Commonwealth v. Williams

• Decision Date: 21 November 2018
• Docket Number: No. 736 CAP,736 CAP
• Citation: 196 A.3d 1021
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. James T. WILLIAMS, Appellant
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

196 A.3d 1021

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.James T. WILLIAMS, Appellant

No. 736 CAP

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted: March 19, 2018

Decided: November 21, 2018

James T. Williams, Florence, CO, pro se.

Lev, Stuart Brian, Samuel J. B. Angell, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellant.

Heather F. Gallagher, Lehigh County District Attorney's Office Allentown, PA, Amy Zapp, Office of Attorney General, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellee.

SAYLOR, C.J., BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, MUNDY, JJ.

OPINION

JUSTICE MUNDY

Appellant, James T. Williams, appeals from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County dismissing his timely first petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541 - 9546.¹ We affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On May 29, 1995, Appellant, together with four co-defendants, planned to rob Richard White, a drug dealer they believed to possess significant amounts of cash. During the commission of the robbery outside White's home, Appellant shot White three times with a MAC 10 automatic weapon. White died from his wounds

. Appellant represented himself during his trial and sentencing proceedings, which were presided over by Judge Edward Reibman. Judge Reibman appointed standby counsel.² A jury convicted Appellant of first-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery.³ Thereafter, Appellant was sentenced to death. On appeal, Appellant again proceeded pro se with access to new standby counsel. A more detailed account of the factual and procedural history of this stage of the case is provided in our 2006 opinion. See

Commonwealth v. Williams , 586 Pa. 553, 896 A.2d 523, 530-32 (2006), cert. denied , 549 U.S. 1213, 127 S.Ct. 1253, 167 L.Ed.2d 88 (2007) ( Williams I ).

On direct appeal, standby counsel, on behalf of Appellant, filed several procedural applications with this Court during the pendency of the appeal. In addition to four requests for extension of time to file a brief, which we granted, standby counsel filed an application for remand to the trial court to prepare a supplemental opinion; an application for remand to the trial court to supplement the certified record; a motion for funds and/or remand to retain the services of mitigation and psychological experts; a motion for remand to supplement the certified record with affidavits of witnesses; and a motion for remand to supplement the certified record with an affidavit of standby counsel. On April 9, 2003, standby counsel, on behalf of Appellant, filed Appellant's brief, raising eighteen allegations of error in the pre-trial, trial and penalty phases of the trial court proceedings.

On April 29, 2003, this Court issued a series of per curiam orders which granted remand for standby counsel to file a statement of matters complained of on appeal with the trial court and for that court to prepare a supplemental opinion; granted remand to supplement the certified record; granted remand for the trial court to consider Appellant's request to supplement the certified record with witness statements regarding any grant of immunity or bail arrangements; granted remand for the trial court to consider Appellant's request to supplement the certified record with standby counsel's affidavit regarding criminal records of Commonwealth witnesses; and denied Appellant's motion for funds and/or remand to secure an expert relative to Appellant's competency.

On June 4, 2003, Appellant filed an application for relief entitled "Motion to File an Emergency Amended Pro Se Appeal." Therein, Appellant asserted that standby counsel was acting without his authorization by filing a brief that failed to contain various issues he wished to include. On August 12, 2003, this Court tolled the briefing schedule pending filing of the trial court's opinion. On September 17, 2003, standby counsel, by "Letter in Lieu of Supplemental Brief," indicated Appellant would rely on the brief filed on April 9, 2003. On December 23, 2003, this Court issued a per curiam order denying Appellant's June 4, 2003 application for relief. On June 27, 2005, Appellant filed an application for leave to file post-submission communication. Therein, Appellant raised the same allegations as in his June 4, 2003 motion. Specifically, he alleged that "[i]nstead of presenting [A]ppellant's relevant issues as promised, this ‘stand-by counsel’ unwanted in the first place, [r]eplaced [Appellant's] original issues with his own frivolous, specious issues and forged [A]ppellant's signature to the brief ...." Pro Se Application for Relief, 357 Cap., 6/27/2005 at 3. Within his pro se June 4, 2003 and June 27, 2005 motions, Appellant set forth the nine or ten additional issues he wished this Court to address. On November 16, 2005, we issued a per curiam order denying Appellant's application for post-submission communication. This Court affirmed the judgment of sentence on April 21, 2006. Williams I , 896 A.2d at 548.

Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition on March 9, 2007. The PCRA court appointed the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (FCDO) to represent Appellant. Appellant again expressed his intention to proceed pro se, which the PCRA court confirmed in a colloquy on June 5, 2008, with the FCDO remaining as standby counsel. The PCRA court granted Appellant several extensions to file an amended PCRA petition. Appellant filed an amended petition on July 24, 2009. Appellant filed a motion for discovery pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 902(E)(2) on December 18, 2009. The Commonwealth filed a motion to dismiss on January 7, 2010. Appellant filed an answer to the Commonwealth's motion on March 10, 2010.⁴

In December 2010, the PCRA court granted, in part, Appellant's discovery requests, and continued the hearing on the merits of Appellant's PCRA petition. In May 2011, Appellant renewed a discovery request for the prosecution's notes of witness interviews and preparation sessions. The PCRA court granted the request. The Commonwealth sought reconsideration and an opportunity to be heard on the issue. The PCRA court denied the motion for reconsideration and the Commonwealth appealed to this Court. We held that the PCRA court abused its discretion in granting the discovery request absent support in the record that good cause was shown as required by Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 902(E)(2). See Commonwealth v. Williams , 624 Pa. 405, 86 A.3d 771 (2014) ( Williams II ).⁵ The PCRA court, in the meantime, conducted a full multiday PCRA hearing, commencing December 14, 2010 and concluding on May 2, 2012. After submission of post-hearing briefs, the PCRA court filed an order dismissing Appellant's PCRA petition.

II. General Principles of Law

"On appeal from the denial of PCRA relief, our standard of review calls for us to determine whether the ruling of the PCRA court is supported by the record and free of legal error." Commonwealth v. Washington , 592 Pa. 698, 927 A.2d 586, 593 (2007) (citations omitted). "The PCRA court's credibility determinations, when supported by the record, are binding on this Court; however, 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), cert. denied , Roney v. Pennsylvania , ––– U.S. ––––. 135 S.Ct. 56, 190 L.Ed.2d 56 (2014). To be eligible for relief under the PCRA, a defendant must plead and prove that his conviction and/or sentence resulted from one of the circumstances delineated by the PCRA. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(2) (outlining the requirements to be eligible for PCRA relief). Among those requirements are that the issue raised be neither previously litigated nor waived. Id. at 9543(a)(3). "An issue is previously litigated if ‘the highest appellate court in which the petitioner could have had review as a matter of right has ruled on the merits of the issue. ...’ [ 42 Pa.C.S.] § 9544(a)(2). An issue is waived ‘if the petitioner could have raised it but failed to do so before trial, at trial, ..., on appeal, or in a prior state postconviction proceeding.’ Id. § 9544(b)." Commonwealth v. Keaton , 615 Pa. 675, 45 A.3d 1050, 1060 (2012). "Appellant has the burden to persuade this Court that the PCRA court erred and that such error requires relief. [Also, i]t is well settled that this Court may affirm a valid judgment or order for any reason appearing as of record." Commonwealth v. Wholaver , ––– Pa. ––––, 177 A.3d 136, 144-45 (Pa. 2018) (citations omitted). In this case, Appellant acted pro se during his trial, sentencing and direct appeal. Accordingly, his right to assert claims of ineffectiveness of counsel under Section 9544(a)(2) is circumscribed. "[W]e will not consider any ineffectiveness claims that arise from the period of self-representation." Commonwealth v. Bryant , 579 Pa. 119, 855 A.2d 726, 737 (2004).

III. Appellant's Issues

Appellant raises fourteen issues. The bulk of these allege trial court error or prosecutorial misconduct in the pretrial, trial and sentencing phases of his prosecution. These issues bear a direct relationship with the issues Appellant asserted, in his June 4, 2003 and June 27, 2005 pro se motions, had been improperly omitted from his direct appeal brief by standby counsel. We set forth the issues verbatim.

I. Is Appellant entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor committed multiple acts of prosecutorial misconduct that, individually and cumulatively, denied him a fair trial and whose conduct amounted to a fraud on the court?

II. Was Appellant denied his constitutional rights to self - representation, to be present, and to present a defense when the trial court with standby counsel conducted a pre-trial hearing without Appellant's knowledge or consent and excluded him from participating?

III. Were Appellant's constitutional rights violated when standby counsel objected to his closing argument and told the jury that Appellant was not being truthful,

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