Com. v. Palmer, G.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 11, 2017
Docket1028 EDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Palmer, G. (Com. v. Palmer, G.) 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. Palmer, G., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-S53010-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

GARY PALMER,

Appellant No. 1028 EDA 2016

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered March 4, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0204941-2006 CP-51-CR-1100971-2005

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., OLSON, J., and FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.: FILED OCTOBER 11, 2017

Appellant, Gary Palmer, appeals from the post-conviction court’s March

4, 2016 order denying his timely-filed petition under the Post Conviction

Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546. After careful review, we affirm

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

remand to the PCRA court for resentencing.

Briefly, Appellant was charged in two separate cases with various

offenses stemming from a string of robberies and a shootout with police

before they took Appellant into custody for those robberies. Appellant’s

cases were consolidated and proceeded to a jury trial in May of 2007. At the

close thereof, the jury convicted Appellant of multiple crimes, including

robbery, theft by unlawful taking, aggravated assault, simple assault, J-S53010-17

recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, possessing an

instrument of crime, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance,

and several firearm offenses. Appellant was ultimately sentenced August 7,

2007, to an aggregate term of 11 to 22 years’ incarceration, followed by 6

years’ probation.

Appellant filed a timely direct appeal, but due to procedural matters

not pertinent herein, it was not until November 30, 2012, that this Court

affirmed his judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Palmer, 63 A.3d

841 (Pa. Super. 2012) (unpublished judgment order). On May 2, 2013, our

Supreme Court denied Appellant’s petition for allowance of appeal.

Commonwealth v. Palmer, 67 A.3d 795 (Pa. 2013). Therefore, his

judgment of sentence became final ninety days thereafter, or on July 31,

2013. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(3) (stating that a judgment of sentence

becomes final at the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time

for seeking the review); Commonwealth v. Owens, 718 A.2d 330, 331

(Pa. Super. 1998) (directing that under the PCRA, petitioner’s judgment of

sentence becomes final ninety days after our Supreme Court rejects his or

her petition for allowance of appeal since petitioner had ninety additional

days to seek review with the United States Supreme Court).

Appellant filed a timely, pro se PCRA petition on December 20, 2013.

Counsel was appointed and filed several amended petitions on Appellant’s

behalf over the ensuing years. On February 3, 2016, the PCRA court issued

a Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice of its intent to dismiss Appellant’s petition, and

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issued an order doing so on March 4, 2016. Appellant filed a timely notice of

appeal, and he also timely complied with the PCRA court’s order to file a

Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) concise statement of errors complained of on appeal. The

PCRA court filed a Rule 1925(a) opinion on January 31, 2017.

Herein, Appellant presents two issues for our review:

1. Did the [PCRA] [c]ourt err in failing to grant discovery and dismissing the PCRA petition without holding an evidentiary hearing to determine the substantial issues of material fact?

2. Was counsel ineffective for failing to object to the prosecutor’s falsely using firearms recovered in the police shooting incident to convict [] Appellant on the robberies, for failing to object to the consolidation of the cases, for failing to raise a speedy trial issue and for failing to object to [] Appellant’s mandatory minimum sentence[?]

Appellant’s Brief at 10.

Our standard of review regarding an order denying post-conviction

relief under the PCRA is whether the determination of the court is supported

by the evidence of record and is free of legal error. Commonwealth v.

Ragan, 923 A.2d 1169, 1170 (Pa. 2007). This Court grants great deference

to the findings of the PCRA court, and we will not disturb those findings

merely because the record could support a contrary holding.

Commonwealth v. Touw, 781 A.2d 1250, 1252 (Pa. Super. 2001).

We will begin by addressing Appellant’s claim that his trial and

appellate counsels acted ineffectively by not challenging the legality of two

mandatory minimum sentences imposed in this case. Appellant argues that

those sentences were rendered illegal by the United States Supreme Court’s

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decision in Alleyne v. United States, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 2163 (2013) (holding

that “facts that increase mandatory minimum sentences must be submitted

to the jury” and found beyond a reasonable doubt). Specifically, Appellant

received mandatory minimum sentences under 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9712

(Sentences for offenses committed with firearms) and 9712.1 (Sentences for

certain drug offenses committed with firearms). Both of these sentencing

statutes have been declared unconstitutional under Alleyne. See

Commonwealth v. Newman, 99 A.3d 86 (Pa. Super. 2014) (en banc)

(holding that 42 Pa.C.S. § 9712.1 is unconstitutional under Alleyne);

Commonwealth v. Valentine, 101 A.3d 801 (Pa. Super. 2014) (declaring

42 Pa.C.S. § 9712 unconstitutional under Alleyne).

While Appellant frames his sentencing challenge as an ineffectiveness

claim, we will simply review the legality of his mandatory minimum

sentences directly, as we are permitted to raise such issues sua sponte.

See Commonwealth v. Orellana, 86 A.3d 877, 882-83 n.7 (recognizing

“that this Court is endowed with the ability to consider an issue of legality of

sentence sua sponte”) (citation omitted).

Preliminarily, Appellant recognizes that our Supreme Court has held

that Alleyne does not apply retroactively to collateral attacks on mandatory

minimum sentences. See Appellant’s Brief at 27 (citing Commonwealth v.

Washington, 142 A.3d 810 (Pa. 2016)); see also Commonwealth v.

Riggle, 119 A.3d 1058 (Pa. Super. 2015) (declining to give Alleyne

retroactive effect to cases where a timely PCRA petition was filed and the

-4- J-S53010-17

petitioner’s judgment of sentence was finalized before Alleyne was

decided). However, Appellant avers, and we agree, that Washington and

Riggle are distinguishable from the present case. Notably, in both

Washington and Riggle, the petitioners’ judgments of sentence became

final before Alleyne was decided on June 17, 2013. In contrast, here,

Appellant’s judgment of sentence became final on July 31, 2013, after

Alleyne was issued. In another case with a similar procedural posture,

Commonwealth v. Ruiz, 131 A.3d 54 (Pa. Super. 2015), this Court held

that Alleyne may be applied retroactively to a timely PCRA petitioner, as

long as the petitioner’s judgment of sentence was not yet final when

Alleyne was decided. Id. at 59-60. See also Newman, 99 A.3d at 90

(holding that Newman’s case “was still pending on direct appeal when

Alleyne was handed down, and the decision may be applied to [Newman’s]

case retroactively”) (footnote omitted).

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133 S. Ct. 2151 (Supreme Court, 2013)
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