Com. v. Steckley, S., Jr.

128 A.3d 826
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided November 30, 2015·No. 1995 MDA 2014·Published·Cited by 81 cases

Opinions

OPINION BY

WECHT, J.:

In this consolidated case, both the Commonwealth and Steward Steckley (“Steck-ley”) appeal the November 5, 2014 order granting Steckley’s petition for relief pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-46. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for resentencing.

In 2009, the Commonwealth charged Steckley with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of prohibited offensive weapons.1 Prior to trial, the Commonwealth provided sentencing guideline worksheets to Steckley’s attorney. Those worksheets contained the guideline sentencing range for each of the above offenses. Based upon Steckley’s prior record score, the standard range of the sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of nine to sixteen months’ imprisonment for each count of possession of child pornography, with an aggravated range of sixteen to nineteen months’ imprisonment. The sentencing worksheets prepared by the Commonwealth did not indicate that [829]*829any mandatory sentences were' applicable to the crimes charged. •

On December 3, 2009, immediately before jury selection began, Steckley’s attorney engaged in guilty plea negotiations with the district attorney. The Commonwealth offered to recommend an aggregate sentence of three to six years’ imprisonment if Steckley pleaded guilty to all charges. Steckley rejected that offer because it “didn’t make sense to [him]” in light of the sentencing guideline worksheets provided by the Commonwealth, which indicated a standard range sentence of nine to sixteen months’ imprisonment. Notes of Testimony PCRA (“N.T.P.”), 8/5/2014, at 21. The Commonwealth then offered to reduce the recommended sentence to a term of two to six years’ imprisonment, which Steckley declined for the same reason. Id. Having failed to reach an agreement, the parties proceeded to jury selection.

On December 10, 2009, a jury found Steckley guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography, but found him not guilty of prohibited offensive weapons. The trial court ordered Steckley to undergo an evaluation by the Sexual Offender Assessment Board (“SOAB”) prior to sentencing. The trial court subsequently continued Steckley’s sentencing hearing so that he could seek an independent evaluation from a forensic psychologist. Once these evaluations were completed, the trial court scheduled Steckley’s sentencing hearing for April 30,2010.

On April 30, 2010, the parties appeared for sentencing.- However, the Commonwealth’s witness from the SOAB failed to appear at the hearing. The trial court continued Steckley’s sentencing until June 30, 2010. On June 22, 2010, eight days before Steckley’s rescheduled sentencing hearing, the Commonwealth • provided Steckley notice of its intent to seek imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty-five ■ years’ imprisonment due to Steckley’s prior conviction, in 1994, for indecent assault. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9718.2 (mandatory sentencing scheme for repeat sexual offenders).

On June 30, 2010, the trial court imposed concurrent sentences of twenty-five to fifty years’ imprisonment for each of Steckley’s possession of child pornography convictions. Steckley timely filed a post-sentence motion. Therein, Steckley maintained that the Commonwealth was required to provide' pretrial notice of its intention to seek a mandatory minimum sentence. Steckley based his argument upon the plain language of 42. Pa.C.S. § 9718.2(d), which, at the time, provided as follows:'

Authority of court in sentencing. — Notice of the application of this section shall be provided to the defendant before trial. If the notice is given, there shall be no authority in any court to impose on an offender to which this section is applicable any lesser sentence than provided for in subsections (a) and (b) or to place the offender on probation or to suspend sentence....

42 Pa.C.S. § 9718.2(d) (2009) (emphasis added). •

On September 23, 2010, the trial court denied Steckley’s motion, finding that the Commonwealth’s post-trial notice “was sufficient under the terms of the [s]tatute.” Trial Court Opinion (“T.C.O.”), 9/23/2010, at 2. On August 16, 2011, a divided panel of this Court affirmed Steckley’s judgment of sentence in an unpublished memorandum decision. Commonwealth v. Steckley, 1738 MDA 2010 (Pa.Super. Aug. 16, 2011). The majority held that subsection 9718.2(d) imposed a duty upon defense counsel, rather than the Commonwealth, to give his or her client notice of the mandatory minimum sentence prior to trial. Id. at *5.

[830]*830On. September 15, 2011, Steckley filed a petition for allowance of appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On December 20, 2011 the General Assembly amended Subsection 9718.2(d), eliminating the requirement that “[n]otice ... be provided to the defendant before tidal.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9718.2(d) (2009). On April 4, 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted Steckley’s petition for allowance of appeal, but subsequently dismissed the appeal as having been improvidently granted. See Commonwealth v. Steckley, 615 Pa. 151, 41 A.3d 855 (2012); Commonwealth v. Steckley, 620 Pa. 289, 67 A.3d 758 (2013).

On April 29, 2014, Steckley timely filed a PCRA petition. Therein, Steckley alleged various instances of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Relevant to this appeal, Steckley alleged that his attorney was ineffective in failing to inform him of the, potential that the Commonwealth would seek .imposition of a twenty-five year mandatory minimum sentence.

On August 5, 2014, the PCRA court held a hearing on Steckley’s petition. Steck-ley’s attorney testified that she was unaware of the potential twenty-five year mandatory minimum sentence, and; therefore, did not apprise Steckley of the same. N.T.P. at 6. She also unequivocally testified that her failure to recognize the extent of Steckley’s potential exposure at sentencing negatively affected her representation of Steckley.

Q: If- you had been aware of the mandatory minimum, would you have changed how you approached the case[?] ,
A: Absolutely.
Q: What would you have done differently?
A: I probably would have more strenuously discussed actually taking a plea or working something out by way of not having the Commonwealth pursue that mandatory and taking the offered plea.
Q: Do you feel you were able to ade- , quately advise [Steckley] regarding the plea offer since you didn’t know about the mandatory minimum?
A: In hindsight, no, I didn’t.

Id. at 11-12.

Steckley testified that his attorney engaged in guilty plea negotiations with the district attorney immediately before jury selection began on December 3, 2010. Steckley’s attorney informed him that the Commonwealth was willing,to recommend an aggregate sentence of. three to six years’ imprisonment if Steckley would plead guilty to all of the charges. Steckley rejected that offer because it “didn’t make sense to [him]” in light of the sentencing guideline worksheet provided by the Commonwealth, which indicated a standard range sentence of nine to sixteen months’ imprisonment. Id. at 21.

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Com. v. Steckley, S., Jr., 128 A.3d 826 (Pa. Ct. App. 2015).

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