Com. v. Glover, M.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided October 1, 2024·No. 1044 EDA 2023·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL A. GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1044 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003669-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL A. GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1045 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003670-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL A. GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1046 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003671-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL A. GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1047 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003672-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL A. GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1048 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003675-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

MICHAEL GLOVER :

:

Appellant : No. 1049 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0008021-2016

BEFORE: OLSON, J., NICHOLS, J., and COLINS, J. *

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.: FILED OCTOBER 1, 2024 Appellant Michael Glover appeals from the order denying his first Post Conviction Relief Act1 (PCRA) petition. Appellant raises multiple claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel and appellate counsel. We affirm.

The underlying facts are well known to the parties. See Commonwealth v. Glover, Nos. 2696 EDA 2018 et al., 2019 WL 6652035, at *1-3 (Pa. Super. 2019) (unpublished mem.). Briefly, Appellant was charged with multiple offenses at six separate docket numbers after he physically assaulted his ex-girlfriend (the victim), damaged her property, and violated an order entered pursuant to the Protection from Abuse (PFA) Act. 2 See id. at 2019 WL 6652035, at *1-2. The incidents giving rise to the charges occurred on February 1, March 1, March 12, and March 14, 2016. See id. Additionally, during the March 12, 2016 incident, Appellant tried to hit the victim’s sister with his car while she was standing in the street, and later Appellant’s car struck the victim’s car while the victim and her sister were inside. See id. at *2.

A prior panel of this Court summarized the procedural history as follows:

Following a bench trial, the trial court found Appellant guilty of the following crimes:

 at CP-51-CR-0003675-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 3675-2016”), robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving

1 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546.

2 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 6101-6122.

stolen property, possessing instruments of crime (“PIC”), simple assault, and harassment;

 at CP-51-CR-0008021-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 8021-2016”), stalking, terroristic threats, and harassment;

 at CP-51-CR-0003669-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 3669-2016”), stalking, contempt for violation of order or agreement, terroristic threats, and harassment;

 at CP-51-CR-0003670-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 3670-2016”), aggravated assault, stalking, contempt for violation of order or agreement, PIC, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person (“REAP”), and harassment;

 at CP-51-CR-0003671-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 3671-2016”), aggravated assault, PIC, simple assault, and REAP; and,

 at CP-51-CR-0003672-2016 (hereinafter “Docket Number 3672-2016”), robbery, stalking, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, contempt for violation of order or agreement, terroristic threats, simple assault, and harassment.[fn6]

18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3701(a)(1)(iv), 2709.1(a)(1), 3921(a), [fn6]

and 3925(a), 23 Pa.C.S. § 6114(a), and 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2706(a)(1), 2701(a), and 2709(a)(4), respectively.

On April 27, 2018, the trial court sentenced Appellant to serve an aggregate term of seven to [fourteen] years in prison, followed by five years of probation, for his convictions.

Id. at *2-3 (some citations and some footnotes omitted, some formatting altered).

We add that Derek A. Steenson, Esq., (trial counsel) represented Appellant at trial. Appellant filed timely post-sentence motions challenging the weight of the evidence and discretionary aspects of his sentence. The trial court denied Appellant’s post-sentence motions and granted trial counsel

leave to withdraw from representing Appellant on August 20, 2018. The following day, the trial court appointed David M. Simon, Esq., (appellate counsel) to represent Appellant on appeal.

Appellate counsel filed timely notices of appeal on behalf of Appellant.

Relevant to this appeal, Appellant argued on direct appeal that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for robbery at Docket Number 3672- 2016. See id. at *3, *8. A prior panel of this Court concluded that Appellant had waived this sufficiency challenge because Appellant did not include the element he was challenging in his Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement. See id. at *8. This Court affirmed Appellant’s judgment of sentence, and our Supreme Court denied Appellant’s petition for allowance of appeal. See id. at *9, appeal denied, 234 A.3d 404 (Pa. 2020). The United States Supreme Court denied Appellant’s petition for writ of certiorari on October 13, 2020. Glover v. Pennsylvania, 141 S.Ct. 597, 208 L.Ed.2d 190 (2020).

Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition on October 8, 2021. The PCRA court appointed counsel to represent Appellant, who filed two amended PCRA petitions on Appellant’s behalf. Therein, Appellant claimed that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to dismiss under Rule of Criminal Procedure 600 and for failing to advise Appellant about his right to testify at trial. Suppl. Am. PCRA Pet., 5/4/22, at 7. Appellant also argued that appellate counsel was ineffective because appellate counsel failed to challenge the weight of the evidence and the discretionary aspects of his sentence on appeal. Id. Lastly, Appellant contended that appellate counsel

was ineffective for failing to properly preserve Appellant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence for his robbery conviction at Docket Number 3672- 2016 in the Rule 1925(b) statement. Id.

The PCRA court held an evidentiary hearing on January 17, 2023, limited to the issue of whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to advise Appellant of his right to testify. Trial counsel and Appellant testified at that hearing. The PCRA court denied Appellant’s PCRA petition on April 17, 2023. Appellant filed timely notices of appeal. Both Appellant and the PCRA court complied with Rule 1925.

On appeal, Appellant raises four issues, which we restate as follows:

1. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 600.

2. Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the discretionary aspects of Appellant’s sentence.

3. Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the weight of the evidence.

4. Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to properly preserve a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting Appellant’s robbery conviction in the 1925(b)

statement.

Appellant’s Brief at 8.3

3 We note that in his Rule 1925(b) statement, Appellant also argued that trial

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