Com. v. Shelton, T.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 24, 2024
Docket28 MDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Shelton, T. (Com. v. Shelton, T.) 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. Shelton, T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

J-A07043-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : TYLER PAUL SHELTON : : Appellant : No. 28 MDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered December 7, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Bradford County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-08-CR-0000856-2015

BEFORE: STABILE, J., SULLIVAN, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY STEVENS, P.J.E.: FILED: APRIL 24, 2024

Appellant, Tyler P. Shelton, appeals from the order dated December 6,

2022, entered in the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas. We affirm the

order and deny Appellant’s application for appointment of substitute counsel.

The relevant procedural history and facts are as follows: The

Commonwealth charged Appellant with 100 counts each of Rape of Child,

Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse with Child, Aggravated Indecent

Assault of Child, Indecent Assault, and Corruption of Minors; 40 counts of

Corruption of Minors; and 10 counts of Attempted Involuntary Deviate Sexual

Intercourse with Child. Appellant’s 12-year-old daughter was the victim.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of fifteen counts of corruption of minors. On

September 15, 2016, Appellant was sentenced to 75 to 360 months’

____________________________________________

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-A07043-24

incarceration. Appellant filed a post sentence motion which was denied on

March 6, 2017. In his direct appeal to this Court, Appellant challenged the

admission of evidence in his trial. On September 7, 1017, this Court affirmed.

See Commonwealth v. Shelton, 170 A.3d 549 (Pa. Super. 2017).

On December 7, 2018, Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition

raising the two illegality of sentence claims at issues in this instant appeal. On

July 11, 2020, the court denied his PCRA petition without a hearing and gave

him twenty days to respond. Appellant filed a timely response that he had yet

to be appointed an attorney. The court appointed Attorney Jason Beardsley,

who inexplicably filed at least seven requests for an extension of time before

filing an amended PCRA petition in June 2022. On December 6, 2022,

Appellant’s PCRA petition was denied. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal.

This appeal followed. 1

Appellant raises two issues for our review:

1. Whether an illegal sentence was imposed upon Mr. Shelton when the sentencing court imposed consecutive sentences on fifteen counts of Corruption of Minors, graded as misdemeanors of the first degree, when the legislature has specified that when Corruption of Minors occurred as a course

1 We note our extreme displeasure with the Commonwealth’s brief. An appellee is required to file a brief that at minimum must contain a summary of argument and the complete argument for appellee. Pa. R. App. P. 2112. Although Appellee’s brief here contains heading for “Summary of Argument” and “Argument,” the brief is a total of one-half page and does not contain any citation to any caselaw whatsoever. We do not find the Commonwealth to have set forth a sufficiently “complete argument” pursuant to Rule 2112 where it addressed two issues in its argument section in a total of seven sentences.

-2- J-A07043-24

of conduct the appropriate grading is a single felony of the third degree.

2. Whether the PCRA Court erred in finding Mr. Shelton was ineligible for RRRI, and therefore received an illegal sentence.

Appellant’s Br. at 3.

Initially, we note that Appellant, while represented by Attorney

Beardsley, filed a pro se application for the appointment of substitute counsel

pursuant to Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d 381 (Pa. 2021), on

January 30, 2023. By order of court dated September 15, 2023, Attorney

Beardsley was deemed withdrawn as counsel and Attorney Jordan Leonard

was appointed as appellate counsel. Instantly, Appellant’s counseled brief was

filed by Attorney Leonard, and thus Appellant’s application for appointment is

denied as moot.

Appellant’s first issue is that he received an illegal sentence when the

sentencing court imposed consecutive sentences on fifteen counts of

corruption of minors, graded as first-degree misdemeanors, instead of a single

third-degree felony. Appellant’s Br. at 8. “A claim a petitioner is serving an

illegal sentence is cognizable under the PCRA, as long as the claim is raised in

a timely petition.” Commonwealth v. Moore, 247 A.3d 990, 993 (Pa. 2021).

The Commonwealth argues that Appellant’s claim, cognizable under the PCRA,

was not raised in Appellant’s petition or any amended petition and is therefore

waived. Appellee’s Br. at 2. Specifically, the Commonwealth asserts,

“Appellant raised only the issue of his RRRI eligibility in the PCRA filed on

December 7, 2018. . . . The PCRA court does not address the issue in its

-3- J-A07043-24

1925(a) opinion because it was not raised.” Id. While it is true that the PCRA

court does not mention or address any issue other than the RRRI eligibility,

Appellant properly raised his first illegal sentence claim in a timely petition.

Our review of the record reveals that Appellant’s pro se PCRA petition states

this in the argument section:

I am eligible offender for RRRI under current law. Comm v. Robinson, 7 A.3d 868 (Pa. Super. 2010). No RRRI is an illegal sentence[.]

15 counts of 18 Pa.C.S. § 6301(2)(1)(i) should carry the same as one count of 18 Pa.C.S. § 6301(2)(1)(ii) if crime alleged satisfies “course of conduct.” Comm v. Kelly, 102 A.3d 1025 (Pa. Super. 2014)[.]

Appellant’s Pro Se PCRA Petition, 12/7/18, at 8 (punctuation added). Thus, it

is facially clear that Appellant raised both issues in his PCRA petition.

Had the Commonwealth properly briefed the issues, we would not have

to guess if the Commonwealth instead meant that Appellant failed to raise this

issue in his 1925(b) statement of matters complained of on appeal, which

should result in waiver. On January 11, 2023, the trial court ordered Appellant

to file a 1925(b) statement within twenty-one days or else the issues would

be waived. Appellant thereafter filed two (counseled) statements pursuant to

1925(b). The first was filed on February 6, 2023, and included only the RRRI

eligibility issue. The second was filed on February 10, 2023, and raised both

issues Appellant raises in his instant brief. Notably, neither 1925(b) statement

was filed within the twenty-one-day limit. The trial court, however, accepted

Appellant’s February 6, 2023, statement as timely and formulated its 1925(a)

-4- J-A07043-24

opinion in response to it, ignoring the additional issue raised in Appellant’s

February 10, 2023, statement. The record reflects that the trial court's order

directing Appellant to file a 1925(b) statement did not specify the address

where Appellant could mail his statement, as is required by Pa.R.A.P.

1925(b)(3)(iii). It would be inequitable to deem issues waived on appeal due

to the untimely filing of a 1925(b) statement where the trial court's order to

file the statement does not comport with the requirements of Rule 1925(b).

See Commonwealth v.

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Com. v. Shelton, T., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-shelton-t-pasuperct-2024.