Com. v. Barnett, D. ( 2023 )


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  • J-S38029-23
    NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA          :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                       :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                     :
    :
    :   No. 1805 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: ANTHONY HENRY              :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA          :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                       :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                     :
    :
    :   No. 1811 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: WILLIAM J. TURNER          :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    J-S38029-23
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA           :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                        :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                      :
    :
    :   No. 1813 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: RICHARD DANIELS             :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA           :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                        :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                      :
    :
    :   No. 1815 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: JAMES BOONE                 :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA           :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                        :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                      :
    :
    :   No. 1820 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: WALTER SMITH                :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    -2-
    J-S38029-23
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA                   :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    :
    v.                               :
    :
    :
    DANIEL A. BARNETT                              :
    :
    :   No. 1822 EDA 2022
    APPEAL OF: TYRONE GREEN                        :
    Appeal from the Order Entered June 1, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at
    No(s): CP-15-CR-0000731-1990
    BEFORE:      LAZARUS, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*
    MEMORANDUM BY KUNSELMAN, J.:                         FILED NOVEMBER 14, 2023
    In these consolidated pro se appeals, six incarcerated individuals appeal
    from the PCRA1 court’s orders denying their petitions to join Daniel A.
    Barnett’s request for post-conviction relief.2 None of these men is a party to
    Barnett’s case, and none was charged with any crime in connection therewith.
    Therefore, the PCRA court properly concluded that these individuals failed to
    establish that they would be aggrieved by the denial of the relief sought in
    ____________________________________________
    * Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
    1 Post Conviction Relief Act.     42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546.
    2 On July, 26, 2023, this Court entered an order dismissing a similar appeal
    docketed at No. 1809 EDA 2022, after a suggestion of death was filed by the
    Commonwealth.
    -3-
    J-S38029-23
    Barnett’s case.   Accordingly, as they have failed to establish standing, we
    affirm.
    On September 17, 1990, the trial court sentenced Barnett to an
    aggregate term of life in prison following his entry of a guilty plea to first-
    degree murder and related charges. Thereafter, although Barnett did not file
    a direct appeal, he filed four, unsuccessful petitions for post-conviction relief.
    On August 3, 2021, Barnett filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus ad
    subjiciendum at a civil docket number with the prothonotary in the Court of
    Common Pleas of Luzerne County. Shortly thereafter, each of the six above-
    named individuals filed a motion to join Barnett’s case pursuant to the joinder
    rules of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure.
    On November 1, 2021, the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas
    entered an order transferring Barnett’s habeas corpus petition, as well as the
    joinder pleadings, to the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. All of these
    filings were received by the Chester County Prothonotary on May 10, 2022.
    Thereafter, that prothonotary filed a praecipe to transfer the documents to
    the criminal division.   The Chester County Clerks of Courts then docketed
    Barnett’s habeas corpus petition on May 23, 2022, and each of the joinder
    petitions on June 1, 2022.
    The court treated Barnett’s 2022 filing as his fifth PCRA petition. On
    June 1, 2022, the PCRA court issued a Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice of its intent to
    dismiss Barnett’s fifth petition because it was patently untimely, and he did
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    not establish a time-bar exception.3 That same day, the PCRA court denied
    each of the above-named individuals’ motion to join Barnett’s post-conviction
    proceedings. These appeals followed.
    As noted above, each of the above-named individuals filed their joinder
    motions shortly after Barnett filed his habeas corpus petition at the civil docket
    in Luzerne County.         They each relied upon “Rule 2227 et seq.” of the
    Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure to support their motion.             Because
    Barnett’s requested relief was cognizable under the PCRA, it a was a matter,
    governed by the procedural rules found in Chapter 9 of the Pennsylvania Rules
    of Criminal Procedure.         Pa.R.Crim.P. 900-910.       Thus, the above-named
    individuals cannot use the civil procedural rules as a basis to join Barnett’s
    PCRA petition.
    The Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure also prevent their joinder
    in Barnett’s PCRA proceedings.            Rule 501 of the Pennsylvania Rules of
    Appellate Procedure provides that:             “Except where the right of appeal is
    enlarged by statute, any party aggrieved by an appealable order, or a fiduciary
    whose estate or trust is so aggrieved, may appeal therefrom.” For purposes
    of this rule, “an aggrieved party must have a substantial interest at stake,”
    ____________________________________________
    3 The PCRA court dismissed Barnett’s fifth petition on June 22, 2022. His
    appeal from that decision is filed before this panel at No. 1852 EDA 2022.
    There, we agreed that Barnett’s habeas corpus petition is governed by the
    PCRA, and we affirmed the order denying him post-conviction relief.
    -5-
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    that is, “an interest in the outcome of the litigation which surpasses the
    common interest of all citizens in procuring obedience to the law.”         In re
    McCune, 
    705 A.2d 861
    , 864 (Pa. Super. 1997) (citations omitted). Stated
    differently, to be an “aggrieved party” entitled to file an appeal, the party’s
    interest in the litigation must be adversely affected in a manner which is both
    direct and immediate. 
    Id.
    Significantly, whether a person is an aggrieved party, raises a question
    of standing to bring an appeal. In Kessler v. Pub. Docs. Pen Reg. & Wire
    Taps, 
    180 A.3d 406
    , 408 (Pa. Super. 2018), Melissa Kessler filed a pro se
    appeal from the order denying her motion to intervene and review sealed
    wiretap records in a completed criminal case involving Jeremy Baney.4 Ms.
    Kessler contended that, as a member of the general public, she had both a
    common law right and constitutional right to access these “judicial public
    records.” 
    Id. at 408
    .
    In reviewing the denial of Kessler’s motion to intervene, this Court first
    addressed the standing issue:
    Standing is a core jurisprudential requirement that looks to the
    party bringing the legal challenge and asks whether that party has
    actually been aggrieved as a prerequisite before the court will
    consider the merits of the legal challenge itself. A party who is
    ____________________________________________
    4 In 2003, Baney pled guilty to corrupt organization and drug charges arising
    from his participation in a drug distribution ring. The trial court sentenced
    him to a maximum term of thirty-nine years of imprisonment, we affirmed his
    judgment of sentence, and he has unsuccessfully sought post-conviction relief
    via four PCRA petitions. Kessler, 
    180 A.3d at 407
    .
    -6-
    J-S38029-23
    not adversely affected by the matter he seeks to challenge is not
    “aggrieved” and therefore does not have standing.
    Kessler, 
    180 A.3d at 409-10
    .
    We then concluded that Kessler lacked standing because she did “not
    refute the [PCRA] court’s finding that she failed to establish any direct or
    immediate interest in the wiretap records.” 
    Id. at 410
    . In addition, we noted
    that Kessler’s mere “assertion of supporting Baney’s PCRA petition, without
    any explanation of her relationship to Baney or stake in his post-conviction
    proceedings, [failed] to establish a direct or immediate interest in the case.”
    
