Com. v. Ebo, M.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 19, 2021
Docket58 WDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Ebo, M. (Com. v. Ebo, M.) 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. Ebo, M., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-S49006-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MATTHEW EBO : : Appellant : No. 58 WDA 2020

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered December 13, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0002821-2012

BEFORE: OLSON, J., DUBOW, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY OLSON, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 19, 2021

Appellant, Matthew Ebo, appeals from the December 13, 2019 order

dismissing his petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act

(“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546. We affirm.

The record demonstrates that on September 14, 2012, a jury found

Appellant guilty of criminal homicide (first-degree murder),

robbery – infliction of serious bodily injury, robbery of a motor vehicle,

carrying a firearm without a license, conspiracy to commit robbery – infliction

of serious bodily injury, and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with

the May 16, 2011 shooting death of the victim.1 On November 28, 2012, the ____________________________________________

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

118 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2501(a), 3701(a)(1)(i), 3702(a), 6106(a)(1), 903(c), and 903(c), respectively. Appellant was tried jointly with co-defendant, J-S49006-20

trial court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment without parole for his

criminal homicide conviction and an aggregate, consecutive 46 to 92 years’

imprisonment for the remaining convictions.2

While Appellant’s case was pending on direct appeal before this Court,

Appellant filed an application for remand based upon alleged after-discovered

evidence.3 In a per curiam order issued on August 6, 2015, this Court

remanded Appellant’s case and instructed the trial court to conduct a hearing

to address Appellant’s request for a new trial based upon this after-discovered

evidence. On December 22, 2015, the trial court denied Appellant’s request,

and Appellant subsequently filed a notice of appeal. On June 21, 2017, this

Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions but vacated his unlawful sentences for ____________________________________________

Thaddaeus Crumbley (“co-defendant”). The trial court, in a bench trial, convicted Appellant of possession of a firearm prohibited, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6105(a)(1).

2 The trial court imposed a sentence of ten to twenty years’ imprisonment for robbery of a motor vehicle, three and one-half to seven years’ imprisonment for carrying a firearm without a license, two and one-half to five years’ imprisonment for possession of a firearm prohibited, ten to twenty years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit robbery – infliction of serious bodily injury, and twenty to forty years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder. All of these sentences were to run consecutive to Appellant’s life sentence.

3 Appellant’s direct appeal was docketed with this Court at 1194 WDA 2013. The after-discovered evidence included the unsworn statement of a witness who testified at Appellant’s trial (“trial witness”), in which the trial witness recanted her pre-trial and in-court identifications of Appellant and his co-defendant as the shooters involved in the victim’s murder. See Commonwealth v. Ebo, 174 A.3d 91 (Pa. Super. 2017) (unpublished memorandum).

-2- J-S49006-20

robbery of a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit robbery – infliction of

serious bodily injury. Commonwealth v. Ebo, 174 A.3d 91 (Pa. Super.

2017) (unpublished memorandum) (finding, that the mandatory minimum

sentences imposed pursuant to Section 9712 of the Pennsylvania Sentencing

Code were illegal under Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013), as

determined by this Court in Commonwealth v. Valentine, 101 A.3d 801

(Pa. Super. 2014), appeal denied, 124 A.3d 309 (Pa. 2015)). Appellant filed

a petition for allowance of appeal, which our Supreme Court subsequently

denied on December 13, 2017.

On January 17, 2018, Appellant filed pro se a PCRA petition, his first.

The PCRA court appointed counsel to represent Appellant but held Appellant’s

petition in abeyance because of Appellant’s pending resentencing procedure.

On February 28, 2018, the trial court resentenced Appellant to life

imprisonment without parole for his criminal homicide conviction together with

an aggregate, consecutive sentence of 46 to 92 years’ imprisonment for his

remaining convictions.4 Appellant filed a post-sentence motion, which the trial

court subsequently denied on April 11, 2018. Counsel for Appellant filed a

____________________________________________

4 The trial court fashioned the same length of consecutive sentences for Appellant’s convictions of robbery of a motor vehicle, carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm prohibited, conspiracy to commit robbery – infliction of serious bodily injury, and conspiracy to commit murder without imposing mandatory minimum sentences pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9712.

-3- J-S49006-20

notice of appeal on May 8, 2018.5 This Court, in a May 30, 2018 per curiam

order, discontinued Appellant’s direct appeal from resentencing at Appellant’s

request.6 Appellant’s judgment of sentence, therefore, became final on May

30, 2018. See Commonwealth v. McKeever, 947 A.2d 782, 785

(Pa. Super. 2008) (holding, that for purposes of the PCRA, a petitioner’s

judgment of sentence becomes final on the date he, or she, discontinued the

direct appeal).

On June 29, 2018, Appellant amended his original PCRA petition raising

a claim for relief based upon after-discovered evidence. Appellant

subsequently filed a supplement to his amended PCRA petition setting forth,

in detail, the argument that Appellant was entitled to a new trial based upon

after-discovered, exculpatory eyewitness testimony. On May 10, 2019, the

PCRA court held a hearing on Appellant’s PCRA petition, and subsequently

denied Appellant’s petition on December 13, 2019. This appeal followed. 7

Appellant raises the following issues for our review:

5 Appellant filed pro se a notice of appeal on May 16, 2018. While Pennsylvania’s prohibition against hybrid representation does not nullify Appellant’s pro se notice of appeal since Appellant has a constitutional right to an appeal, Appellant’s pro se notice is of no consequence since counsel previously instituted appellate proceedings on his behalf. See Commonwealth v. Williams, 151 A.3d 621, 623-624 (Pa. Super. 2016).

6 This Court docketed Appellant’s appeal at 679 WDA 2018.

7 Both Appellant and the PCRA court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

-4- J-S49006-20

[1.] [Whether] the PCRA court erred in denying relief where [Appellant] established his after-discovered evidence claim through [] exculpatory eyewitness testimony[?]

[2.] [Whether] the PCRA court erred in denying relief by incorrectly concluding that [the eyewitness’s] testimony was offered solely to impeach [the trial witness], when in fact [the eyewitness’s testimony] was [] offered as substantive, exculpatory evidence [to establish Appellant's] innocence[?]

[3.] [Whether] the PCRA court erred in denying relief because [the eyewitness’s] testimony is likely to compel a different verdict at a new trial[?]

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Related

Alleyne v. United States
133 S. Ct. 2151 (Supreme Court, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Hickman
799 A.2d 136 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. McKeever
947 A.2d 782 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Commonwealth v. Padillas
997 A.2d 356 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Pagan
950 A.2d 270 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
State v. Bharrat
20 A.3d 9 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Miller
102 A.3d 988 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Williams
151 A.3d 621 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Small, E., Aplt.
189 A.3d 961 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Commonwealth v. Perrin
59 A.3d 663 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Lawson
90 A.3d 1 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Valentine
101 A.3d 801 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Ebo, M., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-ebo-m-pasuperct-2021.