Com. v. Duffy, T.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 16, 2020
Docket1230 EDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Duffy, T. (Com. v. Duffy, T.) 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. Duffy, T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-S07026-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : TYQUAIL DUFFY : : Appellant : No. 1230 EDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered August 7, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0008019-2015

BEFORE: NICHOLS, J., KING, J., and STRASSBURGER, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY KING, J.: Filed: April 16, 2020

Appellant, Tyquail Duffy, appeals nunc pro tunc from the judgment of

sentence entered in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, following

his jury trial convictions for intimidation of a witness and terroristic threats.1

We affirm and grant counsel’s petition to withdraw.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. On

April 23, 2015, Appellant was involved in the robbery and fatal shooting of a

take-out delivery driver (“Victim 1”). After the shooting, Appellant threatened

Edna Myers (“Victim 2”) at gunpoint. At the time, Appellant was 15 years old.

The Commonwealth charged Appellant as an adult at two separate docket

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 4952(a)(1) and 2706(a)(1), respectively. J-S07026-20

numbers. At Docket No. 12068-2015, the Commonwealth charged Appellant

with second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, firearms

offenses, and related offenses concerning Victim 1. The Commonwealth

charged Appellant at Docket No. 8019-2015 with intimidation of a witness,

terroristic threats, simple assault, and firearms offenses relating to Appellant’s

threatening Victim 2.

On May 9, 2017, Appellant proceeded to a consolidated jury trial. The

Commonwealth presented testimony from, inter alia, Sahmir Walker and

Victim 2. Mr. Walker said he was home on the night of April 23, 2015, and

was fourteen years old at the time. Victim 2, Mr. Walker’s aunt, was staying

at Mr. Walker’s home supervising him overnight while his mother was out of

town. Mr. Walker explained Victim 2 had ordered Chinese food to be delivered

that evening. Appellant, a friend of Mr. Walker’s, subsequently arrived at Mr.

Walker’s home. When Mr. Walker told Appellant that Chinese food was being

delivered to the house, Appellant showed Mr. Walker the handle of a gun from

inside his pocket and said, “We’re going to rob the delivery guy.” Mr. Walker

testified he and Appellant followed Victim 1 to his car after Victim 1 had

delivered the food. Mr. Walker then heard gunshots and something falling to

the ground, prompting him to run back into his house. Mr. Walker explained

Appellant followed him inside his home. Once inside, Appellant put the gun

to Victim 2’s head and said, “Be quiet or else.” (N.T. Trial, 5/9/17, at 85-

189).

-2- J-S07026-20

Victim 2 testified she is Mr. Walker’s aunt. She explained she was at

Mr. Walker’s home on the evening of April 23, 2015, to take care of him while

his mother was away. That night, Victim 2 ordered Chinese food for herself

and Mr. Walker. When the food was delivered, Appellant was inside the house

with Mr. Walker. After Victim 2 met Victim 1 at the door and paid him for the

food, she saw Appellant and Mr. Walker walk out the door. Subsequently,

Appellant and Mr. Walker returned to the house. Appellant then pointed a gun

to Victim 2’s head, and said, “If you say anything, you’re going to be next.”

(N.T. Trial, 5/10/17, at 42-90).

On May 12, 2017, the jury convicted Appellant of one count each of

intimidation of a witness and terroristic threats at Docket No. 8019-2015.2

With the benefit of a pre-sentence investigation (“PSI”) report, the court

sentenced Appellant on August 7, 2017, at Docket No. 8019-2015, to five (5)

to ten (10) years’ incarceration for intimidation of a witness and a concurrent

term of two and one-half (2½) to five (5) years’ incarceration for terroristic

threats. In the aggregate, the court sentenced Appellant to five (5) to ten

(10) years’ incarceration at Docket No. 8019-2015.3 Appellant filed no post-

sentence motions. Appellant timely appealed from the judgment of sentence;

2 At Docket No. 12068-2015, the jury convicted Appellant of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and carrying a firearm in public in Philadelphia.

3 The court sentenced Appellant at Docket No. 12068-2015 to an aggregate term of twelve and one-half (12½) to twenty-five (25) years’ incarceration, to run consecutive to Appellant’s sentence at Docket No. 8019-2015.

-3- J-S07026-20

this Court initially dismissed the appeal, for failure to file a docketing

statement.

On February 1, 2019, Appellant timely filed at both docket numbers a

counseled first petition under the Post-Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), at 42

Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546, seeking reinstatement of his direct appeal rights

nunc pro tunc. Appellant did not request the court also restore his post-

sentence motions rights nunc pro tunc. The PCRA court reinstated only

Appellant’s direct appeal rights nunc pro tunc on March 25, 2019. On April

16, 2019, Appellant filed separate timely notices of appeal nunc pro tunc at

both dockets; this appeal involves only Docket No. 8019-2015. The court

ordered Appellant on April 23, 2019, to file a concise statement of errors

complained of on appeal per Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). On May 9, 2019, counsel filed

a statement of intent to file a petition to withdraw and Anders4 brief, per

Pa.R.A.P. 1925(c)(4).

As a preliminary matter, counsel seeks to withdraw representation

under Anders and Commonwealth v. Santiago, 602 Pa. 159, 978 A.2d 349

(2009). Anders and Santiago require counsel to: (1) petition the Court for

leave to withdraw, certifying that after a thorough review of the record,

counsel has concluded the issues to be raised are wholly frivolous; (2) file a

brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the

4 Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967).

-4- J-S07026-20

appeal; and (3) furnish a copy of the brief to the appellant and advise him of

his right to obtain new counsel or file a pro se brief to raise any additional

points the appellant deems worthy of review. Santiago, supra at 173-79,

978 A.2d at 358-61. Substantial compliance with these requirements is

sufficient. Commonwealth v. Wrecks, 934 A.2d 1287, 1290 (Pa.Super.

2007). After establishing that counsel has met the antecedent requirements

to withdraw, this Court makes an independent review of the record to confirm

that the appeal is wholly frivolous. Commonwealth v. Palm, 903 A.2d 1244,

1246 (Pa.Super. 2006). See also Commonwealth v. Dempster, 187 A.3d

266 (Pa.Super. 2018) (en banc).

In Santiago, supra, our Supreme Court addressed the briefing

requirements where court-appointed appellate counsel seeks to withdraw

representation:

Neither Anders nor [Commonwealth v. McClendon, 495 Pa. 467, 434 A.2d 1185

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