Com. v. Johnson

• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Citation: 580 Pa. 594,863 A.2d 423
• Decision Date: 20 December 2004
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Roderick JOHNSON, Appellant.

863 A.2d 423
580 Pa. 594

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee,
v.
Roderick JOHNSON, Appellant

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted August 9, 2004.

Decided December 20, 2004.

Motion for Remand and Reargument Denied February 8, 2005.

863 A.2d 424

Samuel J. B. Angell, Billy Horatio Nolas, Philadelphia, for Roderick Johnson

Mark Carlyle Baldwin, Reading, Douglas Jerome Waltmann, Amy Zapp, Harrisburg, for Com. of PA.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.

Appellant's Motion for Remand and Reargument Denied February 8, 2005.

OPINION

Justice NIGRO.

Appellant Roderick Johnson appeals from the order of the Court of Common Pleas dismissing his petition for relief filed pursuant to the Post-Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546, as untimely. We affirm.

On November 25, 1997, a jury convicted Appellant of, inter alia, two counts of murder in the first degree and, following a penalty-phase hearing, the jury returned a verdict of death against Appellant for each murder count. The trial court officially imposed the sentences of death against Appellant on November 26, 1997. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed Appellant's judgment of sentence, Commonwealth v. Johnson, 556 Pa. 216, 727 A.2d 1089 (1999), and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in February 2000, Johnson v. Pennsylvania, 528 U.S. 1163, 120 S.Ct. 1180, 145 L.Ed.2d 1087 (2000).

Appellant then filed his first PCRA petition, which the PCRA court dismissed in October 2001. This Court affirmed in December 2002. Commonwealth v. Johnson, 572 Pa. 283, 815 A.2d 563 (2002). On September 11, 2003, Appellant filed the instant PCRA petition, his second, which the PCRA court dismissed as untimely. Appellant appealed to this Court, which has jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 9546(d).¹

863 A.2d 425

Pursuant to the PCRA, a PCRA petition must be filed within one year of the date that the petitioner's judgment of sentence becomes final. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1). A judgment becomes final for purposes of the PCRA "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. § 9545(b)(3). If a PCRA petition is untimely, this Court has no jurisdiction over that petition. Commonwealth v. Murray, 562 Pa. 1, 753 A.2d 201, 202-203 (2000)

Here, Appellant concedes that he did not file his PCRA petition within one year of the date that his judgment became final. Appellant nonetheless contends that this Court must consider his petition as it fits within two of the three exceptions to the PCRA's timeliness requirements provided for by Section 9545(b)(1) of the PCRA. That Section provides:

Any petition under this subchapter, including a second or subsequent petition, shall be filed within one year of the date the judgment becomes final, unless the petition alleges and the petitioner proves that:

(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 to apply retroactively.

42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1). Any petition invoking one or more of these exceptions must be filed within 60 days from the date that the claim could have been presented. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(2).

Appellant argues that his petition falls both within the "governmental interference" exception, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(i), and the "newly-discovered evidence" exception, id. § 9545(b)(1)(ii), to the timeliness requirements, because the Commonwealth withheld impeachment evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). In support of his claim, Appellant points to an affidavit written in July 2003 and signed in August 2003 by George Robles, a Commonwealth witness at Appellant's trial. Appellant contends that the Commonwealth withheld valuable impeachment evidence contained in Robles' affidavit, which, according to Appellant, demonstrates that Robles was a drug dealer who colluded with police.² As we conclude that Appellant's

863 A.2d 426

underlying Brady claim is without merit, we necessarily also conclude that Appellant has failed to show that his petition falls within any of the exceptions to the PCRA's time requirements. Cf. Commonwealth v. Breakiron, 566 Pa. 323, 781 A.2d 94, 98 (2001) (Section 9545(b)(1)(i) timeliness exception can be satisfied if appellant establishes meritorious Brady claim)

To prevail on a Brady claim, an appellant must demonstrate that "the evidence was favorable to [him], either because it is exculpatory or because it impeaches; the evidence was suppressed by the prosecution, either willfully or inadvertently; and prejudice ensued." Commonwealth v. Burke, 566 Pa. 402, 781 A.2d 1136, 1141...