    Id.
     Thus, in Kessler, we held that the PCRA court did not abuse its discretion
    in denying Kessler’s motion to intervene because she lacked standing. 
    Id.
    The same holds true for the present appeals. Here, the six incarcerated
    individuals have not refuted the PCRA court’s conclusion that they have no
    connection to Barnett’s case or a direct or immediate interest in his PCRA
    petition. As summarized by the PCRA court in each case:
    [These six men and over forty] other individuals filed
    motions to join [Barnett’s] criminal action. All of the motions were
    denied because a third party cannot be a party to another
    defendant’s criminal action. [Barnett’s] PCRA proceedings involve
    claims regarding his underlying criminal case of which [these six
    men were] not involved.         If [they] have similar claims or
    allegations, [they] must file them in [their] own criminal case, not
    [Barnett’s] case.
    Therefore, it was proper for this court to deny [their
    motions] for joinder and [the] appeals should be dismissed.
    PCRA Court Opinion, 8/4/22, at 2 (excess capitalization omitted). We agree.
    As the above-named incarcerated individuals have not established standing in
    -7-
    J-S38029-23
    Barnett’s PCRA proceedings, we affirm the PCRA court’s denial of their joinder
    motions.
    Orders affirmed.
    Date: 11/14/2023
    -8-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 1805 EDA 2022

Judges: Kunselman, J.

Filed Date: 11/14/2023

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 12/13/2024