Com. v. Collins, F.

J-S42037-22
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS A/K/A :
FREDERICK DOUGLAS COLLINS :
: No. 588 WDA 2022
Appellant :
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0012275-2015
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS A/K/A :
FREDERICK DOUGLAS COLLINS :
: No. 589 WDA 2022
Appellant :
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0013685-2015
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS :
:
Appellant : No. 590 WDA 2022
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0013238-2015
J-S42037-22
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS :
:
Appellant : No. 591 WDA 2022
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0013236-2015
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS :
:
Appellant : No. 592 WDA 2022
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0013234-2015
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
FREDERICK D. COLLINS :
:
Appellant : No. 593 WDA 2022
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered May 4, 2022
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0013218-2015
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BEFORE: BOWES, J., OLSON, J., and COLINS, J.
MEMORANDUM BY COLINS, J.: FILED: MARCH 30, 2023
Frederick D. Collins appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed
following resentencing whereupon he received an aggregate incarceration
term of sixteen to thirty-two years for aggravated assault, prohibited
possession of a firearm, and intimidation of a witness/victim.1 Collins’s counsel
has concurrently filed a petition to withdraw from representation and, too, has
filed a corresponding brief pursuant to Anders v. California. See 386 U.S.
783 (1967). After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of
sentence and further grant counsel's petition to withdraw.
The parties are well aware of the facts underpinning Collins’s
convictions. However, we replicate the factual summary as written by this
Court in Collins’s original direct appeal:
[Collins] was charged with a series of offenses arising from events
between July and October of 2015, when he was 34½ years old.
On October 25, 2016, [Collins] pleaded nolo contendere to
multiple charges at the above caption numbers. The trial court
identified the charges and informed [Collins] of the maximum
sentence for each offense, and [Collins] acknowledged that he
understood the charges. The Commonwealth summarized the
relevant facts as follows:
[H]ad we proceeded to trial [at CP-02-CR-0013234-2015],
we would have called officers from the City of McKeesport
Police Department, [and] they would have testified that on
September 6th of 2015 at about 4:22 p.m., they were
____________________________________________
 Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2702(a)(1); 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6105(a)(1); and 18 Pa.C.S.A.
§ 4952(a)(3), respectively.
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notified by Shona Green that a male had pointed a gun at
her. Shona’s neighbor, Michelle Simpson, had asked Shona
to go over to Michelle’s house to feed her dog. When Shona
Green went to the house, the door swung open and [Collins]
was standing there pointing a silver pistol at her and he said
to her: What the fuck are you doing at my house? I will
fucking shoot you. So Shona then ran away.
Six minutes later . . . at [CP-02-CR-0013236-2015], West
Mifflin police received a dispatch about the prior incident[;
they received a report from] Michelle Simpson who stated
that [Collins] was on his way to Monview Heights to kill her
and everyone else. The officers arrived on scene, observed
a silver minivan exiting the front gate and they pursued the
van, initiated a traffic stop, and the officer asked who the
passenger was and he stated his name was Louis Ellis, [and]
they later identified him as [Collins]. They identified the
driver as Daryl Waite who apparently was a jitney driver and
Waite told them that [Collins] had entered the vehicle with
a firearm, he pulled the firearm and said take me to
Monview. During the drive[,] [Collins] stated he was going
to kill her, and Waite said that . . . there was a firearm in
the glove compartment which the officer retrieved. There
are two firearms charges [for] which we would have
provided the certificate of non-licensure. Then at the lab,
the firearm was identified as a .25–caliber Raven Arms pistol
912566, good operation, no barrel length in the report, but
the officer would testify it was less than 16 inches. As to the
persons not to possess, we would have introduced a certified
conviction for robbery of a motor vehicle and aggravated
assault, November 19th of 2001, at CC 1999-14932.
