Commonwealth of Pa. v. Hill

• Decision Date: 11 March 2011
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appelleev.Donnetta HILL, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

16 A.3d 484

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Donnetta HILL, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Jan. 4, 2010.Decided March 11, 2011.

Cristi A. Charpentier, Billy Horatio Nolas, Defender Association of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, for Donnetta Hill.Hugh J. Burns, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, Amy Zapp, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, ORIE MELVIN, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice CASTILLE.

Appellant Donnetta Hill appeals from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, dismissing the guilt-phase claims in her petition brought under the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541–9546.¹ For the reasons that follow, we affirm, but on different grounds.

On April 6, 1992, a jury sitting before the Honorable Marvin R. Halbert of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, convicted appellant of two counts of first-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and robbery. The convictions arose from the murders of Nghia Quy Lu and Nairobi Dupont. ² The same jury returned a sentencing verdict of death on both murder charges, finding that the aggravating circumstances presented by the Commonwealth outweighed the mitigating circumstances proffered by the defense as to each. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(c)(1)(iv) (“[T]he verdict must be a sentence of death ... if the jury unanimously finds one or more aggravating circumstances which outweigh any mitigating circumstances.”). On March 11, 1993, the trial court denied appellant's post-verdict motions. On that same day, the trial court formally sentenced appellant to death and imposed prison sentences of five to ten years for robbery, and two and one-half to five years for each of the weapons convictions. Throughout these proceedings, appellant was represented by Vincent Lorusso, Esquire.

Represented by new counsel, Lynne Bennett–Hamlin, Esquire, appellant filed a direct appeal in this Court. On direct appeal, this Court unanimously affirmed appellant's convictions and judgments of sentence. Commonwealth v. Hill, 666 A.2d at 642.

On January 11, 1996, the Governor issued a warrant of execution for appellant for the week of February 4, 1996. The Pennsylvania Post–Conviction Defender Organization (“PPDO”) undertook appellant's representation. Appellant filed a timely petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. She also filed an application for a stay of execution in this Court, pending certiorari proceedings, which was granted on February 1, 1996. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 3, 1996. Hill v. Pennsylvania, 517 U.S. 1235, 116 S.Ct. 1880, 135 L.Ed.2d 175 (1996). On June 26, 1996, the Governor signed a second warrant of execution for appellant. On June 28, 1996, appellant filed a motion for appointment of counsel, asking that the PPDO be appointed to represent her for purposes of seeking a stay of execution and pursuing PCRA relief. On July 8, 1996, the common pleas court appointed appellant's present counsel, Billy H. Nolas, Esquire, then of the PPDO, to represent her.³ Appellant filed a motion for stay of execution in this Court, which was granted.

On April 17, 1997, appellant filed a timely, counseled PCRA petition, raising 23 claims. The Commonwealth filed a motion to dismiss. On February 19, 1999, appellant filed a supplement to her PCRA petition, raising three additional claims. The Commonwealth supplemented its motion to dismiss on August 24, 1999. The case ultimately was reassigned to the Honorable Willis Berry, Jr. Both the Commonwealth and appellant requested and were granted continuances. On November 30, 2005, appellant filed a second supplement to her PCRA petition.

On December 9, 2005, with the PCRA court, the Commonwealth, and appellant in agreement, the PCRA court granted appellant penalty-phase relief, vacated her sentences of death, and ordered a new penalty hearing.

On March 21, 2006, the Commonwealth moved to dismiss appellant's supplemented PCRA petition. On April 17, 2006, appellant supplemented her collateral claim premised upon a defaulted claim of racial discrimination in jury selection brought under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and on June 2, 2006, the Commonwealth filed its response.

The PCRA court held evidentiary hearings on August 8 and 9, 2006. On August 14, 2006, the PCRA court issued an order, dismissing all of appellant's guilt-phase claims, stating that: appellant's collateral Batson claim was dismissed following a hearing; the balance of appellant's claims were meritless and dismissed without a hearing; and the court's determination to grant penalty-phase relief remained in full force and effect.

On September 6, 2006, appellant filed a notice of appeal with this Court from the PCRA court's August 14, 2006 order. Apparently, appellant also filed a “Jurisdictional Statement for Petitioner's Appeal of the Denial of a New Trial” (“Jurisdictional Statement”) on that same day.⁴ In her Jurisdictional Statement, appellant set forth, inter alia, 15 guilt-phase claims, subsumed within four broad questions for review. On February 2, 2007, the Commonwealth filed a “Response to Jurisdictional Statement and a Motion for Remand,” requesting that this Court reconsider its holding in Commonwealth v. Bryant, 780 A.2d at 646, and remand appellant's case to the trial court for an immediate resentencing proceeding. The Commonwealth's Motion for Remand was denied on May 11, 2007.

