Com. v. Brantley, J.

2025 Pa. Super. 273
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 9, 2025
Docket3370 EDA 2024
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Pa. Super. 273 (Com. v. Brantley, J.) 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. Brantley, J., 2025 Pa. Super. 273 (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-A27045-25

2025 PA Super 273

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DAMON BRANTLEY JR. : : Appellant : No. 3370 EDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered November 22, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0001076-2024

BEFORE: BOWES, J., MURRAY, J., and BECK, J.

OPINION BY BECK, J.: FILED DECEMBER 9, 2025

Damon Brantley Jr. (“Brantley”) appeals from the judgment of sentence

entered by the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas (“trial court”)

following his convictions of first-degree murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy,

and firearm not to be carried without a license. 1 Brantley challenges the denial

of his motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the Commonwealth obtained

a search warrant by omitting key information from the affidavit of probable

cause. Because the trial court did not err in denying the motion, we affirm.

The trial court aptly summarized the background of this case:

Brantley’s convictions arose out of his role in the Norristown robbery and murder of William Carter on January 20, 2024. Brantley and his two co-defendants, Jerry Butler (“Butler”) and Daquan Allen (“Allen”), conspired to rob the victim, and the victim was shot and killed in the course of that robbery. Brantley was the shooter, identified by his clothing in video surveillance, ballistics evidence, and by witness Justin Davis (“Davis”). The ____________________________________________

1 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2502(a), 3701(a)(1)(i), 903, 6106(a)(1). J-A27045-25

conspiracy was set in motion by Katherine Emel (“Emel”)[, who saw] the victim with a wad of money earlier that day and told Allen that the victim owed her money. Brantley, Butler, Allen, and Davis drove to the victim’s location, supplied by Emel, in a stolen Toyota Rav4. They parked behind the victim’s Buick LaSabre, and when the victim went to his car, got out of their car and robbed him. Brantley shot the victim once in the head. They fled the scene, abandoning the Rav4 near the crime scene, and switched to a different car, an Infinity, to avoid detection. Later, Brantley went back to set fire to the Rav4. Brantley, Butler, and Allen fled to a residence in Endicott, New York, where they were apprehended on January 31, 2024.

Trial Court Opinion, 4/29/2025, at 12-13 (numbering supplied).

During its investigation, police obtained the license plate, make, and

model of the RAV4 and connected it to Leilah Chang (“Chang”). The police

interviewed Chang, who admitted that her boyfriend Brantley drove a RAV4

and once let her use it. Brantley had been staying overnight at Chang’s

apartment. Chang told police that she kicked Brantley out of her apartment

following an argument on the night of the murder. She described the clothing

he was wearing. She said she last saw him when she drove him to Philadelphia

after he returned to her apartment, which was shortly after police believed

the murder occurred. Using Chang’s statements and a still shot of the shooter

obtained from surveillance video of the crime scene, police obtained a search

warrant. The search of Chang’s apartment led to evidence incriminating

Brantley, who was charged and tried along with his codefendants.

Prior to trial, the trial court conducted a joint hearing to address all

pretrial motions of the Commonwealth, Brantley’s codefendants, and Brantley.

At the hearing, Brantley challenged the warrant to search Chang’s apartment,

-2- J-A27045-25

claiming that the Commonwealth obtained it by omitting key facts in the

affidavit of probable cause, and argued that the trial court should suppress all

evidence obtained during the search and any evidence derivative of that

search as fruits of the poisonous tree.2 The trial court took all motions under

advisement, including Brantley’s motion to suppress. It entered an order

summarily denying the motion on July 11, 2024.3

Following a four-day trial in September 2024, the jury convicted

Brantley of the above-stated crimes. On September 16, 2024, the trial court

sentenced Brantley to an aggregate term of 50 to 100 years of incarceration—

____________________________________________

2 No written motion was docketed or otherwise appears in the certified record, despite a reference by Brantley’s counsel that he had filed a motion to suppress. See N.T., 6/18/2024, at 70. The Commonwealth responded to the motion on the merits without any objections to its specificity. See id. at 77- 81.

3 This procedure was incorrect. A trial court has a duty to explain its factual findings and conclusions of law on the record at the conclusion of the suppression hearing. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 581(I) (“At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge shall enter on the record a statement of findings of fact and conclusions of law as to whether the evidence was obtained in violation of the defendant’s rights, or in violation of these rules or any statute[.]”). Although in this case the trial court’s failure to abide by Rule 581 has not impeded our appellate review, as the trial court subsequently explained its rationale in its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, both our Supreme Court and this Court have strongly disapproved of a trial court’s failure to abide by Rule 581’s “unambiguous mandate.” See In re L.J., 79 A.3d 1073, 1086 (Pa. 2013) (“[D]efendants simply should not be forced to guess, or to learn for the first time in a post-sentence opinion, what evidence supported the trial court’s suppression ruling.”); Commonwealth v. Grundza, 819 A.2d 66, 68 n.1 (Pa. Super. 2003) (“We note that the filing of a 1925(a) opinion is no substitute for the failure to make findings of fact and conclusions of law on the record at the conclusion of a suppression hearing in accordance with Pa.R.Crim.P. 581(I).”).

-3- J-A27045-25

50 to 100 years for first-degree murder,4 a concurrent term of 6 to 20 years

for robbery followed by a consecutive term of 6 to 20 years for conspiracy to

commit robbery, and 1 to 5 years for the firearms conviction.

Brantley timely appealed. From the start, Brantley’s compliance with

our rules of appellate procedure has been rocky. Brantley, still represented

by trial counsel, failed to file a docketing statement in accordance with

Pa.R.A.P. 3517 until this Court twice directed him to do so to avoid dismissal

of his appeal. Order, 1/30/2025, at 1; Order, 5/19/2025, at 1. The trial court

ordered Brantley to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal.

Trial Court Order, 12/12/2024, at 1. Brantley failed to do so, prompting the

trial court to issue an opinion requesting that this Court deem all issues

waived. Trial Court Opinion, 1/27/2025, at 1-2 (numbering supplied). Upon

petition from Brantley, this Court remanded this case with directions for

Brantley to file a concise statement nunc pro tunc and for the trial court to

issue an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a). Order, 3/17/2025, at 1. Both

complied. After this Court resumed jurisdiction, Brantley failed to file an

4 Brantley was a juvenile when he committed the crimes in question; therefore, the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole does not apply. See Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012); Commonwealth v. Batts, 66 A.3d 286 (Pa. 2013); see also 18 Pa.C.S.

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