Com. v. Jamison, D.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 13, 2025
Docket1232 MDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Jamison, D. (Com. v. Jamison, D.) 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. Jamison, D., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S33008-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DASHAWN LAQUINN JAMISON : : Appellant : No. 1232 MDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 24, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-67-CR-0002709-2022

BEFORE: OLSON, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and NICHOLS, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OLSON, J.: FILED JANUARY 13, 2025

Appellant, Dashawn Laquinn Jamison, appeals from the judgment of

sentence entered on July 24, 2023, following his jury trial conviction for

delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine).1 We affirm.

We briefly set forth the facts and procedural history of this case as

follows. On February 4, 2021, three police officers with the York County Drug

Task Force conducted a controlled narcotics transaction between a confidential

informant (CI) and Appellant. The police searched the CI prior to the

transaction, and he did not have anything on his person. At an agreed upon

location at the corner of Hartley and Clarke Streets in York, Pennsylvania, the

officers surveilled and photographed a hand-to-hand exchange inside a silver

Chevrolet between the CI and Appellant. The CI gave Appellant $200.00 in

____________________________________________

1 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(30). J-S33008-24

exchange for a bag of crack cocaine. The police recovered two cellular

telephones and $200.00 from Appellant in a search incident to his arrest. On

June 24, 2022, the Commonwealth charged Appellant with the

aforementioned offense. Appellant proceeded pro se. The trial court

appointed standby counsel for Appellant in November 2022. Prior to trial

Appellant filed a pro se omnibus motion, which included, inter alia, a request

to compel the identity of the CI. Following a hearing on December 21, 2022,

the trial court denied relief. At a status hearing held in March 2023, Appellant

asserted that he was unable to conduct pro se witness interviews from prison,

so the trial court appointed an investigator from the York County Office of

Conflict Counsel to assist Appellant. At the conclusion of a three-day trial

commencing on May 8, 2023, the jury found Appellant guilty of the

aforementioned crime. On July 24, 2023, the trial court sentenced Appellant

to three to six years of incarceration. This timely, counseled appeal resulted.2 ____________________________________________

2 Appellant filed a timely pro se post sentence motion which the trial court denied by order entered on August 8, 2023. Thereafter, Appellant filed a timely pro se notice of appeal. After the trial court granted Appellant an extension, Appellant filed a pro se concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) as directed. On October 16, 2023, this Court ordered the trial court to determine whether appellate counsel should be appointed to represent Appellant or Appellant voluntarily wished to continue to proceed pro se. The trial court conducted a hearing on November 16, 2023 and Appellant knowingly waived his right to counsel. Appellant requested additional time to file a pro se amended Rule 1925(b) statement which the trial court granted. In February 2023, Appellant filed a motion for the reappointment of appellate counsel. The trial court appointed counsel and ordered her to file an amended Rule 1925(b) statement. After the grant of several extensions for various reasons, counsel for Appellant filed a timely (Footnote Continued Next Page)

-2- J-S33008-24

On appeal, counsel for Appellant presents the following issues3 for our

review:

I. Whether the Commonwealth failed to prove every element of the offense of delivery of cocaine[,] specifically[,] whether the evidence was insufficient to prove Appellant delivered the controlled substance [(cocaine)] to the [CI]?

II. Whether the verdict was against the greater weight of the evidence?

III. Whether the trial court erred when it declined to compel discovery, specifically the CI’s identity in violation of Appellant’s state and federal due process rights?

IV. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Appellant’s request to interview potential defense witnesses at York County Prison, but rather directed conflict counsel to secure an investigator to interview said witnesses, in violation of Appellant’s right to self-representation?

V. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Appellant’s request to call different witnesses on the basis that the trial court determined they were not relevant?

a. Witnesses who knew the CI and heard the CI discussing staging drug buys to save himself from prison;

b. Laura Brown, a clinical and forensic psychologist, who would have provided testimony on habits, routines, and traits of addicts and to potentially inform the jury the potential mental state of an informant who actively used drugs; and

Rule 1925(b) statement on March 19, 2024. On March 26, 2024, the trial court issued an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a).

3 We have reordered Appellant’s issues for ease of discussion and disposition.

-3- J-S33008-24

c. A corrections officer at York County Prison whose testimony would have cast doubt on the Commonwealth’s evidence regarding the search of CI prior to CI’s interaction with Appellant. The witness would have testified, in an expert capacity, about how new [inmates] to the prison who were previously searched by York police were found in possession of illegal contraband upon entry to the prison.

VI. Whether the trial court erred when it excused Juror 158, the only black juror, without further inquiring into why the juror stated that they could no longer deliberate during active deliberations?

VII. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Appellant’s request for a [b]ill of [p]articulars?

VIII. Whether the Commonwealth committed numerous Brady[4] violations when it withheld [information] that a man named Mr. Robert Huffmaster had the same telephone number that the CI called [in this matter]?

Appellant’s Brief at 7-8.

On appeal, Appellant’s first seven issues challenge various pretrial and

trial rulings. First, Appellant challenges the weight and sufficiency of the

evidence presented at trial, arguing that “[t]here [wa]s no evidence that

Appellant gave the CI crack cocaine” because “while a detective observed a

hand-to-hand exchange, he could not testify as to exactly what was

exchanged[.]” Id. at 17. Appellant further argues that “[t]he CI could have

received the drugs [that police later recovered from him] after he was

originally searched by” the police and “[i]f Appellant would have had the

identity of the CI, Appellant could have cross[-]examined the CI on his

4 Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).

-4- J-S33008-24

motives for setting up the controlled sale [or] had previously arranged similar

transactions to lessen the CI’s [exposure to a] prison sentence[.]” Id. at 28;

see also id. at 34 (Appellant “believed the CI staged the buy and could have

retrieved the drugs from either hiding it so the officers who searched him prior

to the controlled buy could not find it or [he] picked it up somewhere between

the time after the CI was searched and when the CI handed over the drugs

after the controlled buy.”). Moreover, Appellant suggests there was “at least

a reasonable possibility the CI’s identity would exonerate him, [] because the

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Jamison, D., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-jamison-d-pasuperct-2025.