Commonwealth v. Howard
Decision Date | 09 November 2022 |
Docket Number | 2821 EDA 2019 |
Citation | 285 A.3d 652 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Melvin HOWARD, Appellant |
Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Ayanna Williams, Federal Community Defender's Office, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Michael H. Gonzales, Federal Community Defender's Office, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Shawn D. Baldwin, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Emily P. Daly, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Lawrence J. Goode, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellee.
BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*
Appellant, Melvin Howard, appeals from the September 11, 2019 order dismissing, as untimely, his petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541 - 9546. This Court originally affirmed that order by opinion filed on April 20, 2020, therein agreeing with PCRA court that Appellant had failed to demonstrate that the contents of a state government report on capital punishment constituted newly-discovered facts under Section 9545(b)(1)(ii) so as to excuse the untimeliness of his petition. However, our Supreme Court subsequently vacated our decision and remanded for this Court to apply its holding in Commonwealth v. Small , ––– Pa. ––––, 238 A.3d 1267 (2020) ( ). See Commonwealth v. Howard , 249 A.3d 1229 (Pa. Super. 2021), vacated and remanded , 662 Pa. 309, 266 A.3d 1067 (2021) (per curiam order). After careful reconsideration of our prior decision and Small , and for the reasons set forth herein, we again affirm the order dismissing Appellant's PCRA petition as untimely.
The facts underlying Appellant's conviction are not germane to this appeal. The PCRA court described the relevant procedural history of this case as follows:
PCRA Court Opinion ("PCO"), 6/30/20, at 2-3. The PCRA court did not order Appellant to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement, and Appellant did not file one. The court issued its Rule 1925(a) opinion on June 30, 2020.
Appellant previously presented the following questions for our review:
Appellant's Pre-Remand Brief at 2.
In our prior Opinion, we did not reach Appellant's second question, having concluded that the JSGC Report did not meet the criteria for a newly-discovered fact under Section 9545(b)(1)(ii), because there was "no revelation in the JSGC Report of a specific error in Appellant's case, an admission of such an error by the prosecutor or the District Attorney's office, nor an admission of a systemic error that necessarily impacted Appellant's case." Howard , 249 A.3d at 1239. In its per curiam order vacating our decision, the Supreme Court did not explain its rationale for remanding in light of Small . Although this Court did not explicitly rely on the public record presumption in affirming the PCRA court's order denying relief, Justice Dougherty, in a concurring statement joined by Justice Mundy, explained that there were "stray statements" in our decision, including block-quoted portions of the PCRA court's Rule 1925(a) opinion, "that could arguably be interpreted as conflicting with the holding in Small [,]" and that this Court had expressed its agreement with those block quotes without qualification. Howard , 266 A.3d at 1069–70 (Dougherty, J., concurring).2
Upon remand, we granted Appellant's unopposed motion for supplemental briefing on January 28, 2022. Appellant now presents the following questions for our review:
Appellant's Post-Remand Brief at 2.
As noted above, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has directed this Court to reconsider, in light of Small , our decision affirming the denial of Appellant's PCRA petition as untimely. In general, we review "an order dismissing or denying a PCRA petition" as to "whether the findings of the PCRA court are supported by the record and are free from legal error." Commonwealth v. Reid , ––– Pa. ––––, 259 A.3d 395, 405–06 (2021). Appellant "has the burden to persuade this Court that the PCRA court erred and that such error requires relief." Commonwealth v. Wholaver , 644 Pa. 386, 177 A.3d 136, 144–45 ( 2018).
As to legal questions, "we apply a de novo standard of review to the PCRA court's legal conclusions[,]" Commonwealth v. Roney , 622 Pa. 1, 79 A.3d 595, 603 (2013), and this Court "may affirm a PCRA court's order on any legal basis." Commonwealth v. Parker , 249 A.3d 590, 595 (Pa. Super. 2021). As to factual questions, "our scope of review is limited to the findings of the PCRA court and the evidence of record, viewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party" in the lower court. Commonwealth v. Burkett , 5 A.3d 1260, 1267 (Pa. Super. 2010). "Great deference is granted to the findings of the PCRA court, and these findings will not be disturbed unless they have no support in the certified record." Commonwealth v. Daniels , 947 A.2d 795, 798 (Pa. Super. 2008).
Here, the PCRA court denied Appellant's petition as untimely, and the PCRA's time limitations implicate our jurisdiction and may not be altered or disregarded in order to address the merits of a petition. See Commonwealth v. Bennett , 593 Pa. 382, 930 A.2d 1264, 1267 (2007). Under the PCRA, any petition for post-conviction relief, including a second or subsequent one, must be filed within one year of the date the judgment of sentence becomes final, unless one of the following exceptions set forth in 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii) applies:
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