Com. v. Confer, M. ( 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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37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.
MATTHEW CONFER
Appellant No. 1059 WDA 2020
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 10, 2020
In the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County
Criminal Division at No.: CP-42-CR-0000205-2020
BEFORE: STABILE, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*
MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED: SEPTEMBER 16, 2021
Appellant Matthew Confer appeals from the September 10, 2020
judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of McKean
County (“trial court”), following his negotiated guilty plea to criminal attempt,
and criminal mischief.1 His counsel has filed a brief and an application to
withdraw pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1969), and
Commonwealth v. Santiago, 978 A.2d 349 (Pa. 2009). Upon review, we
affirm the judgment of sentence and grant counsel’s application to withdraw.
On May 23, 2020, City of Bradford Police Department charged Appellant
with, inter alia, the foregoing crimes. The affidavit of probable cause
accompanying the complaint alleged:
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* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 901(a), 3921(a), and 3304(a)(5), respectively.
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A male came into the BPD to report that there was a male in the
parking lot of Tops Market attempting to break into vehicles and
he had a knife. [Officer Shelby J. Walters] arrived at Tops and
located 4 individuals standing in the parking lot. One of the
individuals stated that his brother had a video of a male
attempting to break into a vehicle. The male showed [Officer
Walters] a video of a male on one knee trying to pick the lock of
a vehicle with a knife. [Officer Walters] identified the male as
[Appellant]. [Appellant] is familiar to [Officer Walters] from
previous incidents. [Officer Walters] then saw a red Dodge
sedan’s rear brake lights light up and the witness stated that the
male was in the red Dodge sedan. Officer Miller arrived at that
time and [Officer Walters] approached the vehicle. [Officer
Walters] saw that [Appellant] was sitting in the driver’s seat of the
Dodge sedan with the door closed. [Officer Walters] then detained
[Appellant] in handcuffs and briefly patted [him] down over the
clothing to make sure he did not have the knife or any other
weapons on him. [Appellant] told [Officer Walters] multiple times
that he was the owner of the vehicle and to look at his tag.
[Officer Walters] did run the registration of the vehicle and the
vehicle was not registered to [Appellant]. Officers inquired about
the tag [Appellant] kept referring to and [Appellant] stated that it
showed who he is. [Appellant] had an ID badge clipped to the
neck of his shirt. The car was in disarray with multiple papers
strewn inside of the vehicle. [Officer Walters] was then informed
by the witnesses that [Appellant] had attempted to gain entry into
a different vehicle as well. [Officer Walters] saw the cover to the
driver’s side handle lock had been broken off but the vehicle was
still locked. [Officer Walters] then went back to the passenger
side of the Dodge sedan and saw that the center console was open
and there were broken cigarettes inside of the center console as
well as on the driver’s seat of the vehicle. [Officer Walters] was
able to locate the knife. The knife had been inserted into the
ignition of the Dodge Sedan. [Appellant] was still claiming that
his name was on the tag. I looked at the tag and saw that the ID
badge was for a male named Collin Maines. The photo on the ID
badge was not [Appellant’s].
Affidavit of Probable Cause, 5/23/20 (sic). The charges were held for court.
On September 2, 2020, Appellant entered into a negotiated guilty plea.
At the guilty plea hearing, he acknowledged on the record that his negotiated
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plea agreement called for 12 to 24 months’ imprisonment in a state facility.
N.T. Guilty Plea, 9/2/20, at 3. In his written colloquy, he acknowledged that
his maximum sentence for attempted theft by unlawful taking was a third-
degree felony that carried a maximum sentence of seven (7) “years and
$15,000.” Written Plea Agreement, 9/2/20, at ¶ 40. The trial court then
reviewed with Appellant all of the rights he would be relinquishing by pleading
guilty. Appellant indicated that he understood those rights and was pleading
guilty because his “fingerprints are all over that knife.” N.T. Guilty Plea,
9/2/20, at 5-6. He remarked that “I know I’m guilty I know I did a (inaudible
– fading out) did a crime so I want to admit – I want to man up and take
responsibility for my actions.” Id. at 6. Appellant indicated to the trial court
that he reviewed and signed the written plea agreement. Id. at 6-7.
Appellant further agreed on the record that it was Appellant’s decision to plead
guilty and that “[n]o one is making me do this this is all my – all me, I’m
making this decision on my own.” Id. at 7. He also stated that he was not
sick, or under the influence of any medication and was thinking clearly. Id.
at 7-8. Appellant agreed to the Commonwealth’s facts supporting the listed
charges. Id. at 8-9. At the end of the hearing, Appellant indicated that he
wished to expedite sentencing because “I want [(sic)] hurry up and get going
and do my time.” Id. at 10.
On September 10, 2020, consistent with the terms of the plea, the trial
court sentenced Appellant to, inter alia, 12 to 24 months’ incarceration with a
concurrent term of 24 months’ probation. Appellant received 111 days’ credit
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for time served. Appellant did not file any post-sentence motions. He timely
appealed. The trial court directed Appellant to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)
statement of errors complained of on appeal. Instead of the court-ordered
Rule 1925(b) statement, however, Appellant’s counsel filed a statement of
intent to file an Anders brief under Pa.R.A.P. 1925(c)(4).2 In response, the
trial court issued a brief Rule 1925(a) statement.
On December 10, 2020, Appellant’s counsel filed in this Court an
application to withdraw as counsel and filed an Anders brief, wherein counsel
challenged the legality of the sentence.3 Anders Brief at 4.
