Com. v. Sinanan, A.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 6, 2023
Docket498 EDA 2021
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Sinanan, A. (Com. v. Sinanan, A.) 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. Sinanan, A., (Pa. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

J-S02037-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ALLAN LESLIE SINANAN JR. : : Appellant : No. 498 EDA 2021

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered February 17, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-48-CR-0000169-2017, CP-48-CR-0004301-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ALLAN LESLIE SINANAN JR. : : Appellant : No. 499 EDA 2021

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered February 17, 2021 In the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-48-CR-0000169-2017, CP-48-CR-0004301-2016

BEFORE: OLSON, J., KING, J., and McCAFFERY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McCAFFERY, J.: FILED JANUARY 6, 2023 J-S02037-22

Allan Leslie Sinanan, Jr. (Appellant) appeals pro se from the orders1

entered in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, dismissing his

first, timely Post Conviction Relief Act2 (PCRA) petition. A jury convicted

Appellant of eight counts each of possession of a controlled substance and

possession with intent to deliver (PWID), three counts of criminal use of a

communication facility, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.3

The court sentenced him to an aggregate term of 11 to 22 years’ incarceration.

Appellant now raises a myriad of ineffective assistance of counsel claims. After

careful review, we affirm.

As the parties are well acquainted with the facts of this case, which are

fully set forth in the PCRA court’s February 17, 2021, order, we need not recite

____________________________________________

1 Appellant filed two separate notices of appeal for both criminal dockets. Therefore, he has complied with Commonwealth v. Walker, 185 A.3d 969, 977 (Pa. 2018) (separate notices of appeal must be filed when a single order resolves issues arising on more than one trial court docket), overruled in part, Commonwealth v. Young, 265 A.3d 462, 477 (Pa. 2021) (reaffirming that Pa.R.A.P. 341 requires separate notices of appeal when single order resolves issues under more than one docket, but holding Pa.R.A.P. 902 permits appellate court to consider appellant’s request to remediate error when notice of appeal is timely filed). On June 14, 2021, Appellant filed a pro se application for consolidation. This Court granted the order on July 12, 2021. See Order Granting Application for Consolidation, 7/12/21.

2 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546.

335 P.S. §§ 780-113(a)(16), (30); 18 Pa.C.S. § 7512(a); 35 P.S. § 780- 113(a)(32), respectively.

-2- J-S02037-22

them herein. See Order, 2/17/21, at 2-3.4 The pertinent procedural history

is as follows. Appellant was charged at Criminal Docket No. CP-48-CR-4301-

2016 (Docket No. 4301-2016) with three counts of PWID, three counts of

possession of a controlled substance, and three counts of criminal use of a

communication facility. Additionally, he was charged at Criminal Docket No.

CP-48-CR-0169-2017 (Docket No. 169-2017) with five counts of PWID, five

counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of drug

paraphernalia, and one count of possession of a firearm prohibited.5 Id. at 1-

2.

Appellant was represented by several attorneys throughout various

stages of the criminal proceeding. Assistant Public Defender Rory B. Driscole,

Esquire, represented him at both of his preliminary hearings. See Order,

2/17/21, at 3. Appellant requested that Attorney Driscole be removed from

the matter, and the court eventually granted his request via a motion to

withdraw by counsel. See id. at 3-4. Then, Alexander J. Karam, Jr., Esquire,

was appointed to represent Appellant. See id. at 4. Attorney Karam filed two

pre-trial motions, including a motion to suppress, but Appellant expressed

dissatisfaction with his representation as well. See id. Attorney Karam also

4The PCRA court’s February 17, 2021, Order is, in actuality, a 60-page opinion which addresses Appellant’s PCRA claims.

5 See 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105(a)(1). The firearms possession offense was subsequently nolle prossed.

-3- J-S02037-22

filed a motion to withdraw, which was granted. See id. Consequently, Brian

M. Monahan, Esquire, was assigned as legal counsel. See id. Attorney

Monahan represented Appellant at the suppression hearing. See id.

However, shortly before his trial, Appellant “expressed his reluctance to move

forward with Attorney Monahan and requested another attorney.” Id. at 5.

The trial court held a hearing regarding the matter, and denied Appellant’s

request to appoint new counsel. See id.

Appellant’s jury trial began on September 6, 2017. Two days later, the

jury convicted him of all charges. On September 22, 2017, the court imposed

the following sentence: (1) at Docket No. 4301-2016, Appellant received a

six-to-12-month sentence on each count of possession of a controlled

substance; 12 to 24 months on each count of PWID, and 12 to 24 months on

each count of criminal use of a communication facility; and (2) at Docket No.

169-2017, Appellant received 5 to 10 years on the count of PWID (cocaine),

27 to 33 months on the count of PWID (methylenedioxy-methamphetamine

or MDMA), six to 12 years on the count of PWID (Oxycodone), 12 to 18 months

on the count of PWID (Xanax), six to 16 months on the count of PWID

(marijuana), and six to 12 months on each of the five counts of possession of

a controlled substance. Appellant also received a sentence of probation on

the charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. All of the sentences were to

run concurrent to each other, with the exception of two PWID counts (cocaine

and Oxycodone), which were to run consecutive to each other and to all other

-4- J-S02037-22

counts. Appellant subsequently “filed post-sentence motions and requested

that he represent himself moving forward.” See Order, 2/17/21, at 5. On

October 11, 2017, Attorney Monahan filed a motion to withdraw as counsel.

The court held a Grazier6 hearing and permitted counsel to withdraw and

Appellant to proceed pro se. See id.

Appellant filed a direct appeal with this Court,7 which affirmed his

judgment of sentence on January 23, 2019. See Commonwealth v.

Sinanan, 578 EDA 2018 (unpub. memo.) (Pa. Super. Jan. 23, 2019). The

Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied Appellant’s subsequent petition for

allowance of appeal on January 7, 2020, and the United States Supreme Court

denied his petition for writ of certiorari on March 9, 2020. See

Commonwealth v. Sinanan, 305 EAL 2019 (Pa. Jan. 7, 2020), cert. denied,

140 S.Ct. 1546 (U.S. 2020).

On February 5, 2020, Appellant filed a “Motion to Address Illegal

Sentence,” which the court treated as a first PCRA petition and appointed

counsel. See Order, 2/17/21, at 5-6. Thereafter, Appellant filed numerous

6 See Commonwealth v. Grazier, 713 A.2d 81 (Pa. 1998) (requiring on the record inquiry to determine whether waiver of counsel is knowing, intelligent, and voluntary).

7Appellant raised four claims concerning the trial court’s purported failure to suppress certain evidence and the search warrant.

-5- J-S02037-22

pro se supplemental motions8 relating to requests for “PCRA relief and relief

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Sinanan, A., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-sinanan-a-pasuperct-2023.