Com. v. Spaulding, B.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 8, 2018
Docket1129 WDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Spaulding, B. (Com. v. Spaulding, B.) 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. Spaulding, B., (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S08034-18

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA : PENNSYLVANIA : : v. : : : BRANDON LEE SPAULDING : : No. 1129 WDA 2017 Appellant

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered June 29, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Mercer County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-43-CR-0001848-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA : PENNSYLVANIA : : v. : : : BRANDON SPAULDING : : No. 1300 WDA 2017 Appellant

Appeal from the Order August 10, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Mercer County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-43-CR-0000834-2011

BEFORE: LAZARUS, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and STEVENS*, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY STEVENS, P.J.E.: FILED MAY 08, 2018

Appellant, Brandon Lee Spaulding, files these consolidated appeals from

the judgment of sentence entered at Mercer County Court of Common Pleas’

docketed case #1848-2016 and from the order dismissing his second petition

filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546,

at Mercer County Court of Common Pleas’ docketed case #834-2011,

____________________________________ * Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-S08034-18

respectively.1 We affirm the order entered in case #834-2011. We also affirm

judgment of sentence in case #1848-2016 except for that portion of the

sentence requiring Appellant to comply with the Sexual Offender Registration

and Notification Act’s (“SORNA”) registration requirements, as we have sua

sponte determined this aspect of his sentence runs afoul of Commonwealth

v. Muniz, 164 A.3d 1189 (Pa. 2017) (OAJC) and its binding precedent2 that

application of SORNA registration requirements to an offender who committed

his crimes prior to the effective date of SORNA violates the ex post facto

clause.3

____________________________________________

1 As indicated infra, the claims raised in Appellant’s direct appeal and his second PCRA petition emanate from two distinct cases prosecuted five years apart in which Appellant entered guilty pleas involving different crimes committed against different children at different times and locations.

2 In Muniz, five of six justices shared in the conclusion that SORNA’s registration requirement is punishment that runs afoul of the ex post facto clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution when applied retroactively. See Commonwealth v. Hart, 174 A.3d 660, 667 n.9 (Pa. Super. 2017) (observing “the binding precedent emerging from Muniz is confined to the determination that SORNA’s registration requirement is punishment that runs afoul of the ex post facto clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution when applied retroactively.”).

3 This Court may review issues regarding the legality of sentence sua sponte. Commonwealth v. Edrington, 780 A.2d 721, 723 (Pa. Super. 2001). The applicability of Muniz to Appellant's case is apparent in docketed case #1848- 2016, as Appellant committed his offenses prior to the December 20, 2012, effective date of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notificaton Act (“SORNA”) but was sentenced under SORNA’s registration requirements on June 29, 2017. The record shows Appellant was not designated a Sexually Violent Predator but was designated a Tier III offender pursuant to 42

-2- J-S08034-18

With respect to Appellant’s PCRA challenge in case #834-2011,

Appellant pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault, 18 Pa.C.S.A. §

3126(a)(7), committed in August of 2010, and on November 2, 2012, Judge

Robert G. Yeatts sentenced Appellant to 30 to 94 months of incarceration. In

a memorandum decision filed on August 2, 2013, this Court denied Appellant

permission to appeal the discretionary aspects of sentencing. See

Commonwealth v. Spaulding, 83 A.3d 1056 (Pa. Super. 2013)

(unpublished memorandum). Appellant did not file a petition for allowance of

appeal from that determination.

Pa.C.S.A. § 9799.14 (setting forth tier system). Tier III offenders are required to register with the Pennsylvania State Police for life.

In docketed case #834-2011, Appellant received his sentence one month before SORNA’s effective date, and there is nothing in the record to suggest SORNA registration requirements were ever imposed at some time thereafter. Regardless, because Appellant’s PCRA petition is untimely, see infra, he was required to demonstrate that Muniz applies retroactively in order to satisfy the exception to the PCRA one-year time bar at section 9545(b)(1)(iii). See Commonwealth v. Abdul-Salaam, 812 A.2d 497, 501 (Pa. 2002). Our Supreme Court has not issued such a holding at this time, and, in any event, Appellant has asserted no such exception to the time bar. See infra. Therefore, we cannot sua sponte consider a legality of sentence claim in docketed case #834-2011, as we lack jurisdiction to do so based upon the untimeliness of the petition. See Commonwealth v. Fahy, 737 A.2d 214, 223 (Pa. 1999) (holding “Although legality of sentence is always subject to review within the PCRA, claims must still first satisfy the PCRA’s time limits or one of the exceptions thereto.”).

Accordingly, we vacate that portion of the sentence at docketed case #1848- 2016 requiring Appellant to comply with SORNA and remand to the trial court for consideration of registration requirements in keeping with the Muniz decision.

-3- J-S08034-18

Appellant subsequently filed his first PCRA petition on January 11, 2016,

and the PCRA court appointed counsel. On March 1, 2016, the PCRA court

dismissed as untimely the petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907. This Court

dismissed the appeal on jurisdictional grounds, as well, as Appellant had filed

a patently untimely PCRA petition for which no timeliness exceptions applied.

Commonwealth v. Spaulding, No. 622 WDA 2016, unpublished

memorandum at **2-4 (Pa. Super. filed April 18, 2017). Appellant did not

appeal from this decision.

While Appellant’s first PCRA appeal was pending with this Court, he filed

a second PCRA petition on September 12, 2016. The PCRA court stayed the

second petition until Appellant exhausted his appellate rights with respect to

his first petition. On July 12, 2017, after Appellant’s first PCRA appeal became

final, appointed counsel filed a motion to withdraw from representation

pursuant to Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988) and

Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa. Super. 1988), along with a

Turner/Finley no merit letter. On July 18, 2017, the PCRA court filed an

order and opinion granting PCRA counsel’s motion to withdraw and notifying

Appellant of its intent to dismiss his second PCRA petition without a hearing

in 20 days pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907. On August 10, 2017, after Appellant

filed no response to the PCRA court’s Rule 907 notice, this Court entered an

order dismissing Appellant’s second PCRA petition as untimely filed.

On August 29, 2017, Appellant timely filed the present appeal from the

dismissal of his second PCRA petition. Appearing in both his court-ordered

-4- J-S08034-18

Pa.R.A.P.

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