Com. v. Walsh, J. ( 2021 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
OF PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee
v.
JACOB DANIEL THOMAS WALSH
Appellant No. 908 MDA 2020
Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered June 18, 2020
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lebanon County
Criminal Division at Nos: CP-38-CR-0001262-2015, CP-38-CR-0001546-
2015, CP-38-CR-0001553-2015, CP-38-CR-0002120-2015
BEFORE: STABILE, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*
JUDGMENT ORDER BY STABILE, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 08, 2021
Appellant, Jacob Daniel Thomas Walsh, appeals pro se from the June
18, 2020 order dismissing his petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief
Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 954-46. We affirm.
In 2015, the Commonwealth charged Appellant at the above-referenced
docket numbers with multiple counts of possession of a controlled substance,
possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, delivery of a
controlled substance, and related offenses.1 On February 17, 2016, Appellant
and the Commonwealth entered a plea agreement whereby Appellant would
serve 7 to 15 years of incarceration. The trial court sentenced Appellant in
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* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1 35 P.S. §§ 780-113(a)(16), (30).
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accord with the plea agreement the same day. Appellant did not file a direct
appeal.
On February 15, 2017, Appellant filed a timely first PCRA petition
complaining of the trial court’s active role in plea negotiations. The PCRA
court denied relief and Appellant did not appeal. On June 15, 2020, Appellant
filed the instant pro se petition, purportedly for a writ of habeas corpus. Again,
Appellant challenged the trial court’s role in plea negotiations. The PCRA court
treated the instant petition as one filed under the PCRA2 and dismissed it as
untimely. The PCRA requires that any petition thereunder be filed within one
year of the date on which the petitioner’s judgment of sentence becomes final.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). Because Appellant did not appeal from his
February 17, 2016 sentence, that sentence became final thirty days later. The
instant petition, filed in June of 2020, is facially untimely. Appellant did not
attempt to plead or prove the applicability of any timeliness exception set forth
in § 9545(b)(2).
We discern no error in the PCRA court’s dismissal of the instant petition
as an untimely PCRA petition. The PCRA court had no jurisdiction to entertain
an untimely petition. Commonwealth v. Davis, 86 A.2d 883, 887 (Pa.
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2 Section 9542 of the PCRA provides that “[t]he action established in this
subchapter shall be the sole means of obtaining collateral relief and
encompasses all other common law and statutory remedies for the same
purpose that exist when this subchapter takes effect, including habeas
corpus and coram nobis.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9542.
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Super. 2014). Appellant did not attempt to plead or prove the applicability of
any exception to the PCRA’s jurisdictional time bar.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 9/8/2021
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