Com. v. Martinez-Baez, D.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 14, 2025
Docket1321 MDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Martinez-Baez, D. (Com. v. Martinez-Baez, 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. Martinez-Baez, D., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S20025-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DEYLER MANUEL MARTINEZ-BAEZ : : Appellant : No. 1321 MDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 10, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-06-CR-0003872-2023

BEFORE: OLSON, J., LANE, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY LANE, J.: FILED: JULY 14, 2025

Deyler Manuel Martinez-Baez (“Martinez-Baez”) appeals from the

judgment of sentence imposed following his convictions for terroristic threats

and simple assault.1 Additionally, Martinez-Baez’s court-appointed appellate

counsel, William Bispels, Esquire (“Attorney Bispels”), has filed a petition to

withdraw from representation and a brief styled pursuant to Anders v.

California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967). We grant Attorney Bispels’ petition and

affirm the judgment of sentence.

We glean the following factual history from the evidence and testimony

presented at trial. In 2023, Luis Lopez-Nunez (“Lopez-Nunez”) was assisting

his pregnant niece, Samantha Stephany Cuto-Guerrero (“Cuto-Guerrero”),

move out of the apartment she shared with her partner, Martinez-Baez, after

he beat her the day prior to the extent that she needed to receive treatment ____________________________________________

1 See 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2706(a)(1), 2701(a)(3). J-S20025-25

at the hospital. After approximately thirty minutes, Martinez-Baez arrived at

the home, complaining that one of the items Cuto-Guerrero was taking was

his. Following a minor disagreement between Martinez-Baez and Cuto-

Guerrero, Lopez-Nunez told Martinez-Baez to take his property. Instead of

doing so, however, Martinez-Baez continued to raise his voice, move “from

side to side like he was nervous[,]” and started “moving around the gun” he

had concealed under his sweatshirt. N.T., 6/5/24, at 9. When Lopez-Nunez

told Martinez-Baez to lower his voice, Martinez-Baez threatened to hit Lopez-

Nunez in the head with the butt of the concealed gun, before subsequently

pulling the gun out and pointing it at Lopez-Nunez from approximately five to

six feet away. In an attempt to defend himself, Lopez-Nunez picked up a

nearby shovel.

At this point, Cuto-Guerrero stepped in front of Lopez-Nunez, and told

Martinez-Baez not to shoot. Lopez-Nunez then announced that he was going

to call the police. Martinez-Baez continued to point his gun at Lopez-Nunez,

through Cuto-Guerrero, and threatened to shoot Lopez-Nunez if he did so.

Although Lopez-Nunez “felt fear for [his] family because [he has] children[,]”

he called the police, nonetheless. Id. at 12. After waiting approximately ten

to fifteen minutes without any police response, and with the gun still aimed at

him and Cuto-Guerrero, Lopez-Nunez decided to leave the residence. As he

did so, Martinez-Baez clarified that “he knew where [Lopez-Nunez] lived[,

that] he was going to kill [Lopez-Nunez, and] that he was the owner of

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Reading and he had [the city] under control.” Id. at 11, 14. Cuto-Guerrero

finished moving out soon thereafter.

Later that day, Lopez-Nunez and Cuto-Guerrero traveled to city hall,

whereupon they spoke to the police and filed a complaint before returning

back to Lopez-Nunez’s home. Not long after, two investigating officers arrived

at the home, taking a statement from Lopez-Nunez with assistance from Cuto-

Guerrero and her aunt. Notably, Cuto-Guerrero did not dispute any of Lopez-

Nunez’s statements to police, including his narration of the above events. See

id. at 39. Following this conversation, the officers recommended that Cuto-

Guerrero seek a protection from abuse order, which she obtained that same

day.

Police arrested Martinez-Baez and charged him with terroristic threats,

simple assault, and harassment. With the assistance of private counsel,

Martinez-Baez proceeded to a bench trial, at which the Commonwealth

presented the testimony of Lopez-Nunez and one of the investigating officers.

Martinez-Baez did not testify in his defense. However, he presented the

testimony of Cuto-Guerrero, who testified that: (1) she was back together

with Martinez-Baez and living with him and their newborn child; (2) she never

saw Martinez-Baez with a gun, nor had she ever seen him with one; and (3)

she never heard him say that he was going to shoot or kill Lopez-Nunez or

anyone else. Additionally, Cuto-Guerrero testified that although she did not

previously dispute any of Lopez-Nunez’s statements to police, she chose not

to do so only because she was staying with him and her aunt at the time and

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felt like she “had to go along with what [her] family was saying.” Id. Thus,

she clarified that while she did respond to the two officers’ direct questions,

she did not otherwise participate or necessarily agree with what her uncle was

saying. Cuto-Guerrero did not otherwise clarify why she thereafter obtained

the protection from abuse order.

At the conclusion of trial, the trial court convicted Martinez-Baez of

terroristic threats and simple assault, and acquitted him of the harassment

charge. On July 10, 2024, the trial court imposed an aggregate sentence of

two years’ probation, with the additional requirement that Martinez-Baez have

no contact with Lopez-Nunez or any member of his family — with the

exception of Cuto-Guerrero. After retaining new private counsel, Martinez-

Baez filed a post-sentence motion arguing that the verdict was against the

weight of the evidence.2 The trial court denied the motion. Martinez-Baez

____________________________________________

2 Martinez-Baez did not initially file a timely post-sentence motion. See Commonwealth v. Dreves, 839 A.2d 1122, 1128-29 (Pa. Super. 2003) (en banc) (explaining that pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 720, a defendant may file a post-sentence motion no later than 10 days after imposition of sentence, and that a timely post-sentence motion tolls the appeal period, whereas an untimely motion does not). However, he petitioned the trial court within thirty days of sentencing to reinstate his post-sentence motion rights nunc pro tunc. As the trial court expressly granted the petition within this same thirty-day period, we determine that Martinez-Baez’s instant post-sentence motion, filed within the time allotted by the trial court in its order granting relief, is timely such that it tolled the appeal period. See Commonwealth v. Capaldi, 112 A.3d 1242 (Pa. Super. 2015) (instructing that a post-sentence motion filed nunc pro tunc may toll the appeal period, but only if the following two conditions are met: (1) the defendant files a separate and distinct request to file a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc within thirty days of sentencing; and (2) the trial court expressly permits the filing of a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc, also within thirty days of sentencing).

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filed a timely notice of appeal, and both he and the trial court complied with

Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

Prior to submitting an appellate brief, Martinez-Baez’s privately-retained

counsel filed an application to withdraw from representation, which the trial

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Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Commonwealth v. Dreves
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Commonwealth v. Capaldi
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