When presented with an Anders brief, this Court may not review the
merits of the underlying issues without first examining counsel’s petition to
withdraw. Commonwealth v. Goodwin, 928 A.2d 287, 290 (Pa. Super.
2007) (en banc). It is well-established that, in requesting a withdrawal,
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2 Rule 1925(c)(4) provides:
In a criminal case, counsel may file of record and serve on the
judge a statement of intent to file an [Anders] brief in lieu of filing
a Statement. If, upon review of the [Anders] brief, the appellate
court believes that there are arguably meritorious issues for
review, those issues will not be waived; instead, the appellate
court may remand for the filing of a Statement, a supplemental
opinion pursuant to Rule 1925(a), or both. Upon remand, the trial
court may, but is not required to, replace appellant’s counsel.
Pa.R.A.P. 1925(c)(4).
3 As the Commonwealth notes, the basis for Appellant’s legality of sentence
challenge is unclear, because he does not identify any sentencing errors. We,
however, suspect that Appellant is objecting to the imposition of the 12 to 24
months’ sentence.
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counsel must satisfy the following procedural requirements: 1) petition the
court for leave to withdraw stating that, after making a conscientious
examination of the record, counsel has determined that the appeal would be
frivolous; 2) provide a copy of the brief to the defendant; and 3) advise the
defendant that he or she has the right to retain private counsel, proceed pro
se or raise additional arguments that the defendant considers worthy of the
court’s addition. Commonwealth v. Lilley, 978 A.2d 995, 997 (Pa. Super.
2009).
Instantly, counsel’s application to withdraw from representation
provides that counsel reviewed the record and concluded that the appeal is
frivolous. Furthermore, counsel notified Appellant that he was seeking
permission to withdraw and provided Appellant with copies of the petition to
withdraw and his Anders brief. Counsel also advised Appellant of his right to
retain new counsel, proceed pro se, or raise any additional points he deems
worthy of this Court’s attention. Accordingly, we conclude that counsel has
satisfied the procedural requirements of Anders.
We next must determine whether counsel’s Anders brief complies with
the substantive requirements of Santiago, wherein our Supreme Court held:
[I]n the Anders brief that accompanies court-appointed counsel’s
petition to withdraw, counsel must: (1) provide a summary of the
procedural history and facts, with citations to the record; (2) refer
to anything in the record that counsel believes arguably supports
the appeal; (3) set forth counsel’s conclusion that the appeal is
frivolous; and (4) state counsel’s reasons for concluding that the
appeal is frivolous. Counsel should articulate the relevant facts of
record, controlling case law, and/or statutes on point that have
led to the conclusion that the appeal is frivolous.
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Santiago, 978 A.2d at 361. Here, our review of counsel’s brief indicates that
he has complied with the briefing requirements of Santiago. We, therefore,
conclude that counsel has satisfied the minimum requirements of
Anders/Santiago.
Once counsel has met his obligations, “it then becomes the responsibility
of the reviewing court to make a full examination of the proceedings and make
an independent judgment to decide whether the appeal is in fact wholly
frivolous.” Santiago, 978 A.2d at 355 n.5. Thus, we now turn to the merits
of Appellant’s appeal.
Appellant’s sole issue before us implicates the legality of sentence,4
which we treat as a question of law. Commonwealth v. Aikens, 139 A.3d
244, 245 (Pa. Super. 2016), aff’d 168 A.3d 137 (Pa. 2017). Our standard of
review over such questions is de novo and the scope of review is plenary. Id.____________________________________________
4 “[W]e note that when a defendant enters a guilty plea, he or she waives all
defects and defenses except those concerning the validity of the plea, the
jurisdiction of the trial court, and the legality of the sentence imposed.”
Commonwealth v. Stradley, 50 A.3d 769, 771 (Pa. Super. 2012) (citation
omitted). “Our law presumes that a defendant who enters a guilty plea was
aware of what he was doing. He bears the burden of proving otherwise.”
Commonwealth v. Yeomans, 24 A.3d 1044, 1047 (Pa. Super. 2011)
(citation omitted). Differently put, a defendant may not challenge the
discretionary aspects of his or her sentence, where the terms of the sentence
were made part of the negotiated plea. Commonwealth v. Baney, 860 A.2d
127, 131 (Pa. Super. 2004), appeal denied, 877 A.2d 459 (Pa. 2005); see
Commonwealth v. Reid, 117 A.3d 777, 784 (Pa. Super. 2015) (holding that
a challenge to the discretionary aspects of a negotiated sentence is
unreviewable).
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Here, we agree with counsel that Appellant’s legality of sentence
challenge is wholly frivolous and devoid of any merit. As stated, he agreed
to 12-24 months’ incarceration with a concurrent term of 24 months’ probation
for attempted theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree felony carrying a
maximum sentence of seven years in prison. See 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§
106(b)(4); 1101; 1103(3). The agreed-upon sentence of 12 to 24 months in
prison was legal because it was within the standard range and did not exceed
the seven-year maximum. Accordingly, Appellant does not obtain relief.
We have conducted an independent review of the record and have
addressed Appellant’s argument on appeal. Based on our conclusions above,
we agree with Appellant’s counsel that the issue Appellant seeks to litigate in
this appeal is without merit, and our independent review of the record has not
revealed any other meritorious issues. We affirm the judgment of sentence
and grant counsel’s application to withdraw.
Judgment of sentence affirmed. Application to withdraw granted.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 9/16/2021
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