Com. v. Davis, N.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 8, 2021
Docket2439 EDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Davis, N. (Com. v. Davis, N.) 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. Davis, N., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-S06040-21

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : NAEEM DAVIS : : Appellant : No. 2439 EDA 2017

Appeal from the PCRA Order May 19, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0010122-2008

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., NICHOLS, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY PELLEGRINI, J.: Filed: April 8, 2021

Naeem Davis (Appellant) appeals from the May 19, 2017 order of the

Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (PCRA court) dismissing his

petition for relief pursuant to the Post-Conviction Relief Act.1 We affirm.

I.

We glean the following facts from the certified record. On May 24, 2008,

Donnell Murphy (The Victim) went to the 54th Street Lounge with his cousins,

James and Shantwan Murphy.2 Appellant was also at the bar with Latasha

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541 et seq.

2 For clarity, we refer to James and Shantwan by their first names. J-S06040-21

Friday (Friday). At some point that evening, the Victim stepped on Friday’s

flip-flop shoe and the two began to argue. Notes of Testimony, 8/18/2009,

at 117-19. Shantwan intervened and the argument escalated into a physical

confrontation between Friday and Shantwan.3 Appellant and James attempted

to separate the two women. The Victim then struck Appellant and Appellant

fell out of the front door of the bar and onto the pavement. All of the

individuals continued the altercation outside of the bar.

At trial, James testified that after the group left the bar, the Victim

attempted to strike Appellant again while he was on the ground outside, but

James separated the two. Id. at 123. James then attempted to separate

Friday and Shantwan. While his back was turned to Appellant and the Victim,

he heard several gunshots and turned around to see that the Victim had been

shot. James further testified that at the time of the shooting, Appellant’s jaw

was wired shut because it had been broken a few weeks earlier. Id. at 147.

The Commonwealth presented additional testimony from one

eyewitness who saw the shooting itself but was not involved in the altercation.

William Minor (Minor) testified that he approached the 54th Street Lounge and

3 Friday testified for the defense at trial. Notes of Testimony, 8/19/2009, at 67-70. She testified that once the fight moved outside the bar, two men attacked Appellant as he was lying in the street. Id. at 71-72. She heard the gunshots but did not see the shooting itself because she was still engaged with Shantwan. Id. at 72-73. In its opinion filed during Appellant’s direct appeal, the trial court stated that it found Friday to be “evasive, belligerent and incredible” as a witness. Trial Court Opinion, 5/28/2013, at 7.

-2- J-S06040-21

observed the altercation between the two women, Appellant and the Victim

through the door. As he was standing outside, all four individuals came out

of the bar and Appellant initially fell backwards onto the pavement. Minor

testified that Appellant became angry, stood up, picked up a gun from the

ground, and pointed it at the Victim. Id. at 71-74. The Victim then put his

hands in the air and said, “I was only trying to break up the fight.” Id. at 74.

Appellant then shot the Victim repeatedly before running from the scene.

Minor did not see the Victim holding a weapon or striking Appellant at any

point.

Appellant was arrested shortly after the shooting and he gave a

statement to police. He described the fight between Friday and Shantwan and

explained that he shot at the Victim in self-defense when the fight escalated

outside of the bar. He said that he wanted to apologize to the Victim’s family

and that he had been trying to protect himself. He also explained that his jaw

was wired shut because it had been broken a few weeks prior.

Dr. Sam Gulino (Dr. Gulino), Chief Medical Examiner for the city of

Philadelphia, testified at trial regarding the Victim’s injuries and cause of

death. Notes of Testimony, 8/19/2009, at 6. Dr. Gulino testified that the

Victim had been shot twice and possibly grazed by a third bullet. One of the

gunshot wounds entered the Victim through the front of his neck and exited

through his back in a downward direction, and stippling around the wound

indicated that the bullet had been shot from a distance of two to three feet.

-3- J-S06040-21

Id. at 18-19. Dr. Gulino opined that this gunshot was fatal. The second

gunshot wound entered through the Victim’s upper back and exited through

the top of his shoulder in an upward direction, and Dr. Gulino could not

determine how far the Victim was from the shooter when he sustained that

wound. Id. at 20-21. Dr. Gulino testified that the wounds were consistent

with the Victim being shot while standing upward and initially facing his

shooter, then falling to the ground. Id. at 23. He testified that if the shooter

was shorter than the Victim was, the first gunshot could have entered at the

downward angle if the Victim had been bent forward when he was shot. Id.

at 40. He could not determine the order in which the two gunshot wounds

were inflicted. Id. at 24.

Appellant also testified at trial, again admitting that he shot and killed

the Victim. Id. at 114. He testified that he shot the Victim while trying to

defend himself against the Victim and two other men who were attacking him

as he was lying on the ground outside the bar. Id. He testified that the Victim

knew that his jaw was broken and he threatened to “break the other side of

[Appellant’s] face” during the argument in the bar. Id. at 122-23. He stated

that the men threw him out of the bar and into the street, where the Victim,

James and another individual began hitting him. He testified that he knew

that the Victim was a boxer and, when he saw the Victim bending over him

attempting to strike him, he shot at the Victim. Id. at 129, 156. He said that

he did not intend to actually hit anyone but that he fired the weapon to try to

-4- J-S06040-21

scare the men away. Id. He felt that he had “blacked out” during the

shooting. Id. at 135.

Following a nonjury trial,4 Appellant was convicted of third-degree

murder, carrying a firearm on the public streets of Philadelphia, and

possessing an instrument of crime.5 He was subsequently sentenced to an

aggregate of 20 to 40 years of incarceration. This court affirmed the judgment

of sentence and our Supreme Court denied allocatur. Commonwealth v.

Davis, 1550 EDA 2012, at *12 (Pa. Super. Jan. 15, 2014), allocatur denied,

38 EAL 2014 (Pa. July 2, 2014).

Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition on May 12, 2015. After

appointed counsel filed a Turner/Finley6 no-merit letter and petition to

withdraw, current counsel filed a supplemental petition and a second

supplemental petition raising additional claims. The Commonwealth filed a

motion to dismiss the petition and Appellant filed a response. The

Commonwealth responded with a second motion to dismiss and Appellant filed

4 The same court presided over Appellant’s non-jury trial and PCRA proceedings.

5 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2502(c), 6108, & 907.

6Commonwealth v. Turner,

Related

Commonwealth v. Malovich
903 A.2d 1247 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Robinson
877 A.2d 433 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2005)
Commonwealth v. Pittman
737 A.2d 272 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Commonwealth v. Finley
550 A.2d 213 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Commonwealth v. Moury
992 A.2d 162 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Turner
544 A.2d 927 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Commonwealth v. Bricker
41 A.3d 872 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Commonwealth v. Briggs
12 A.3d 291 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Treiber, S., Aplt
121 A.3d 435 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Swope
123 A.3d 333 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Brown
161 A.3d 960 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Weimer
167 A.3d 78 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Patterson
180 A.3d 1217 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Conte
198 A.3d 1169 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Sarvey
199 A.3d 436 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Lekka
210 A.3d 343 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Hill
210 A.3d 1104 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Grayson
212 A.3d 1047 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Rykard
55 A.3d 1177 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Commonwealth v. Lopez
57 A.3d 74 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Davis, N., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-davis-n-pasuperct-2021.