Com. v. Cancel, D.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided January 19, 2022·No. 235 EDA 2021·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S33020-21

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DANIEL CANCEL : : Appellant : No. 235 EDA 2021

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 11, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0002545-2016, CP-51-CR-0003457-2013

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DANIEL CANCEL : : Appellant : No. 236 EDA 2021

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 11, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0002545-2016, CP-51-CR-0003457-2013

BEFORE: BOWES, J., NICHOLS, J., and McLAUGHLIN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.: FILED JANUARY 19, 2022

Appellant Daniel Cancel appeals1 from the judgments of sentence

imposed after he pled guilty to attempted murder and related offenses at

____________________________________________

1 We note that Appellant initially appealed from the January 4, 2021 orders reinstating his appellate rights nunc pro tunc, rather than the judgments of (Footnote Continued Next Page) J-S33020-21

Docket No. 2545-2016 and was found in violation of his probation sentence at

Docket No. 3457-2013. Appellant challenges the discretionary aspects of the

sentences imposed at both docket numbers. We affirm.

The trial court set forth the facts and procedural history of this matter

as follows:

With respect to Docket No. 3457-2013, on July 30, 2013, [Appellant] entered into a negotiated guilty plea before this court to possession with intent to deliver [(PWID)] and conspiracy, and was sentenced to one (1) year of intermediate punishment, to be followed by two (2) years of probation.

On December 25, 2015, while on this court’s probation, [Appellant] met Shaniece Cantres at a bar in Philadelphia. Ms. Cantres and [Appellant] went to [Appellant’s] vehicle in order to drive to another bar. [Appellant] drove to a dead end street, parked his vehicle, and asked Ms. Cantres to have sex with him. She refused and exited the vehicle. [Appellant] then proceeded to attack Ms. Cantres. He punched her repeatedly in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground. He broke a vodka bottle and used the broken bottle to cut the victim’s face and upper ____________________________________________

sentence entered on September 11, 2017. On appeal, this Court issued a rule to show cause as to why the appeal should not be quashed on the basis that Appellant was not an aggrieved party. See Order, 3/5/21. Appellant filed a response stating that he had intended to appeal from the underlying judgments of sentence, rather than the orders reinstating his appeal rights. This Court subsequently discharged the rule to show cause and referred the issue to this panel for disposition.

Our review confirms that Appellant’s notices of appeal were timely filed and that he complied with Commonwealth v. Walker, 185 A.3d 969 (Pa. 2018) by filing a separate notice of appeal at each docket number. Further, although Appellant appealed from the incorrect orders, that error did not invalidate his notices of appeal. See Pa.R.A.P. 902 (stating that the “[f]ailure of an appellant to take any step other than the timely filing of a notice of appeal does not affect the validity of the appeal”). Therefore, because Appellant’s notices of appeal are otherwise proper, we have corrected the captions accordingly.

-2- J-S33020-21

body. [Appellant] took the victim’s purse and cell phone. [Appellant] then abandoned the victim, who was unconscious and lying on the ground. When she awoke, the victim called 911 and was taken to the Temple University Hospital, where it was determined that she sustained a broken nose, a broken middle finger, multiple facial lacerations including a five-centimeter cut on one cheek, an ear laceration, a scalp laceration, and a stab wound to her upper arm. Ms. Cantres required a blood transfusion, and was kept in the hospital for four days before being released.

As a result of the attack on Ms. Cantres, [Appellant] was arrested and charged with attempted murder and related charges. On June 8, 2017, [Appellant] pled guilty before this court to attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, possession of an instrument of a crime (PIC), theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person (REAP). Sentencing was deferred pending a pre-sentence investigation (PSI) report, and on September 11, 2017, this court sentenced [Appellant] to ten (10) to twenty (20) years of confinement for attempted murder and aggravated assault, to run concurrently, ten (10) to twenty (20) years of confinement for robbery, to run consecutively, and two and one half (2 ½) to five (5) years of confinement for PIC, to run consecutively. No further penalty was given for simple assault and REAP, and theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property merged with robbery for sentencing purposes. This court also found [Appellant] to be in violation of its probation on Docket No. 3457-2013, and revoked probation and imposed a new [violation of probation (VOP)] sentence of five (5) to ten (10) years of confinement for both PWID and conspiracy, to run consecutively to one another and the sentence imposed on Docket No. 2545-2016.

[Appellant] filed a motion for reconsideration of sentence on September 21, 2017, which this court promptly denied.[2] [Appellant] then filed a notice of appeal to the Superior Court of ____________________________________________

2 In his post-sentence motion, Appellant asked the trial court to reconsider the sentences imposed at both docket numbers based on his lack of criminal history and the fact that he had “high community and family support.” Mot. for Reconsideration, 9/21/17, at 2. Appellant also argued that the trial court’s sentence was “excessive” and “above the applicable sentencing guidelines.” Id.

-3- J-S33020-21

Pennsylvania on September 26, 2017. On April 11, 2019, the Superior Court affirmed this court’s sentence, based solely on the fact that [Appellant] failed to include a Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 2119(f) statement in his appellate brief.

On March 18, 2020, [Appellant] filed a pro se petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act[3] (PCRA). PCRA counsel was subsequently appointed. On January 4, 2021, this court granted [Appellant’s] request for relief and reinstated his appellate rights.

Trial Ct. Op., 3/19/21, at 1-3 (record citations omitted).

Appellant subsequently filed timely notices of appeal and a court-

ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement.4 The trial court issued a Rule 1925(a)

opinion setting forth the reasons for Appellant’s sentences at both docket

numbers and concluding that Appellant was not entitled to relief.

On appeal, Appellant raises the following issue:

Appellant’s sentence was an abuse of discretion as he was sentenced by the [trial] court to an aggregated [twenty-two-and- a-half to forty-five] years for attempted murder (F1), robbery, [and] PIC (M1) [at Docket No. 2545-2016] and a consecutive [ten-to-twenty] years [at Docket No. 3457-2013] on the VOP ([five] to [ten] years on the PWID and conspiracy, all to run consecutive). In maximizing the sentences imposed, the court failed to thoroughly consider [Appellant’s] background, his ability for rehabilitation, his social history, rehabilitative needs, and mental health capacity. In justifying the sentence, the court failed to take into account the [PSI] report and only acknowledged the

3 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546.

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

Com. v. Cancel, D., (Pa. Ct. App. 2022).

Com. v. Cancel, D. (Com. v. Cancel, D.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Commonwealth v. Malovich
903 A.2d 1247 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Walls
926 A.2d 957 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Vinson
522 A.2d 1155 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Commonwealth v. Crump
995 A.2d 1280 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Boyer
856 A.2d 149 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2004)
Commonwealth v. Corley
31 A.3d 293 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. MacIas
968 A.2d 773 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Raven
97 A.3d 1244 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Caldwell
117 A.3d 763 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Derry
150 A.3d 987 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Grays
167 A.3d 793 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Walker, T.
185 A.3d 969 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Conte
198 A.3d 1169 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Durazo
210 A.3d 316 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Sheller
961 A.2d 187 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Commonwealth v. Austin
66 A.3d 798 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Cartrette
83 A.3d 1030 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Antidormi
84 A.3d 736 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Battles
169 A.3d 1086 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Com. v. Watson, E.
2020 Pa. Super. 28 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020)