Com. v. Lantzy

• Decision Date: 07 July 1999
• Citation: Com. v. Lantzy, 736 A.2d 564, 558 Pa. 214 (Pa. 1999)
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Jesse D. LANTZY, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

736 A.2d 564

558 Pa. 214

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Jesse D. LANTZY, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted February 10, 1999.

Decided July 7, 1999.

Bruce F. McKenrick, McKenrick & McKenrick, Ebensburg, for Jesse D. Lantzy.

David Tulowitzki, Dist. Atty., Christian A. Fisanick, Chief Deputy, for Com.

Rebecca D. Spangler, Asst. Dist. Atty., amicus curiae for Com.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION

SAYLOR, Justice.

We allowed appeal to consider Appellant's request for restoration of his right to file a direct appeal. The case presents the threshold issue of whether relief is available under the Post Conviction Relief Act on a prisoner's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to perfect a direct appeal following a judgment of sentence.

On September 3, 1992, Appellant, Jesse D. Lantzy ("Lantzy"), entered pleas of guilty to theft, receiving stolen property and unauthorized use of an automobile. Thereafter, on July 20, 1993, the trial court imposed an aggregate sentence of 5 years 11½ months' to 11 years 11 months' imprisonment for these offenses. Lantzy filed timely post-sentence motions seeking, among other things, to withdraw his guilty plea and have his sentence modified. He also filed a timely notice of appeal with the Superior Court. The trial court scheduled a hearing to entertain Lantzy's motions, but did not expressly grant reconsideration or vacate its previous judgment of sentence.

In the meantime, Lantzy's counsel negotiated a reduced sentence of four to eight years' incarceration, in exchange for Lantzy's payment of $2,500 in restitution and his withdrawal of his appeal and post-sentence motions. Thus, at the hearing originally scheduled to entertain post-sentence motions, the trial court approved the agreement and imposed the modified sentence. Plea counsel then withdrew Lantzy's direct appeal pursuant to the agreement.

Within the period that would ordinarily be allowed for seeking appellate review of the modified sentence, Lantzy, acting pro se, again filed post-sentence motions and a notice of appeal with the Superior Court, seeking to challenge the modified sentence. After the trial court denied the motions, the Superior Court quashed the appeal and reinstated Lantzy's original sentence. See Commonwealth v. Lantzy ("Lantzy I"), 439 Pa.Super. 669, 653 A.2d 1301 (1994)(table), appeal denied, 540 Pa. 639, 659 A.2d 558 (1995). In its memorandum opinion, the Superior Court explained that the trial court's jurisdiction over the sentencing issue lapsed after it failed to expressly grant reconsideration or vacate its original sentence within thirty days. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 5505; Pa.R.Crim.P. 1410(B)(3); Pa.R.A.P. 1701(b)(3)(ii). See generally Commonwealth v. Gordon, 329 Pa.Super. 42, 477 A.2d 1342 (1984). Therefore, according to the Superior Court, the trial court's imposition of the reduced sentence was a nullity, and the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction to review the merits of the appeal from that sentence.

Because the Superior Court declined to reinstate Lantzy's original appellate rights, Lantzy was left with his original sentence, but without the present ability to challenge that sentence or his conviction by means of direct appeal.

On April 16, 1996, Lantzy filed a petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-46 (the "PCRA"), and counsel was appointed. In his petition, Lantzy alleged, inter alia, that he was innocent and that plea counsel was ineffective for advising him to withdraw his original appeal and post-sentence motions in exchange for a modified sentence that was ultimately vacated. At the subsequent evidentiary hearing, Lantzy clarified for the record that he believed that plea counsel had done a "good job," and that the reduced sentence of four to eight years was "a good deal at the time." He sought to appeal, however, because, he asserted, the sentencing court had excluded favorable character evidence which, if admitted, might have moved that court to either impose a more lenient sentence or allow him to participate in a work release program. There is scant information in the record, however, to describe the claims Lantzy intended to pursue before the Superior Court when he filed his original notice of appeal after the first sentence was imposed. It is thus unclear whether he had originally sought to challenge only the discretionary aspects of his sentence, or whether he also intended to attack his conviction.¹

On November 20, 1996, the PCRA court entered an order denying relief. In the accompanying opinion, the court found that, by negotiating a reduced sentence, plea counsel possessed a reasonable basis for his actions designed to effectuate Lantzy's interests; therefore, Lantzy could not demonstrate that counsel rendered ineffective assistance. The PCRA court further opined that plea counsel's actions did not prejudice Lantzy, but rather, "it was [Lantzy's] own actions [in lodging an appeal from the reduced sentence] that led to his current sentence."

