Com. v. McBride, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 25, 2017
Docket2187 EDA 2015
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. McBride, J. (Com. v. McBride, J.) 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. McBride, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-S63037-16

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA v.

JEFFRY MCBRIDE

Appellant No. 2187 EDA 2015

Appeal from the PCRA Order June 26, 2015 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0013114-2007

BEFORE: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., SHOGAN, J., and FITZGERALD,* J.

MEMORANDUM BY FITZGERALD, J.: FILED JANUARY 25, 2017

Appellant, Jeffry McBride, appeals from the order entered in the

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas denying his first petition filed

pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act1 (“PCRA”). Appellant contends

trial counsel was ineffective and that his mandatory sentence of life without

parole (“LWOP”) is unconstitutional under Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct.

2455 (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016). We

affirm in part, reverse in part, vacate Appellant’s judgment of sentence, and

remand for resentencing.

In its opinion, the PCRA court summarizes the relevant facts of this

case as follows:

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. 1 42 Pa.C.S §§ 9541-9546. J-S63037-16

On April 21, 2007, approximately twenty (20) to fifty (50) people were in the Kenderton Elementary playground. Demond Brown (decedent/victim, also identified on the record as “Demond”) had recently finished a game of basketball and was standing on the sideline. The decedent’s cousin, Anthony Harris (also identified on the record as “Tony”), and best friend, Hassan Durant, were standing on the basketball court.

Armel Baxter and [Appellant] were in the backseat of their friend Rachel Marcelis’ car, driving to their friend Daryl Mack’s (also identified on the record as “Mack”) aunt’s house. Either, Baxter or [Appellant] said they saw someone on the playground and told Rachel Marcelis to go back so they could be sure. Rachel Marcelis drove around the block, and Baxter and [Appellant] exited the car.

Anthony Harris and Hassan Durant saw Baxter and [Appellant] enter the playground with ‘hoodies’ on. People on the playground noticed Baxter and [Appellant] because both men were wearing hoodies on a very hot day. The decedent turned around, noticed Baxter and [Appellant], and began to run. Baxter and [Appellant] began shooting, and continued to shoot as they walked together side by side. The decedent ran in a “zigzag” pattern towards the 15th Street exit. The decedent stumbled out of the playground and fell in the middle of the street.

Baxter and [Appellant] ran out of the playground, and headed east on Ontario Street, then south on 15th Street. Rachel Marcelis saw Baxter and [Appellant] running in her direction, and let them back in her car. While in the car, Rachel Marcelis heard Baxter and [Appellant] talking about how [Appellant’s] gun did not work and he could “not get any rounds off”. When they arrived at Daryl Mack’s aunt’s house, Rachel Marcelis asked [Appellant] “if that was the person who shot De-Nyce.” [Appellant] answered “Yes.” After they left the house, Rachel Marcelis, Baxter and [Appellant] drove to Wilkes-Barre for the weekend, but only Rachel Marcelis returned the following Monday.

An arrest warrant was issued for both Baxter and [Appellant] on May 4, 2007. [Appellant] was arrested in Wilkes-Barre on May 7, 2007, after police were informed of

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his outstanding warrant. Baxter was found at a motel in Wilkes-Barre on July 10, 2007 . . . .

PCRA Ct. Op., 10/21/15, at 2-3.

A jury convicted Appellant on February 5, 2009, of first-degree

murder2, criminal conspiracy3, and possessing an instrument of crime4

(“PIC”). That same day, the court sentenced Appellant to LWOP for murder

and concurrent sentences of ten to twenty years’ imprisonment and one to

two years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and PIC, respectively. This Court

affirmed Appellant’s judgment of sentence on March 22, 2010, and our

Supreme Court denied allowance of appeal on September 16, 2010. See

Commonwealth v. McBride, 440 EDA 2009 (Pa. Super. March 22, 2010),

appeal denied, 163 EAL 2010 (Pa. Sept. 16, 2010).

On April 14, 2011, Appellant timely filed his first PCRA petition pro se.

The PCRA court appointed counsel on December 19, 2011. PCRA counsel

subsequently filed several amended petitions, which raised Appellant’s

claims of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness and the constitutionality of his LWOP

sentence pursuant to Miller. The PCRA court dismissed without a hearing

Appellant’s claims regarding Miller and trial counsel’s failure to call several

character witnesses at trial. However, the PCRA court ultimately held an

2 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(a). 3 18 Pa.C.S. § 903(a)(1). 4 18 Pa.C.S. § 907(a).

-3- J-S63037-16

evidentiary hearing on Appellant’s claims regarding trial counsel’s failure to

call several exculpatory witnesses at trial and to cross-examine Rachel

Marcelis on her immunity agreement. The PCRA court denied Appellant’s

petition on June 26, 2015. Appellant timely filed a notice of appeal on July

9, 2015, and complied with the court’s order to file a concise statement of

errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).

Appellant raises the following issues for our review:

I. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate, interview, and call Darryl Mack, Stephan Studivant, Zan’ea Jones, Ikenia Harris and Deborah McBride, who would be exculpatory eyewitnesses at trial.

II. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate, interview, and call Kyle Carter, Derrick McMillan, Gregory Blackmon, Shawn Lowry, Theresa Brown, Tyrone Lewis, Malik Wooden and McCoy Matthews and the PCRA judge failed to grant an evidentiary hearing for these witnesses.

III. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because trial counsel was ineffective because he received the Commonwealth’s Petition for Immunity and the Order for Immunity and failed to cross-examine Rachel Marcelis concerning this favorable treatment by the Commonwealth.

IV. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because Appellant’s sentence of mandatory [LWOP] is “cruel punishment” under Article 1, §§ 1, 9, and 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

V. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because Appellant’s sentence of mandatory sentence of

-4- J-S63037-16

[LWOP] is unconstitutional under both Article 1, §§ 1, 9, and 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution because two classes of prisoners sentenced to mandatory [LWOP] are treated differently.

VI. The Pennsylvania Code therefore does not establish a constitutional sentence for first degree murder committed by a juvenile. It would violate [A]ppellant’s rights under the ex post facto clause to inflict “punishments, where the party was not, by law, liable to any punishment” or to inflict “greater punishment, than the law annexed to the offense.[”] Stogner v. California, 539 U.S. 607, 612 (2003).

VII. The PCRA Court erred for failing to grant PCRA relief because Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct 2455 (2012), applies retroactively to . . . [A]ppellant who has exhausted his appeal rights and is proceeding under the [PCRA] because: (1) Miller’s companion case, Jackson v. Hobbs, 132 S. Ct.

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Related

Stogner v. California
539 U.S. 607 (Supreme Court, 2003)
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Commonwealth v. Walls
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Commonwealth v. Boyd
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Commonwealth v. Conway
14 A.3d 101 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Miller
102 A.3d 988 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Miller v. Alabama
132 S. Ct. 2455 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Montgomery v. Louisiana
577 U.S. 190 (Supreme Court, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Secreti
134 A.3d 77 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Perry
959 A.2d 932 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Jackson v. Hobbs
181 L. Ed. 2d 395 (Supreme Court, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. McBride, J., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-mcbride-j-pasuperct-2017.