***
In [CP-02-CR-0013218-2015], had this matter proceeded to
trial, the Commonwealth would have called witnesses from
McKeesport City Police Department, as well as the victim in
this matter, Michelle Simpson. The testimony would have
been heard that on or about July 16, 2015, in Allegheny
County, that [Collins] threatened the victim as well as her
juvenile daughter, who was six years old at the time, that
he would kill Michelle Simpson as well as physically assault
her six-year-old daughter. [Collins] also physically
assaulted the victim Michelle Simpson by punching her in
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the back of the head.
Moving on to . . . [CP-02-CR-0013685-2015], had this
matter proceeded to trial, the Commonwealth would have
called officers from the West Mifflin Borough Police
Department, namely Officer Joseph Hoffman, Officer Robert
Fedor and Officer Michael Pintigh . . . Further the
Commonwealth would have called a witness who was the
victim, Michelle Simpson, as well as Magisterial District
Judge Richard Olasz. The testimony would have been heard
that on or about October 1, 2015, in the County of Allegheny
that a preliminary hearing was being held where [Collins]
was Mr. Collins and the victim was Michelle Simpson, during
the course of that preliminary hearing, Mr. Collins became
disorderly and was removed from the hearing. On the way
out of the hearing, he threatened the victim Michelle
Simpson and threatened to kill her, put his hand in the
shape of a gun. He further threatened to kill Officer Joseph
Hoffman and Officer Robert Fedor. Later, MDJ Olasz was
leaving the hearing. As he walked by the police car where
[Collins] was being held, [Collins] threatened Judge Olasz
and said that he would kill him as well. At this time he was
currently at preliminary hearing facing charges of felonies of
a first degree for a prior assault on Michelle Simpson. While
in the police car [Collins] was handcuffed, however, he was
able to remove his hands from a handcuff. During that time
Officer Joseph Hoffman and Officer Robert Fedor were
present. [Collins] physically resisted their arrest resulting in
them deploying their Tasers at him. Further, while [Collins]
was in the police car he did defecate and damage the police
car with the feces.
Moving on to [CP-02-CR-0013238-2015,] had this matter
proceeded to trial, the Commonwealth would have called
witnesses from the City of McKeesport Police Department,
as well as the victim in this matter, Michelle Simpson. Had
this matter proceeded to trial, the testimony would have
been heard that on or about September 5, 2015, that
[Collins] physically assaulted Michelle Simpson with a
firearm, striking her in the face with it. Further, he
threatened both her and her 7-year-old daughter who was
asleep on the couch with her with the firearm, threatening
to kill both of them.
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***
[H]ad [CP-02-CR-0013275-2015] proceeded to trial on . . .
three . . . counts of terroristic threats, the Commonwealth
would have called officers from the West Mifflin Borough
Police Department, as well as the victim in this matter,
Michelle Simpson, as well as Jason Steward. Here testimony
would have been heard that on or about September 6, 2015,
that [Collins] had threatened the three victims, to kill all of
them. Mr. Steward was currently in a relationship with Ms.
Simpson, and Ms. Simpson’s daughter was present when
[Collins] threatened to kill all of them.
The trial court accepted [Collins’s] nolo contendere plea as
knowing, voluntary and intelligent, adding that [Collins] could
receive a maximum of 203 years’ imprisonment.
Commonwealth v. Collins, No. 1265 WDA 2017, at 2-4 (Pa. Super., filed
July 16, 2018) (unpublished memorandum) (record citations omitted).
Collins orally attempted to withdraw from the nolo contendere plea prior
to sentencing. However, the sentencing court denied this attempt, which it
construed as a motion, and sentenced him to an aggregate twenty-three-and-
one-half to forty-seven years of incarceration.2 This Court affirmed his
judgment of sentence on appeal, and Collins’s subsequent petition for
____________________________________________
2 Both this Court in the prior memorandum and the lower court in the present
matter refer to Collins’s original aggregate sentence as spanning twenty-five
to fifty years. However, the Anders brief and Commonwealth brief both
indicate that the original aggregate sentence was twenty-three-and-one-half
to forty-seven years of incarceration. The latter appears to be the correct
aggregation: “Appellant’s [Post Conviction Relief Act] Petition, as well as the
sentencing transcript in this case reflect that Judge McDaniel imposed a
sentence of 4 to 8 years of incarceration[;] however, the Sentencing Order
and a Sentence Status Summary obtained from the Department of Corrections
indicate that the sentence imposed at CP-02-CR0012275-2015, Count 4, was
actually 2 ½ to 5 years of incarceration.” Commonwealth’s Brief, at 5 n.1.
