Com. v. Jenrette, R.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided September 13, 2016·No. 3694 EDA 2015·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S67037-16

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

RANDY JENRETTE

Appellant No. 3694 EDA 2015

Appeal from the PCRA Order October 26, 2015 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0012552-2008

BEFORE: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., RANSOM, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY STEVENS, P.J.E.: FILED SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Appellant Randy Jenrette appeals the order entered in the Court of

Common Pleas of Philadelphia County on October 26, 2015, dismissing his

first petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”).1

Following a careful review, we affirm.

A panel of this Court previously set forth the facts and procedural

history herein as follows:

[O]n July 2, 2007, Tyrone Griffin arrived at Einstein Hospital after having suffered multiple gunshot wounds in his leg and ankle. The hospital notified the Philadelphia Police Department, and Officer John Gallagher proceeded to the hospital to talk with Griffin. While Griffin initially denied

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1 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-46.

*Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-S67037-16

knowledge of who shot him, he later provided police with a formal statement in which he identified Appellant as his attacker. Specifically, Griffin told police that on the day he was shot, he went to a store to purchase food and saw Appellant standing outside. When Griffin exited the store and began to walk away, he heard Appellant say, “Yo.” Griffin turned around to find Appellant pointing a gun at him. Appellant told Griffin to, “Put your shit down,” which prompted Griffin to flee. As Griffin ran away from Appellant, he heard five or six gunshots and was struck in the calf of his right leg and the ankle of his left leg. After giving this statement to police, Griffin drew a map depicting the area where he and Appellant were standing when the shooting occurred. In addition, Griffin participated in a photographic identification session, pointing out Appellant’s picture as the man who shot him. Based on Griffin’s statement, and identification of Appellant, a warrant was issued for Appellant’s arrest. On February 9, 2008, a car in which Appellant was a passenger was stopped and Appellant was asked to identify himself. Appellant gave police five different aliases before they were able to ascertain his true name and take him into custody pursuant to the warrant. Appellant was charged with multiple crimes, including attempted murder. At Appellant’s non-jury trial, the Commonwealth called Griffin to the stand. Despite implicating Appellant as the shooter in his statement to police, Griffin testified that he could not recall many details of the shooting, including who had shot him. When the Commonwealth confronted him with what he had told police, Griffin claimed that he made up that story because the police coerced him into believing that they would help him in an unrelated drug case pending against him. Griffin also testified that the police had forced him to select Appellant’s photograph during the identification session. After Griffin’s testimony, the Commonwealth called Detective William Knecht as a witness. Detective Knecht was one of the officers that interviewed Griffin and recorded his formal statement. Detective Knecht testified that during Griffin’s interview, no officer even mentioned Griffin’s open drug case or promised to assist him in any way. The detective further stated that Griffin was never threatened or coerced but, instead, that he spoke freely about the shooting and had no problem recalling the details of that incident. When asked why he had not told police Appellant was the shooter when he was initially interviewed at the hospital, Griffin replied that he was scared of Appellant and “his people.” N.T. Trial, 1/5/10. At 86. Griffin

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also told the detective that he had seen Appellant since the shooting, and that Appellant had stated that he and Griffin would “handle it on the street.” Id. at 85. In addition to these witnesses, the Commonwealth also introduced into evidence letters that Appellant wrote to another inmate while awaiting his trial. In those letters, Appellant discussed the shooting and made veiled threats against Griffin, who[m] he called a “rat.” See Trial Court Opinion (T.C.O.), 1/6/11, at 4 (citing N.T. Trial, 1/5/10, at 116-118). At the close of Appellant’s trial, the court found him guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, recklessly endangering another person (REAP), terroristic threats, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm on a public street, possessing a firearm when prohibited, and possessing an instrument of crime (PIC). On March 30, 2010, Appellant was sentenced to an aggregate term of 15 to 30 years’ imprisonment. He filed a timely notice of appeal, as well as a timely concise statement of matters complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).

Commonwealth v. Jenrette, No. 890 EDA 2010, unpublished

memorandum at 1-4 (Pa.Super. filed July 7, 2011). Appellant filed a petition

for allowance of appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which was

denied on January 18, 2012. Commonwealth v. Jenrette, 32 A.3d 259

(Pa. 2012) (Table).

Appellant timely filed the instant PCRA petition, pro se, on October 1,

2012. Counsel was appointed and filed an amended petition on April 4,

2014. Appellant retained private counsel whom the PCRA court later

removed in an order filed on February 6, 2015. Also in that order, the PCRA

court reappointed first PCRA counsel who ultimately filed a motion to

withdraw as counsel along with a “no-merit” letter pursuant to

Commonwealth v. Turner, 518 Pa. 491, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988) and

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Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa.Super. 1988) (en banc) on

March 17, 2015.2 Prior to that time, Appellant retained another attorney,

current PCRA counsel, who entered her appearance on March 10, 2015, and

disputed former PCRA counsel’s conclusions that Appellant’s appeal lacked

merit. Current PCRA counsel filed a second amended PCRA Petition on April

16, 2015.

On August 20, 2014, the Commonwealth filed a Motion to Dismiss, and

Appellant responded thereto on September 24, 2015, wherein he raised an

additional claim that our Supreme Court’s recent decision in

Commonwealth v. Hopkins, ___ Pa. ____, 117 A.3d 247 (2015) declared

unconstitutional sentences under a weapons enhancement; thus, he posited

2 These cases establish the procedure for withdrawal of court-appointed counsel in collateral attacks on criminal convictions. Independent review of the record by competent counsel is required before withdrawal is permitted, and such independent review requires proof of:

1) A “no-merit” letter by PC[R]A counsel detailing the nature and extent of his review; 2) The “no-merit” letter by PC[R]A counsel listing each issue the petitioner wished to have reviewed; 3) The PC[R]A counsel's “explanation”, in the “no-merit” letter, of why the petitioner's issues were meritless; 4) The PC[R]A court conducting its own independent review of the record; and 5) The PC[R]A court agreeing with counsel that the petition was meritless.

Finley, 550 A.2d at 215.

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