Com. v. Schoenly, M.

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: February 21, 2025
• Docket: 1193 EDA 2024
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

J-S40009-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MEGAN SCHOENLY : : Appellant : No. 1193 EDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered March 7, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No: CP-46-CR-0002166-2021

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MEGAN SCHOENLY : : Appellant : No. 1194 EDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered March 7, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Criminal Division at No: CP-46-CR-0004736-2021

BEFORE: STABILE, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and LANE, J.

MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 21, 2025

In these consolidated appeals, Appellant, Megan Schoenly, appeals from

her concurrent sentences of one year’s probation for retail theft and

possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia (“possession”). Appellant

contends that the trial court erred in accepting her guilty plea to these offenses

because the plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered. We affirm. J-S40009-24

Appellant was charged with retail theft at No. 4736-21 and with

possession at No. 2166-21. On March 7, 2024, Appellant entered a negotiated

guilty plea at both docket numbers. Appellant testified under oath that she

went over a written guilty plea colloquy form with her attorney and answered

the questions in the form truthfully. N.T., 3/7/24, at 4. She further testified

that nobody forced or threatened her into entering her guilty plea. Id. She

stated that she had no questions for the trial court. Id. at 5-6.

Appellant also confirmed the factual basis for her plea. Regarding the

retail theft charge, she admitted that on July 4, 2021, in Pottstown,

Pennsylvania, she did unlawfully take possession of, carry away, transfer, or

cause to be carried away or transferred store merchandise from Walmart in

the amount of $282.14. Id. at 6-7. Regarding the possession charge, she

admitted that she “use[d] or possess[ed] with the intent to use drug

paraphernalia, including a clear plastic straw and/or vials with a white rock-

like substance and/or a plastic bag with powdery white substance and/or a

glass apparatus with charmed on the bottom and/or a brush with a wire

handle.” Id. at 6. The trial court determined that Appellant knowingly,

intelligently, and voluntarily entered her guilty plea and accepted the terms of

the negotiated plea. Id. at 7-8.

On Monday, March 18, 2028, Appellant filed a timely motion for

reconsideration of sentence. The only claim in her motion was that the court

failed to give her credit for pre-trial incarceration. Her motion did not contest

the validity of her guilty plea.

-2- J-S40009-24

On March 27, 2024, the court denied Appellant’s motion. This timely

appeal followed. Both Appellant and the trial court complied with Pa.R.A.P.

1925.

Appellant raises a single issue in her brief:

Did the lower court err in accepting [Appellant]’s guilty plea since the plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered because [Appellant]’s oral guilty plea colloquy failed to explain that [Appellant] had a right to a jury trial, failed to explain that a jury’s verdict would need to be unanimous, failed to explain that the Commonwealth would be required to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and failed to explain the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses at trial?

Appellant’s Brief at 3.

Appellant argues that her guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily

entered because the court failed to explain several rights that she was giving

up. Both the trial court and the Commonwealth contend that Appellant waived

this issue by failing to challenge the adequacy of the oral plea colloquy during

the guilty plea hearing or in a post-sentence motion. We agree that Appellant

waived this issue.

Generally, a plea of guilty amounts to a waiver of all defects and

defenses except those concerning the jurisdiction of the court, the legality of

the sentence, and the validity of the guilty plea. See Commonwealth v.

Morrison, 173 A.3d 286, 290 (Pa. Super. 2017). A defendant may seek to

withdraw a guilty plea by oral or written motion at any time before the

imposition of sentence. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 591(A). After sentence has been

-3- J-S40009-24

imposed, a defendant seeking to withdraw a guilty plea must file a motion to

withdraw the guilty plea no later than ten days after the sentence is imposed.

See Pa.R.Crim.P. 720(B)(1)(a)(i). Absent extraordinary circumstances, the

failure to employ either of these measures results in waiver of any challenge

to the validity of the guilty plea. See Commonwealth v. Tareila, 895 A.2d

1266, 1270 n.3 (Pa. Super. 2006). Pennsylvania courts adhere to this waiver

principle because it is for the trial court which accepted the plea to consider

and correct, in the first instance, any error which may have been committed

in the plea process. See Commonwealth v. Lincoln, 72 A.3d 606, 610 (Pa.

Super. 2013); see also Commonwealth v. Smith, 2024 WL 3409194 (Pa.

Super., Jul. 15, 2024) (non-precedential decision) (defendant waived

argument that she did not knowingly, voluntarily or intelligently enter guilty

plea where she did not raise this claim during guilty plea hearing or in post-

sentence motions); Commonwealth v. Jenkins, 2023 WL 6804616 (Pa.

Super., Oct. 16, 2023) (non-precedential decision) (same holding);

Commonwealth v. Bray, 2022 WL 3041291 (Pa. Super., Aug. 2, 2022) (non-

precedential decision) (same holding). 1

Here, Appellant did not object to the validity of her guilty plea or

question the adequacy of the oral colloquy during her guilty plea hearing. Nor

____________________________________________

1 See Pa.R.A.P. 126 (non-precedential decisions of Superior Court entered after May 1, 2019 may be cited as persuasive authority).

-4- J-S40009-24

did she raise this objection in her post-sentence motion. Thus, under the

above authorities, Appellant has waived her challenge to the validity of her

guilty plea or adequacy of her guilty plea colloquy. 2

Judgment of sentence affirmed.

Date: 2/21/2025

2 Even if Appellant had preserved her claim, we would conclude it is without

merit based on our review of the record, relevant legal authority, and the trial court’s reasoning. See Trial Court Opinion, 6/18/24, at 4-5 (citing Pa.R.Crim.P. 590 and concluding that written plea colloquy, supplemented by in-court colloquy, satisfied its elements and that Appellant both understood the nature of the crime and the rights waived by pleading guilty).

-5-