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allowance of appeal to our Supreme Court was denied.
In 2019, Collins filed a pro se petition pursuant to the Post Conviction
Relief Act. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546. Counsel thereafter filed an
amended petition premised on a claim of double jeopardy, principally
contending that “two sentences imposed for possession of a firearm during [a
charged] incident … constituted a single continuing offense.” Trial Court
Opinion, 9/6/22, at 2. Ultimately, Collins was granted relief and was
resentenced.3
Following resentencing, Collins filed a post-sentence motion, which was
denied. Collins filed a timely notice of appeal, and the relevant parties have
complied with their respective obligations under Pennsylvania Rule of
Appellate Procedure 1925.
On appeal, Collins claims that the court abused its discretion in imposing
a new sentence that was not individualized, instead opting to, in essence,
merely reimpose his original sentence. See Anders Brief, at 8. As indicated,
supra, Collins’s counsel simultaneously has filed a petition to withdraw from
representation and an Anders brief. We note that Collins has not filed a pro
se response to this brief, and the record does not demonstrate that any
____________________________________________
3 Specifically, Collins was sentenced to two consecutive incarceration terms of
five to ten years for prohibited possession of a firearm and aggravated assault
and a consecutive six-to-twelve-year term for witness/victim intimidation. The
other counts against him resulted in a determination of guilty without further
penalty.
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independent counsel has filed a brief on his behalf.
Notwithstanding the issue raised in the Anders brief, counsel’s petition
to withdraw must be considered prior to any substantive analysis of that issue.
See Commonwealth v. Garang, 9 A.3d 237, 240 (Pa. Super. 2010). An
Anders brief suggests that counsel believes an appeal is frivolous. Linked to
that belief is counsel's desire to withdraw from representation, which requires
counsel to:
(1) petition the court for leave to withdraw stating that after
making a conscientious examination of the record, counsel has
determined the appeal would be frivolous; (2) file a brief referring
to any issues that might arguably support the appeal, but which
does not resemble a no-merit letter; and (3) furnish a copy of the
brief to the defendant and advise him of his right to retain new
counsel, proceed pro se, or raise any additional points [counsel]
deems worthy of this Court's attention.
Commonwealth v. Edwards, 906 A.2d 1225, 1227 (Pa. Super. 2006)
(citation omitted). As developed in Commonwealth v. Santiago, 978 A.2d
349 (Pa. 2009), our Supreme Court illuminated the necessary components of
an Anders brief, which require that counsel:
(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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Id., at 361. If counsel complies with Anders, this Court must then “conduct
a simple review of the record to ascertain if there appear on its face to be
arguably meritorious issues that counsel, intentionally or not, missed or
misstated.” Commonwealth v. Dempster, 187 A.3d 266, 272 (Pa. Super.
2018) (en banc).
After reviewing counsel's submissions, we find there has been
satisfactory compliance with Anders. First, the petition to withdraw indicates
that counsel ”reviewed the record” and, in so doing, determined that “in
[counsel’s] professional opinion, … [Collins] is not entitled to relief as the
claim[] asserted on appeal is[] wholly frivolous[.]” Application for Leave to
Withdraw as Counsel, ¶¶ 1-2. Second, counsel's brief substantially conforms
to the four requirements outlined in Santiago, including a well-developed
summary of this matter’s facts and procedural history. Third, counsel has
included a copy of the letter that he sent to Collins, which demonstrates
counsel's unequivocal intention to withdraw from representation and, too,
apprises Collins of his right to either seek new counsel or proceed pro se to
file additional claims. Resultantly, because the Anders requirements have
been met, we proceed to review the “frivolous” claim asserted on Collins’s
behalf. Then, we conduct an independent review to ascertain whether Collins’s
appeal is, in fact, wholly unmeritorious.
