Com. v. Duque, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 30, 2020
Docket578 MDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Duque, J. (Com. v. Duque, J.) 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. Duque, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-S02028-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : : JOSE DUQUE : : Appellant No. 578 MDA 2019

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered February 27, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-36-CR-0001796-2017

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., KING, J., and MUSMANNO, J.

MEMORANDUM BY KING, J.: FILED JANUARY 30, 2020

Appellant, Jose Duque, appeals pro se from the order entered in the

Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas, which denied his first petition filed

under the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”).1 We affirm.

In its opinion, the PCRA court fully and correctly sets forth the relevant

facts and most of the procedural history of this case. Therefore, we add only

that on February 27, 2019, the PCRA court granted counsel’s motion to

withdraw following submission of a Turner/Finley2 “no-merit” letter, and

denied PCRA relief. Appellant timely filed a pro se notice of appeal on March

____________________________________________

1 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9541-9546.

2 Commonwealth v. Turner, 518 Pa. 491, 544 A.2d 927 (1988) and Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa.Super. 1988) (en banc). J-S02028-20

22, 2019. On March 25, 2019, the court ordered Appellant to file a concise

statement of errors complained of on appeal per Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b); Appellant

timely complied pro se on April 10, 2019.

Appellant raises two issues for our review:

DID THE PCRA COURT ERR[] WHEN IT GRANTED THE WITHDRAWAL OF [PCRA COUNSEL], WHERE SHE ADMITTED IN HER NO-MERIT LETTER THAT SHE DID NOT POSSESS ALL OF THE PERTINENT DOCUMENTS TO CONDUCT AN ADEQUATE AND INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE CASE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THERE EXISTED ANY MERITS TO THE PRO SE PCRA PETITION OR WHETHER ISSUES EXISTED OUTSIDE OF THE PRO SE PCRA PETITION, THUS, IN VIOLATION OF THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT?

DID THE PCRA COURT ERR WHEN IT DISMISSED [APPELLANT]’S PCRA PETITION WHERE [PLEA] COUNSEL RENDERED INEFFECTIVE [ASSISTANCE] FOR FAILING TO CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION INTO…VICTIM CONCERNING HIS CRIMINAL BACKGROUND FOR VIOLENCE, THUS, CAUSING [APPELLANT], WHO HAS TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO ACCEPT A GUILTY PLEA TO THIRD-DEGREE MURDER WHERE AN ARGUMENT COULD HAVE BEEN PURSUED FOR JUSTIFICATION, THUS, MAKING THE PLEA INVALID BASED UPON NO FACTUAL BASIS?

(Appellant’s Brief at 3).

Our standard of review of the denial of a PCRA petition is limited to

examining whether the evidence of record supports the court’s determination

and whether its decision is free of legal error. Commonwealth v. Conway,

14 A.3d 101, 108 (Pa.Super. 2011), appeal denied, 612 Pa. 687, 29 A.3d 795

(2011). This Court grants great deference to the findings of the PCRA court if

the record contains any support for those findings. Commonwealth v. Boyd,

-2- J-S02028-20

923 A.2d 513, 515 (Pa.Super. 2007), appeal denied, 593 Pa. 754, 932 A.2d

74 (2007). We give no similar deference, however, to the court’s legal

conclusions. Commonwealth v. Ford, 44 A.3d 1190, 1194 (Pa.Super.

2012).

After a thorough review of the record, the briefs of the parties, the

applicable law, and the well-reasoned opinion of the Honorable Jeffery D.

Wright, we conclude Appellant’s issues merit no relief. In its opinion, the PCRA

court comprehensively discusses and properly disposes of the questions

presented. (See PCRA Court Opinion, filed June 10, 2019, at 4-11) (finding:

(1) though PCRA counsel did not have entire record available to her, she

clarified that full paper discovery was sufficient to determine adequacy of plea

counsel’s representation and to confirm Appellant’s PCRA claims lacked merit;

counsel’s no-merit letter provided thorough analysis of relevant law and

detailed documents upon which counsel relied in making her decision;

counsel’s no-merit letter made clear that she met her obligations to review

record diligently and to conduct independent investigation; thus, PCRA

counsel substantially complied with requirements of Turner/Finley; (2)

investigation into Victim’s background was not necessary because Appellant

accepted responsibility for his actions in his guilty plea; to extent Appellant

claims plea counsel was ineffective for advising Appellant to plead guilty

because investigation into Victim would have resulted in successful

justification/self-defense argument at trial, Appellant’s claim fails;

-3- J-S02028-20

circumstances of underlying incident did not justify Appellant’s use of deadly

force; to extent Appellant argues guilty plea is invalid because he did not

understand plea due to difficulty understanding English, record belies

Appellant’s claim; Spanish interpreter was present during oral plea colloquy,

and Appellant confirmed he understood interpreter; record demonstrates

Appellant entered knowing, intelligent, and voluntary guilty plea).3 The record

supports the PCRA court’s rationale. See Conway, supra. Accordingly, we

affirm on the basis of the PCRA court’s opinion.

Order affirmed.

3 To the extent Appellant purports to challenge plea counsel’s effectiveness for failing to file a post-sentence motion attacking the discretionary aspects of sentencing, that argument is waived. Appellant does not discuss the issue in the argument section of his brief or support the claim with citations to any legal authority. See Pa.R.A.P. 2119(a); Commonwealth v. Johnson, 604 Pa. 176, 191, 985 A.2d 915, 924 (2009), cert. denied, 562 U.S. 906, 131 S.Ct. 250, 178 L.Ed.2d 165 (2010) (stating claim is waived where appellate brief does not include citation to relevant authority or fails to develop issue in any meaningful fashion capable of review). Moreover, as the PCRA properly explained, Appellant entered a negotiated guilty plea and the court imposed the negotiated sentence, so Appellant could not have challenged the discretionary aspects of sentencing. See Commonwealth v. Tirado, 870 A.2d 362, 365 n.5 (Pa.Super. 2005) (explaining guilty plea which includes sentence negotiation ordinarily precludes defendant from contesting validity of his sentence other than to argue sentence is illegal or that sentencing court lacked jurisdiction).

-4- J-S02028-20

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq. Prothonotary

Date: 01/30/2020

-5- L_up1n1on Circulated 01/16/2020 03:57 PM

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CRIMINAL

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BY: WRIGHT, J. June ro 1 2019

BACKGROUND

This Opinion is written pursuant to Rule 1925(a) of the Pennsylvania Rules of

Appellate Procedure. Defendant, Jose Duque, appeals my February 27, 2019 Order

dismissing his PCRA petition. Defendant raises several issues on appeal, primarily

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