Com. v. Sledge, L.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided March 5, 2024·No. 76 WDA 2023·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

LARRY ALLEN SLEDGE :

:

Appellant : No. 76 WDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered October 31, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-25-CR-0000722-2020

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

LARRY ALLEN SLEDGE :

:

Appellant : No. 77 WDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered October 31, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-25-CR-0000388-2020

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., OLSON, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.* MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.: FILED: March 5, 2024 In this consolidated appeal, Larry Allen Sledge appeals nunc pro tunc from the judgment of sentence entered in the Erie County Court of Common Pleas on October 31, 2022. After careful review, we affirm.

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

In January 2020, at docket 388 of 2020, a criminal complaint was filed charging Sledge with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and other crimes related to the shooting of Jessica Crouch. Two months later, at docket 722 of 2020, a criminal complaint was filed charging Sledge with intimidation of a witness for allegedly contacting Crouch to have her drop the charges.

On August 12, 2022, following a jury trial, Sledge was convicted of the charges in both dockets, i.e., attempted homicide and related offenses in 388 of 2020, and intimidation of a witness at 722 of 2020.

On October 31, 2022, the trial court sentenced Sledge to an aggregate term of twenty-six to fifty-two years’ incarceration.

On November 21, 2022, Sledge filed a pro se petition for post-conviction collateral relief seeking, among other relief, to have his appellate rights reinstated. The trial court entered an order granting the petition to the extent that Sledge could file a notice of appeal nunc pro tunc. The order also stated that Attorney Bruce Sandmeyer was to continue to represent Sledge during the pendency of the appeal, and that “Counsel shall file his notice of appeal within thirty (30) days.” Order, 11/30/2022.

On December 7, 2022, Attorney Sandmeyer filed a post-sentence motion and a motion to withdraw as counsel at both docket numbers. The following day, the trial court entered orders granting Attorney Sandmeyer’s motion to withdraw as counsel, directing that appellate counsel be appointed

for Sledge, and ordering the Commonwealth to respond to the post-sentence motion within fourteen days.

On December 20, 2022, the trial court entered an order at both docket numbers appointing Attorney Tina Fryling to represent Sledge. Two days later, the Commonwealth filed its response to the post-sentence motion. On the same date, the trial court entered an order denying the post-sentence motion, based on the reasons set forth in the Commonwealth’s response. Notably, that order did not mention Sledge’s appeal rights or the time within which an appeal must be filed.

On January 18, 2023, Attorney Fryling filed two separate notices of appeal, one under each docket, on Sledge’s behalf.

Preliminarily, we must address our jurisdiction to entertain this appeal because an untimely appeal divests this Court of jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. See Commonwealth v. Edrington, 780 A.2d 721, 725 (Pa. Super. 2001). We may address questions of our jurisdiction sua sponte. See id.

“Absent extraordinary circumstances, an appellate court lacks the power to enlarge or extend the time provided by statute for taking an appeal.” Commonwealth v. Williams, 106 A.3d 583, 587 (Pa. 2014) (citations omitted). “Thus, an appellant’s failure to appeal timely an order generally divests the appellate court of its jurisdiction to hear the appeal.” Id. (citations omitted).

Generally, a post-sentence motion must be filed within ten days after the imposition of sentence, and to be timely, an appeal must be filed within thirty days of the entry of the order deciding the motion. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 720(A)(2)(a). An untimely post-sentence motion does not toll the time to file an appeal. See Commonwealth v. Green, 862 A.2d 613, 618 (Pa. Super. 2004) (en banc).

Typically, “[w]hen the trial court issues an order reinstating an appellant's appeal rights, the appellant must file the appeal within 30 days of the order reinstating the appeal rights.” Commonwealth v. Wright, 846 A.2d 730, 734 (Pa. Super. 2004). The Wright court explained:

[R]einstatement of direct appeal rights nunc pro tunc denotes that the appellant now has the same direct appeal rights as he would have had in the beginning. Since in the beginning an appellant ordinarily must file his direct appeal within thirty days of the date of imposition of sentence (or the date of entry of the order disposing post-sentence motions [pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 720]), it is logical and fair to apply the same thirty-day rule when an appellant's direct appeal rights are restored nunc pro tunc.

Id. at 735 (internal footnote omitted). Further, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that an order reinstating direct appeal rights does not automatically grant the right to file a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc. See Commonwealth v. Liston, 977 A.2d 1089, 1093-94 (Pa. 2009). An appellant must request leave to file a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc in addition to the request for restoration of appellate rights. See id. at 1094 n.9. A trial court's resolution of an appellant's impermissible post-sentence motion is no substitute for an order expressly restoring the right to file a post-

sentence motion nunc pro tunc, and in these circumstances we treat such a motion as untimely. See Wright, 846 A.2d at 733-34.

Here, Sledge did not seek leave to file a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc and the trial court’s November 30, 2022 order reinstating Sledge’s appeal rights did not also expressly reinstate Sledge’s right to file a post-sentence motion nunc pro tunc. Further, the order clearly stated that counsel shall file a notice of appeal within 30 days. Accordingly, Sledge’s post-sentence motion was untimely and did not serve to toll the appeal period. It was error for the PCRA court to review the merits of Sledge’s belated post-sentence motion when he had never been granted the right to file such a motion.

The notices of appeal filed on January 18, 2023, were therefore facially untimely as they were filed more than thirty days after the entry of the order reinstating Sledge’s direct appeal rights. See Pa.R.A.P. 903 (directing that a notice of appeal shall be filed within 30 days after the entry of the order from which the appeal is taken); Wright, 846 A.2d at 734 (“When the trial court issues an order reinstating an appellant's appeal rights, the appellant must file the appeal within 30 days of the order reinstating the appeal rights.”).

However, the trial court failed to inform Sledge that his untimely post-

sentence motion did not toll the thirty-day appeal period. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 720(B)(4)(a) (providing that “[a]n order denying a post-sentence motion ... shall include notice to the defendant of the ... right to appeal and the time limits within which the appeal must be filed....”). This Court has found that

such circumstances constitute a breakdown in court operations and thus provide grounds to excuse an otherwise untimely appeal. See Commonwealth v. Juray, 275 A.3d 1037, 1040 n.1 (Pa. Super. 2022) (citation omitted). For these reasons, we consider Sledge’s appeal timely.

Sledge raises the following issues on appeal:

1. The trial court erred in failing to grant [Sledge]’s motion under Rule 600, as the Commonwealth failed to bring the case to trial within the 365 day deadline cited in Pennsylvania Rule 600.

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