The Anders brief solely challenges the discretionary aspects of Collins’s
sentence. A challenge to the discretionary aspects of a sentence does not
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automatically ensure review on appeal. See Commonwealth v. Hill, 66 A.3d
359, 363 (Pa. Super. 2013). Prior to considering the merits of such a claim,
we are required to consider:
(1) whether the appeal is timely; (2) whether [Collins] preserved
his issue; (3) whether [Collins’s] brief includes a concise
statement of the reasons relied upon for allowance of appeal with
respect to the discretionary aspects of sentence[, see Pa.R.A.P.
2119(f)]; and (4) whether the concise statement raises a
substantial question that the sentence is appropriate under the
sentencing code.
Commonwealth v. Edwards, 71 A.3d 323, 329–30 (Pa. Super. 2013)
(citation omitted).
Collins filed a timely appeal, preserved the discretionary aspects issue
via post-sentence motion, and the Anders brief includes a statement pursuant
to Appellate Rule 2119(f). See Anders Brief, at 18. Accordingly, we must
consider whether Collins has posed a substantial question.
Although terse, the Anders brief asserts that a substantial question
exists where one avers that, upon resentencing, the court mechanically
reimposed the same aggregate sentencing without consideration of
individualized sentencing factors. See id. Such a contention has been found
to raise a substantial question. See Commonwealth v. Morgan, 258 A.3d
1147, 1157 (Pa. Super. 2021) (noting that a substantial question exists where
the lower court failed to consider the factors enumerated in the sentencing
code in the context of the court not “starting afresh” upon resentencing);
Commonwealth v. Serrano, 150 A.3d 470, 473 (Pa. Super. 2016) (finding,
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implicitly, there to be a substantial question predicated on, inter alia, the lack
of consideration of that defendant’s individualized needs prior to that specific
resentencing juncture). Therefore, we proceed to a substantive review of
Collins’s claim.
Fundamentally, the Anders brief illuminates the issue of whether the
court, upon resentencing, rotely imposed a sentence materially identical to
the last aggregate sentence without any contemporary consideration of, inter
alia, Collins’s individual characteristics and circumstances. For challenges to
the discretionary aspects of a sentence, we employ a well-settled set of
precepts:
Sentencing is a matter vested in the sound discretion of the
sentencing judge, and a sentence will not be disturbed on appeal
absent a manifest abuse of discretion. In this context, an abuse
of discretion is not shown merely by an error in judgment. Rather,
the appellant must establish, by reference to the record, that the
sentencing court ignored or misapplied the law, exercised its
judgment for reasons of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill will, or
arrived at a manifestly unreasonable decision.
Commonwealth v. Gonzalez, 109 A.3d 711, 731 (Pa. Super. 2015) (citation
omitted). Moreover, where the trial court sentenced within the guidelines,
such as in the present matter, we may only vacate the sentence if it is “clearly
unreasonable.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9781(c)(2).
A sentencing court is to consider the protection of the public, the gravity
of the offense as it relates to the impact on the victim and the community,
and the rehabilitative needs of the defendant. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9721(b).
On appeal, this Court is required to, inter alia, glean the nature and
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circumstances of the offenses and history and characteristics of the defendant
as well as take note of the opportunities that the sentencing court had to
observe the defendant, specifically in contemplation of it having reviewed a
pre-sentence investigation. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9781(d).
The Anders brief notes that Collins’s individual sentences
fall within the statutory maximum for the respective offenses and
there is no illegality in the sentence–[Collins] was found ineligible
for RRRI and that finding is supported by the record[.] [H]e was
given credit for all time served regarding the cases at which a
sentence of incarceration was imposed, and there was no
mandatory minimum sentence provision imposed. As to the length
of the sentence imposed, the [c]ourt, in the prior appeal in this
matter, held the aggregate sentence of 23.5 to 47 years [of]
incarceration was not an abuse of discretion.
