Com. v. Davis, R.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided December 30, 2015·No. 397 EDA 2015·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S60032-15

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

RONALD DAVIS

Appellant No. 397 EDA 2015

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence January 9, 2015 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0003650-2013

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., LAZARUS, J., and OTT, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OTT, J.: FILED DECEMBER 30, 2015

Ronald Davis appeals from the judgment of sentence entered January

9, 2015, in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. Davis was

sentenced to an aggregate term of four and one-half to nine years’

imprisonment, following his jury conviction of burglary, criminal conspiracy,

and receiving stolen property (“RSP”).1 Contemporaneous with this appeal,

Davis’s counsel seeks to withdraw from representation and has filed an

Anders brief.2 The Anders brief identifies five issues for our review,

including, a challenge to the trial court’s denial of a pre-trial motion and an

evidentiary ruling, and claims of prosecutorial misconduct during the ____________________________________________

1 See 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3502(a)(2), 903(a)(1), and 3925(a), respectively. 2 See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967); Commonwealth v. McClendon, 434 A.2d 1185 (Pa. 1981). J-S60032-15

Commonwealth’s closing arguments. For the reasons set forth below, we

affirm the judgment of sentence and grant counsel’s petition to withdraw.

The facts relevant to this appeal are as follows. On March 8, 2013,

Marshauna Hinton entered her home on Locust Street in Norristown,

Montgomery County, and found two men inside the residence. She promptly

fled and called police. Hinton later identified co-defendant, Justin Johnson,

from a photo line-up, and he was arrested that same day. Johnson admitted

his involvement, and informed the police that he and Davis had committed a

string of burglaries in Norristown in early 2013, including the one at Hinton’s

home. Davis was initially charged on March 21, 2013, with the Hinton

burglary. However, that complaint was withdrawn and a revised complaint

was filed on April 15, 2013, charging Davis with numerous crimes, 68 counts

in all, including robbery, burglary, RSP, and conspiracy, for the 2013

Norristown burglaries.

Davis was originally represented by the Public Defenders’ Office.

However, on August 16, 2013, the Defenders’ Office was permitted to

withdraw, because they also represented Davis’s co-defendant, and conflict

counsel was appointed. On September 9, 2013, Davis filed a petition for

writ of habeas corpus. The court conducted a habeas hearing on October

11, 2013, and granted the motion in part, dismissing several charges. That

same day, Davis filed an omnibus pre-trial motion seeking both suppression

of evidence recovered during execution of a search warrant, and severance

of the charges for crimes committed at distinct locations. On November 4,

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2013, Davis filed an amended pre-trial motion, which included an additional

claim seeking suppression of his identification.

A suppression hearing was held on January 29, 2014. On April 29,

2014, the trial court entered an order denying Davis’s motion to suppress.

The next day, the court granted Davis’s request to sever the charges, and

ordered that the crimes committed at different locations would be tried

separately. See Order, 4/30/2014. The Hinton burglary case remained on

the court’s standby trial list until September of 2014.

On September 2, 2014, Davis filed a motion seeking dismissal of those

charges based on a violation of Pa.R.Crim.P. 600. Following a hearing that

same day, the court denied the Rule 600 motion, and proceeded directly to a

jury trial. On September 4, 2014, the jury acquitted Davis of one count of

robbery,3 but, as noted above, found him guilty of burglary, conspiracy and

RSP.

Sentencing was deferred on the instant matter. On December 1,

2014, Davis and the Commonwealth entered into a negotiated plea

agreement with respect to the outstanding charges. Davis entered a guilty

plea to two counts of conspiracy and one count of attempted burglary, in

exchange for which the Commonwealth nolle prossed the remaining charges.

____________________________________________

3 See 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701(a).

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He was sentenced that same day to three concurrent terms of two and one-

half to five years’ imprisonment.

On January 9, 2015, Davis was sentenced in the present case to a

term of two and one-half to five years’ for burglary, and a consecutive term

of two to four years’ for criminal conspiracy. The trial court ordered the

aggregate four and one-half to nine year sentence run consecutive to the

sentence imposed following Davis’s guilty plea.4 This timely appeal follows.5

When counsel files a petition to withdraw and accompanying Anders

brief, we must first examine the request to withdraw before addressing any

of the substantive issues raised on appeal. Commonwealth v. Bennett,

124 A.3d 327, 330 (Pa. Super. 2015). Here, our review of the record ____________________________________________

4 The guilty plea charges are not included in this appeal. 5 On February 10, 2015, the trial court ordered Davis to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). On March 2, 2015, counsel complied with the court’s directive by serving the trial court with a statement of his intent to file an Anders brief pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(c)(4). Thereafter, Davis filed several pro se objections to counsel’s statement, which this Court forwarded to counsel. See Commonwealth v. Jette, 23 A.3d 1032, 1044 (Pa. 2011) (“[T]he proper response to any pro se pleading is to refer the pleading to counsel, and to take no further action on the pro se pleading unless counsel forwards a motion.”).

On April 23, 2015, counsel filed a petition seeking permission to withdraw before filing an Anders brief, based on his belief that Davis intended to assert his ineffectiveness. Davis filed a pro se objection to counsel’s petition, and this Court denied the petition by order entered May 26, 2015. Thereafter, counsel filed the Anders brief which is presently before us.

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reveals counsel has substantially complied with the requirements for

withdrawal outlined in Anders, supra, and its progeny. Specifically,

counsel requested permission to withdraw based upon his determination that

the appeal is frivolous,6 filed an Anders brief pursuant to the dictates of

Commonwealth v. Santiago, 978 A.2d 349, 361 (Pa. 2009), furnished a

copy of the Anders brief to Davis and advised Davis of his right to retain

new counsel or proceed pro se. Commonwealth v. Cartrette, 83 A.3d

1030, 1032 (Pa. Super. 2013) (en banc). Moreover, our review of the

record reveals no correspondence from Davis supplementing the Anders

brief. Accordingly, we will proceed to examine the record and make an

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