Com. v. Abdur-Rahim, M.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 20, 2024
Docket1059 EDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Abdur-Rahim, M. (Com. v. Abdur-Rahim, M.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Abdur-Rahim, M., (Pa. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

J-A12014-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MUSA ABDUR-RAHIM : : Appellant : No. 1059 EDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered March 31, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Pike County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-52-CR-0000688-2019

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., KING, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E. *

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.E.: FILED AUGUST 20, 2024

Musa Abdur-Rahim (“Appellant”) appeals from the aggregate judgment

of sentence1 of 23 to 52 years’ incarceration following his convictions for

numerous offenses including robbery and kidnapping. We affirm.

The trial court summarized the factual history of this matter as follows:

____________________________________________

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

1 Two months after Appellant filed his timely notice of appeal in this matter,

the trial court purported to amend the sentence via order entered on August 25, 2023. However, since an appeal had been taken, the trial court lacked the authority to amend its initial sentencing order, and therefore this amendment was a legal nullity. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5505 (“Except as otherwise provided or prescribed by law, a court upon notice to the parties may modify or rescind any order within 30 days after its entry, notwithstanding the prior termination of any term of court, if no appeal from such order has been taken or allowed”). While this Court may sua sponte address matters concerning the legality of a sentence, we decline to do so here because we lack either the trial court’s rationale or the advocacy of the parties as to this issue. J-A12014-24

On November 18, 2019, [Appellant] and six others attempted to take control of the Administrative Center (“Clubhouse”) of the Pine Ridge Residential Community (“Pine Ridge”) located in Lehman Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania, by force. At approximately 12:45 p.m., the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pike County, received a call indicating that five males with firearms, later identified as Sekou Rashid-Abdullah, Sushane Adams-Heylinger, Adam Abdur-Rahim, Troy Sutton, and the Appellant (collectively, “Assailants”), had smashed windows to gain access to the Clubhouse and that office workers Shirley Kennedy (“Kennedy”), Shante Fountaine (“Fountaine”), and Community Manager William White (“White”) were trapped inside. Evidence presented at trial showed that Anthony Bonito (“Chief Bonito”), Chief of Public Safety for Pine Ridge, was engaged in the community at the time and that John Derbyshire (“Derbyshire”), a Public Safety Officer, was inside the Clubhouse when the assault began.

As the Assailants forced entry to the upper level of the two- level Clubhouse, Kennedy, Fountaine, and White sheltered inside White's office located in the lower level. Meanwhile, Derbyshire secured the lower level and verbally confronted the Assailants through a heavy door as they attempted to force entry to the lower level via an indoor stairway. The Assailants then exited the upper level of the Clubhouse, forced entry to the lower level from the outside, confronted, disarmed, and forcibly detained Derbyshire inside the Public Safety Office. At some point, Chief Bonito returned and confronted the Assailants from just outside the Public Safety Office door, but retreated upon realizing that Derbyshire was being forcibly detained within. As Chief Bonito retreated to observe, report to, and eventually assist the Pennsylvania State Police, the Assailants ransacked the Public Safety Office, taking various items, including but not limited to body armor, weapons, vehicle keys, and walkie-talkies, before exiting with Derbyshire and returning to the Clubhouse parking lot. The Assailants then commandeered Derbyshire's truck, emptied it of his personal belongings, and attempted to leave Pine Ridge with Derbyshire in tow using their own two vehicles, Derbyshire's private vehicle, and a Pine Ridge Public Safety vehicle using keys taken from the Public Safety Office. The Assailants, including the Appellant, then attempted to drive out of Pine Ridge using the only available road but were blocked by Pine Ridge maintenance workers and eventually taken into custody by responding Pennsylvania State Police Troopers.

-2- J-A12014-24

Trial Court Opinion, 8/25/23, at 1-2 (footnote and repetition of amounts in

numerical form omitted).

Appellant was subsequently charged with thirty-four separate crimes

relating to his role in the incident. The Commonwealth filed a notice to jointly

try Appellant with his co-defendants.

The parties first attempted to select a jury on September 13, 2021. After

several jurors were struck for cause, the defense attorneys made a joint

motion to dismiss the panel. The court granted the motion and continued jury

selection for a later date.

Following resolution of numerous pretrial motions filed by Appellant, the

parties selected a jury and trial was set to begin on January 26, 2023. Several

days before, the Commonwealth filed a motion in limine to preclude evidence

or testimony concerning ownership of the lands upon which Pine Ridge was

located, asserting that such evidence was irrelevant to the charges and was

likely to confuse the jury. The motion was filed in anticipation of a claim of

right defense—that the defendants were rightfully entitled to retake the land

on behalf of Tonia Scott, a woman proclaiming to own the land based on her

native ancestral heritage. The Commonwealth relied on Commonwealth v.

Dombrauskas, 418 A.2d 493 (Pa. Super. 1980), for the principle that, even

if Tonia Scott were the rightful owner of the land, she would not be entitled to

employ force to retake property under a claim of right. After argument, the

court granted the motion to preclude such evidence.

-3- J-A12014-24

Trial began on January 26, 2023. On February 3, 2023, the jury

delivered a verdict finding Appellant guilty of one count each of kidnapping,

false imprisonment, and unlawful restraint, six counts of robbery, one count

each of robbery of a motor vehicle, theft by unlawful taking, criminal attempt

to commit theft by unlawful taking, and burglary, three counts of terroristic

threats, two counts of simple assault, and one count of recklessly endangering

another person.

On March 31, 2023, the trial court sentenced Appellant to an aggregate

sentence of 23 to 52 years’ incarceration. No post-sentence motions were

filed. This timely appeal followed.

Appellant raises the following issues in his statement of questions

presented:

1. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion by denying [Appellant]’s change of venue motion?

2. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion by refusing to recuse itself?

3. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion by not allowing [the] “mistake of fact” jury instruction?

4. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion during the jury selection process?

5. Did the trial court err by declaring Tonia Scott unavailable to testify, then not allowing the defense to play Tonia Scott’s police video interview for the jury?

6. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion by granting the Commonwealth’s untimely motion in limine?

-4- J-A12014-24

7. Did the trial court err and abuse its discretion by granting the Commonwealth’s motion in limine regarding voir dire questioning related to race and religion?

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Estate of Haiko v. McGinley
799 A.2d 155 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Ingber
531 A.2d 1101 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Commonwealth v. Dombrauskas
418 A.2d 493 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Cox
983 A.2d 666 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Briggs
12 A.3d 291 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Devries
112 A.3d 663 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Freeman
128 A.3d 1231 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Yale
150 A.3d 979 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Shinal, M., et ux, Aplts. v. Toms M.D., S.
162 A.3d 429 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Tanner
205 A.3d 388 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Hunsberger
58 A.3d 32 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Commonwealth v. Scott
73 A.3d 599 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
In the Interest of S.T.S., Jr.
76 A.3d 24 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Coulter v. Ramsden
94 A.3d 1080 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Walter
119 A.3d 255 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Penn
132 A.3d 498 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Abdur-Rahim, M., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-abdur-rahim-m-pasuperct-2024.