Anders Brief, at 20-21 (record citation omitted).
In its opinion, the court distinguished the above-referenced Serrano
case with the course of action it took in crafting Collins’s new sentence. In
Serrano, which featured resentencing following the finding of an illegal
sentencing scheme,4 the judge, in imposing an identical sentence, explicitly
indicated on record that, in imposing this new sentence, he was not making
an independent judgment on that defendant’s case. See 150 A.3d at 474.
Based on this admission, it was an abuse of discretion to simply “effectuate
the intent of the prior sentencing judge.” Id., at 475 (acknowledging that the
sentencing court had an updated pre-sentence investigation report and that
____________________________________________
4The sentence was found to be in violation of Alleyne v. United States. See
570 U.S. 99 (2013).
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the defendant was given the opportunity to present evidence on his own
behalf, but that this Court was unable to “ignore the court’s outright admission
that it did not believe its role was to take an independent look at the case[]”)
(record citation omitted).
Here, however, Collins provided to the court a memorandum in aid of
sentencing, inclusive of an appendix, which provided “detailed information
regarding [Collins’s] criminal history and conduct since the original sentencing
which was presented in lieu of procuring an updated pre-sentence report.”
Trial Court Opinion, 9/6/22, at 9-10 (internal quotation marks and brackets
omitted). Whereas Collins’s original aggregate sentence was twenty-three-
and-one-half to forty-seven years of incarceration, his new aggregate
sentence was substantially reduced to sixteen to thirty-two years. The court
also noted that it obtained “the benefit of the information and documents
regarding [Collins’s] criminal history and conduct” and that Collins “was given
the opportunity to make a statement prior to sentencing[.]” Id., at 10; see
Resentencing Hearing, 5/4/22, at 4 (establishing that Collins made a
statement). The court “also heard the argument of counsel regarding an
appropriate sentence and, in fact, imposed the exact sentence requested by
counsel[.]” Id.
Although the resentencing transcript is rather light on attendant
explanation as to why the court reimposed the three individual sentences in
the manner that it did, to demonstrate an abuse of discretion, there must be
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some indicia that this new sentence is “either illegal or contrary to the general
scheme of the Sentencing Guidelines, not how the sentence at hand may
appear in comparison to an extinguished sentence.” Commonwealth v.
Bailey, 818 A.2d 543, 545 (Pa. Super. 2003) (citation omitted) (emphasis in
original). Furthermore, the Anders brief acknowledges that “[t]here is no
issue here about whether the [c]ourt had a pre-sentence report and
information on subsequent events. The [c]ourt provided the parties with
access to the [non-updated] pre-sentence report over a week prior to
re[]sentencing[.]” Anders Brief, at 21-22. Because the existence of a pre-
sentence investigation report creates a presumption that the court was “aware
of the relevant information regarding the defendant’s character and weighed
those considerations along with mitigating statutory factors[,]”
Commonwealth v. Griffin, 65 A.3d 932, 937 (Pa. Super. 2013) (citations
and internal quotation marks omitted), there is no clear basis, unlike Serrano,
to find that presumption defeated. As such, we conclude that the court did not
abuse its discretion in resentencing Collins to an aggregate incarceration term
of sixteen to thirty-two years or, more particularly, at any of the sentence’s
discrete components, which all fell within the standard ranges of their
respective sentencing guidelines.
Pursuant to Anders, we have additionally reviewed the record
independently to ascertain the existence of other non-frivolous issues. This
review has uncovered nothing legally viable for Collins to have pursued on
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appeal.
As we are unable to find any non-frivolous issues and further see no
merit to the sole issue counsel has advanced, we grant counsel's petition to
withdraw and affirm Collins’s judgment of sentence.
Petition to withdraw from representation granted. Judgment of sentence
affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 3/30/2023
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