognized constitutional right exceptions to the
PCRA time bar. Appellant further contends that prior PCRA counsel was
ineffective for failing to raise the issue of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness for
failing to object to Judge Hughes’ hypothetical. Appellant concludes that the
PCRA court erred in dismissing his PCRA petition as untimely, and this Court
should vacate the PCRA court’s order and remand for further proceedings. We
disagree.
As a preliminary matter, the timeliness of a PCRA petition is a
jurisdictional requisite. Commonwealth v. Hackett, 598 Pa. 350, 956 A.2d
978 (2008), cert. denied, 556 U.S. 1285, 129 S.Ct. 2772, 174 L.Ed.2d 277(2009). Pennsylvania law makes clear that no court has jurisdiction to hear
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2 Our Supreme Court decided Drummond on November 23, 2022. The Court
held that a hypothetical analogizing reasonable doubt to making a decision
about a serious surgery for a loved one was reasonably likely to cause the jury
to apply a diminished standard of proof. Nevertheless, the Court determined
that the appellant’s trial counsel did not provide ineffective assistance for
failing to object to the jury instruction because counsel cannot be held
ineffective for failing to anticipate a change in the law.
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an untimely PCRA petition. Commonwealth v. Robinson, 575 Pa. 500, 837
A.2d 1157 (2003). The PCRA requires a petition, including a second or
subsequent petition, to be filed within one year of the date the underlying
judgment of sentence becomes final. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). A judgment
of sentence is final “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 review.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. §
9545(b)(3).
To obtain merits review of a PCRA petition filed more than one year after
the judgment of sentence became final, the petitioner must allege and prove
at least one of the three timeliness exceptions:
(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;
(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.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). Generally, “a claim of ineffective assistance
of counsel does not provide an exception to the PCRA time bar.”
Commonwealth v. Sims, 251 A.3d 445, 448 (Pa.Super. 2021), appeal
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denied, ___ Pa. ___, 265 A.3d 194 (2021).
Instantly, following Appellant’s direct appeal, our Supreme Court denied
allowance of appeal on November 25, 2009. Appellant’s judgment of sentence
became final ninety (90) days later, on or about February 23, 2010. See
U.S.Sup.Ct.R. 13 (stating appellant must file petition for writ of certiorari with
United States Supreme Court within 90 days after entry of judgment by state
court of last resort). Thus, Appellant had until February 23, 2011 to file a
timely PCRA petition.
Appellant filed the current PCRA petition on May 20, 2022, which is
facially untimely. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). In his brief, Appellant
vaguely attempts to invoke the newly discovered facts and the newly
recognized constitutional right exceptions to the PCRA time bar, based on our
Supreme Court’s decision in Drummond. Nevertheless, judicial decisions do
not constitute a “new fact” for purposes of the exception. See
Commonwealth v. Watts, 611 Pa. 80, 23 A.3d 980 (2011) (explaining
subsequent decisional law does not constitute new “fact” per Section
9545(b)(1)(ii)). Additionally, the Drummond Court did not hold that its
decision was to apply retroactively, as required to qualify for the newly
recognized constitutional right exception. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(iii).
See also Commonwealth v. Chambers, 35 A.3d 34, 41 (Pa.Super. 2011),
appeal denied, 616 Pa. 625, 46 A.3d 715 (2012) (stating that to satisfy newly-
recognized constitutional right exception under Section 9545(b)(1)(iii),
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petitioner must prove that there is new constitutional right and that right has
been held by Supreme Court of United States or Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania to apply retroactively). Therefore, Appellant has failed to prove
an exception to the PCRA timeliness requirements.3 Accordingly, we affirm.4
Order affirmed.
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3 Appellant’s claims of prior PCRA counsel’s ineffectiveness do not satisfy an
exception to the PCRA’s time bar. See Sims, supra. Moreover, trial counsel
would not have been ineffective for failing to anticipate the change in the law
(see Drummond, supra), so prior PCRA counsel would not have been
ineffective in failing to raise this claim. To the extent that Appellant purports
to rely on our Supreme Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Bradley, ___
Pa. ___, 261 A.3d 381 (2021), that decision affords him no relief. In Bradley,
the Court expressly held “that a PCRA petitioner may, after a PCRA court
denies relief, and after obtaining new counsel or acting pro se, raise claims of
PCRA counsel’s ineffectiveness at the first opportunity to do so, even if on
appeal.” Bradley, supra at ___, 261 A.3d at 401 (internal footnote omitted).
Nevertheless, this Court has declined to extend the holding of Bradley to
cases involving untimely or serial petitions. See Commonwealth v. Stahl,
292 A.3d 1130, 1136 (Pa.Super. 2023) (holding that Bradley does not create
right to file subsequent PCRA petition outside PCRA’s one-year time limit as
method of raising ineffectiveness of PCRA counsel or permit recognition of
such right). Further, Appellant appears to challenge prior PCRA counsel’s
ineffectiveness (presumably, counsel who represented Appellant in his first
PCRA petition); the current appeal would not be Appellant’s first opportunity
to have done so, as required by Bradley.
4 On October 6, 2023, Appellant filed an application for relief in this Court
seeking, inter alia, a hearing on his current PCRA claims. Based on our
disposition, we deny the requested relief.
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Date: October 27, 2023
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