Meanwhile, on February 9, 2007, the PCRA court issued an order under Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), directing that appellant file and serve a statement of the matters she intended to raise on appeal within 14 days. The Order directed appellant to file the original with the Court of Common Pleas Appeals Unit, with a copy provided to the PCRA judge and the Commonwealth. On February 20, 2007, appellant filed an unopposed motion for a 30–day extension to file her Rule 1925(b) statement. The PCRA court granted appellant's motion, but afforded her more time than requested, ordering that appellant's Rule 1925(b) statement be filed by April 30, 2007. Appellant did not file a Rule 1925(b) statement, as ordered. On September 7, 2007, the PCRA court filed its Rule 1925(a) opinion, setting forth the reasons for its August 14, 2007 order dismissing appellant's guilt-phase claims. In its opinion, the PCRA court noted that appellant was ordered to file a Rule 1925(b) statement, but that no such statement was filed. The court did not address the waiver consequences attending that lapse. The court further noted that the issues thereafter discussed in its opinion were gleaned from appellant's Jurisdictional Statement. Even so, the PCRA court discussed only six of the 15 guilt-phase claims listed in the Jurisdictional Statement, and gave no indication as to why it addressed some, and not all, of the claims listed.

On January 9, 2009, appellant filed her Brief in this Court, providing argument on all but one of the 15 guilt-phase claims listed in her Jurisdictional Statement.⁵ On March 29, 2009, the Commonwealth filed a “Motion to Vacate Briefing Schedule, Strike Defendant's Brief, and Hold Counsel Per Se Ineffective for Failing to Comply with a Rule 1925(b) Order.” In that Motion, the Commonwealth also raised an issue concerning the Federal Defender's funding and participation in state court appeals. This Court denied the Commonwealth's Motion without prejudice to the Commonwealth raising such issues in its appellate brief. The Commonwealth thereafter filed its Brief for Appellee in this Court, again raising procedural issues arising from appellant's failure to comply with Rule 1925(b) and the Federal Defender's participation in state court appeals, and providing substantive responses to appellant's guilt-phase claims. Appellant filed her Reply Brief, challenging the Commonwealth's request that her counsel be removed and providing additional argument on the merits of her claims.

We first consider the threshold matter of appellant's failure to file a Rule 1925(b) statement, as ordered by the PCRA court.⁶ The Commonwealth asserts that this Court's decisions firmly establish that when an appellant is ordered to file a Rule 1925(b) statement, he or she must comply with Rule 1925(b)'s requirement in order to preserve issues for appeal, and that any appellate issues not raised in a compliant Rule 1925(b) statement will be deemed waived. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Lord, 553 Pa. 415, 719 A.2d 306, 309 (1998). The Commonwealth also points out that this Court has held that this principle applies in PCRA proceedings, see Commonwealth v. Butler, 571 Pa. 441, 812 A.2d 631, 633 (2002), as well as in capital cases. See Commonwealth v. Wholaver, 588 Pa. 218, 903 A.2d 1178 (2006). The Commonwealth asserts that appellant's failure to fulfill her Rule 1925(b) obligations led to the PCRA court's incomplete Rule 1925(a) opinion, and in turn, impedes this Court's meaningful review. Relying on Commonwealth v. Halley, 582 Pa. 164, 870 A.2d 795 (2005), the Commonwealth contends that appellant's counsel was per se ineffective for failing to file and serve a Rule 1925(b) statement, as ordered. See id. at 805 (“We hold that the failure to file a Rule 1925(b) statement on behalf of a criminal defendant ... resulting in a waiver of all claims asserted on direct appeal, represents the sort of actual or constructive denial of assistance of counsel ... in which prejudice is legally presumed.”). Based on this contention, the Commonwealth invokes the remand procedures currently found in Rule 1925(c), and asks this Court to remove appellant's counsel and remand this case for the appointment of new counsel, who should be directed to comply with the PCRA court's Rule 1925(b) order and enable the PCRA court to write an opinion that addresses all of appellant's issues.⁷

In addition, the Commonwealth alleges that serious...