On appeal, the Superior Court affirmed in a divided en banc opinion. See Commonwealth v. Lantzy ("Lantzy II"), 712 A.2d 288 (Pa.Super.1998). Judge Johnson, writing for the majority, opened the analysis with an acknowledgment that post-conviction relief was traditionally available to a petitioner who established that his counsel was ineffective for failing to file a direct appeal as requested. Id. at 290 (citing Commonwealth v. Hickman, 434 Pa.Super. 633, 634-35, 644 A.2d 787, 788 (1994)). The majority found, however, that such relief was statutorily implicated only pursuant to the terms of former Section 9543(a)(2)(v), which provided petitioners with relief where their judgments of sentence resulted from a violation of the United States Constitution or federal law which would require the granting of federal habeas corpus relief. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(2)(v)(repealed). From the repeal of former Section 9543(a)(2)(v), which occurred in connection with the 1995 amendments to the PCRA, the majority inferred that the General Assembly intended to narrow the availability of post-conviction relief in conformity with the act's express purpose, namely, the provision of relief to persons who are innocent or are serving illegal sentences. See Lantzy II, 712 A.2d at 290 (citing 42 Pa.C.S. § 9542).

Subsequent to the elimination of Section 9543(a)(2)(v), the majority found, the claim of a petitioner in Lantzy's circumstance must be assessed under Section 9543(a)(2)(ii) of the PCRA, which provides for relief where a petitioner pleads and proves by a preponderance of the evidence that his conviction resulted from "[i]neffective assistance of counsel which, in the circumstances of the particular case, so undermined the truth-determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place." 42 Pa. C.S. § 9543(a)(2)(ii). Relying upon several Superior Court panel decisions, the majority interpreted Section 9543(a)(2)(ii) as requiring that an ineffectiveness claim brought under the PCRA raise a question of whether an innocent individual has been convicted. See Lantzy II, 712 A.2d at 290 (citing Commonwealth v. Korb, 421 Pa.Super. 44, 46-49, 617 A.2d 715, 716-17 (1992)). Since Lantzy failed to make the required showing that he was wrongfully convicted, the majority held that his claim was not cognizable under the amended PCRA.

In support of this holding, the majority also cited Commonwealth v. Petroski, 695 A.2d 844 (Pa.Super.1997), in which a Superior Court panel previously held that a PCRA petitioner lacked the ability to challenge his counsel's ineffectiveness for failing to file a direct appeal. The majority acknowledged that Petroski contained language which could be read to suggest that post-conviction petitioners are in all cases precluded from seeking PCRA relief for the failure of trial counsel to file a requested direct appeal. See, e.g., Petroski, 695 A.2d at 847 (stating that "the truth-determining process and a finding of guilt or innocence both occur during trial[;][m]atters occurring after the judgment of sentence cannot determine what has occurred before"). Seeking to clarify the holding of Petroski, however, the majority indicated that a petitioner may obtain PCRA relief for his trial counsel's failure to file a requested appeal, but only if the petitioner pleads and proves his innocence.

Although the majority held that relief was unavailable to Lantzy under the PCRA, it was discomfited by the Commonwealth's argument that relief was foreclosed in all contexts by virtue of a failure to establish innocence. Thus, the majority indicated that relief was separately available through a general request for relief nunc pro tunc outside the framework of the PCRA. See Lantzy II, 712 A.2d at 291. In this regard, the majority cited to this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Stock, 545 Pa. 13, 679 A.2d 760 (1996).²

The dissenting opinion, authored by President Judge McEwen and joined by Judges Cavanaugh and Popovich, emphasized that, in addition to the language alluding to a petitioner's innocence, the statutory provision describing the PCRA's purpose and scope also provides that "the 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 ..., including habeas corpus and coram nobis." See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9542. The dissent interpreted this provision as evidencing the General Assembly's intention to channel all claims for post-conviction relief through the PCRA. Lantzy II, 712 A.2d at 295. Thus, the dissent disagreed with the majority's conclusion that nunc pro tunc relief should be available outside the framework of the PCRA to restore rights connected with the appeal from a judgment of sentence.

The dissent also noted that, under United States Supreme Court precede...