Com. v. Chestnut, W.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 20, 2023
Docket2396 EDA 2021
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Chestnut, W. (Com. v. Chestnut, W.) 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. Chestnut, W., (Pa. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

J-S33037-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : WILLIAM M. CHESTNUT : : Appellant : No. 2396 EDA 2021

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered October 25, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0005280-2017

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : WILLIAM M. CHESTNUT : : Appellant : No. 2397 EDA 2021

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered October 25, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0005281-2017

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : WILLIAM M. CHESTNUT : : Appellant : No. 2398 EDA 2021

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered October 25, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0002447-2018

BEFORE: KUNSELMAN, J., KING, J., and SULLIVAN, J. J-S33037-22

MEMORANDUM BY SULLIVAN, J.: FILED JANUARY 20, 2023

William M. Chestnut (“Chestnut”) appeals from the orders granting

partial sentencing relief but otherwise denying his timely first Post Conviction

Relief Act (“PCRA”) petitions in the above-captioned cases.1 We affirm.

We summarize the factual and procedural history of this appeal from the

record. On September 11, 2018, Chestnut appeared before the trial court

with counsel (“plea counsel”), and following a colloquy, the court offered him

the alternatives of proceeding to a “bifurcated” trial or entering guilty pleas in

these three cases.2 After signing additional written colloquies and undergoing

a second in-court colloquy, Chestnut entered open guilty pleas to numerous

offenses committed against his paramour, Nicolette Reeves (“Reeves”).

Specifically, at 5280 and 5281 of 2017, Chestnut admitted to the following:

In April 2017, he called Reeves while she was working and threatened to beat

her up because a check had bounced. See N.T., 9/11/18, at 28. Fearing for

her safety, Reeves called her mother. See id. Reeves’s mother picked up

Reeves and Reeves’s child, and she took them to her own house. See id. at

28-29. Chestnut arrived at the home, snuck through an unlocked window,

and assaulted and strangled Reeves. See id. at 29. Chestnut told her, “You’re ____________________________________________

1 See 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546. As discussed below, the PCRA court granted PCRA relief from one of the sentences imposed at 5280 of 2017.

2 Chestnut, while represented by the Philadelphia Defender’s Association, had previously entered guilty pleas at Nos. 5280-2017 and 5281-2017. Chestnut withdrew his pleas after retaining plea counsel. Plea counsel thereafter represented Chestnut in preparation for trial, and then during his guilty pleas, sentencing, and the reconsideration of Chestnut’s sentence.

-2- J-S33037-22

lucky I didn’t beat you to death.” Id. Reeves’s sister was in the home at the

time and called the police. Based on these facts, Chestnut pleaded guilty, at

No. 5280-2017, to aggravated assault, terroristic threats, recklessly

endangering another person, and strangulation, graded as a second-degree

felony. Chestnut also pleaded guilty at No. 5281-2017 to burglary and

criminal trespass.

At No. 2447-2018, Chestnut admitted that, in February 2018, he

choked Reeves at their home, and between February and March 2018, he sent

Reeves threatening text messages and “made comments to obstruct and

impede and interfere with her participating with the [c]riminal [j]ustice

[s]ytem.” Id. at 30-31. At the time of these incidents, Reeves had a

protection from abuse order (“PFA”) against Chestnut. See id. Based on

these facts, Chestnut pleaded guilty at No. 2447-2018 to strangulation,

graded as a first-degree felony, intimidation of a witness, terroristic threats,

recklessly endangering another person, harassment, and contempt of a court

order.3

The trial court initially sentenced Chestnut to an aggregate term of

sixteen to forty-seven years of imprisonment and a consecutive probationary

term of ten years for all three cases, but granted reconsideration, in part. The

trial court resentenced Chestnut to an aggregate term of eleven to thirty-two ____________________________________________

3 At the time of his pleas, Chestnut was awaiting sentencing for a fourth matter, listed at No. 6778-2017. The facts regarding that matter were not included in the certified records in these appeals.

-3- J-S33037-22

years of imprisonment followed by ten years of probation. The original and

reconsidered sentences included sentences of five to fifteen years of

imprisonment each for the second-degree felony count of strangulation listed

at No. 5280-2017 and the first-degree felony count of strangulation at No.

2447-2018. Chestnut took direct appeals, and his newly appointed direct

appeal counsel filed an Anders4 brief and a petition to withdraw. On October

22, 2020, this Court affirmed the judgments of sentences and granted direct

appeal counsel leave to withdraw. See Commonwealth v. Chestnut, 241

A.3d 453, 2020 WL 6194413 (Pa. Super. 2020) (unpublished memorandum).

Chestnut did not seek allowance of appeal with our Supreme Court.

Chestnut timely filed pro se PCRA petitions in all three cases, and the

PCRA court appointed present counsel. Present counsel filed amended PCRA

petitions asserting that plea counsel was ineffective, Chestnut’s pleas had

been coerced, and direct appeal counsel was ineffective per se. Chestnut’s

amended petition further alleged that direct appeal counsel had overlooked a

meritorious challenge to the legality of the sentence. The Commonwealth filed

a response conceding that partial relief was due because the fifteen-year

maximum sentence for strangulation at No. 5280-2017 exceeded the lawful

maximum sentence for a second-degree felony. The Commonwealth asserted

all remaining issues were meritless.

____________________________________________

4 See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967).

-4- J-S33037-22

The PCRA court granted partial relief and on October 25, 2021, entered

an amended sentencing order at No. 5280-2017 correcting the sentence for

strangulation to five to ten years of imprisonment.5 The PCRA court did not

issue Pa.R.A.P. 907 notices, but entered orders at Nos. 5281-2017 and 2447-

2018 dismissing Chestnut’s PCRA petitions on October 25, 2021. However,

the PCRA court did not enter an order disposing of the remaining PCRA claim

at No. 5280-2017. Chestnut nevertheless filed separate notices of appeal on

November 17, 2021, in all three cases. Subsequently, the PCRA court issued

corrective docketing orders indicating that it had held a video hearing to

address Chestnut’s petition on October 25, 2021,6 and on that same day,

granted partial sentencing relief and denied all remaining PCRA issues. See

Orders Directing Corrective Docketing, 2/4/22.7 Chestnut and the PCRA court ____________________________________________

5 The corrected sentence did not alter the overall sentencing scheme for the three cases.

6 Chestnut has not referred to the October 25, 2021 proceedings nor ensured that a transcript of those proceedings were included in the certified records.

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

Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Commonwealth v. Thomas
783 A.2d 328 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. Hickman
799 A.2d 136 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Carter
656 A.2d 463 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Commonwealth v. Reed
971 A.2d 1216 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Reaves
923 A.2d 1119 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Yeomans
24 A.3d 1044 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Martin
5 A.3d 177 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Carter
122 A.3d 388 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Wolfe, M.
140 A.3d 651 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Johnson, W., Aplt
139 A.3d 1257 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth, Aplt v. Dimatteo, P.
177 A.3d 182 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Staton, A., Aplt.
184 A.3d 949 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Tielsch
934 A.2d 81 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Willis
68 A.3d 997 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Rosado
150 A.3d 425 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Com. v. Nellom, F.
2020 Pa. Super. 139 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Chestnut, W., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-chestnut-w-pasuperct-2023.