Com. v. Stough, R.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 22, 2016
Docket1198 MDA 2015
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Stough, R. (Com. v. Stough, R.) 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. Stough, R., (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

J-S05021-16

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

RICHARD SYLVESTER STOUGH,

Appellant No. 1198 MDA 2015

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence October 20, 2014 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-67-CR-0001263-2014, CP-67-CR-0005333- 2013, CP-67-CR-0007299-2013, CP-67-CR-0007301-2013

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., SHOGAN, and PLATT,* JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY SHOGAN, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Appellant, Richard Sylvester Stough, appeals nunc pro tunc from the

October 20, 2014 judgment of sentence of twenty-five to fifty-five months of

imprisonment, following his conviction at a bench trial of indecent assault,

stalking, and intimidation of a witness or victim. Appellate counsel has filed

a petition to withdraw his representation and a brief pursuant to Anders v.

California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and Commonwealth v. Santiago, 978

A.2d 349 (Pa. 2009), which govern a petition to withdraw from

representation on direct appeal. After review, we grant counsel’s petition to

withdraw, and we affirm the judgment of sentence.

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S05021-16

The trial court summarized the facts and procedural history as follows:

On June 27, 2013, Kristen Stambaugh was recovering from a recent surgery in her home in York County, Pennsylvania when she heard a knock at her door. She answered the door and it was her neighbor, the Appellant. He stated that he and his wife had an argument and that he was going to leave the house, but that he wanted to exchange numbers with Ms. Stambaugh. The Appellant stated his reason for wanting to exchange numbers was so Ms. Stambaugh could watch his house while he was away. Ms. Stambaugh agreed, but instead of letting the Appellant inside her home, she closed the door while she went into the kitchen to get pen and paper. She heard her front door open and the Appellant entered her kitchen. He pinned her against her sliding glass door and began touching her buttocks and kissing her neck. During the entire encounter, Ms. Stambaugh was attempting to push the Appellant off of her and was screaming “no.”

Eventually, Ms. Stambaugh was able to get her arms free and she pushed the Appellant out of the door. She called her friend Karen, who came over and encouraged Ms. Stambaugh to call the police. Officers responded to Ms. Stambaugh’s house and took a report. Over the next three months the Appellant left notes on Ms. Stambaugh’s door or car, stood outside watching her, and even showed up at her place of employment. All of these incidents were reported to police who repeatedly told the Appellant to stay away from Ms. Stambaugh. It is this behavior that led to the charges in the Appellant’s other cases.

Eventually the Appellant was incarcerated on these charges. In November of 2013, Ms. Stambaugh received a letter from York County Prison. Ms. Stambaugh immediately took the letter to the police department; she did not even open it. It was this letter that led to the witness intimidation charge. In the letter, the Appellant offers the victim an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner and food in exchange for her dropping the charges against him.

Due to all of the events that had transpired after the June 27, 2013, incident, Ms. Stambaugh testified that she no longer felt safe and this led her to move. Ms. Stambaugh testified that she and the Appellant had always been friendly, typical

-2- J-S05021-16

neighborly chitchat, but she never thought there were any issues between the two.

The Appellant did testify, however, his testimony was essentially denial of all charges. He began his testimony by stating that he was “here on false charges.” With respect to the initial incident with Ms. Stambaugh, the Appellant stated that he did go to her house to exchange numbers, but nothing inappropriate occurred; they exchanged numbers and that was it. In fact, the Appellant denied ever being in Ms. Stambaugh’s house. He denied writing notes and leaving them on Ms. Stambaugh’s car or front door. However, he did admit to writing her the note from the prison. Although he was aware that he was not supposed to have any contact with Ms. Stambaugh he did not know that also included letters.

After hearing all of the testimony, we found the Appellant guilty on most of the charges against him. The only evidence the defense offered to discredit Ms. Stambaugh was the Appellant himself, and quite frankly, we did not believe much of his testimony. We sentenced the Appellant on October 20, 2014, and this timely appeal followed.

Trial Court Opinion, 7/28/15, at 2–4 (internal citations to the record

omitted).

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal on November 19, 2014. Both

the trial court and Appellant complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925. On May 1, 2015,

this Court dismissed the appeal for failure to file a brief. On May 14, 2015,

Appellant filed a petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”),

42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546. The PCRA court held a hearing on June 25, 2015,

and on July 9, 2015, granted Appellant permission to appeal nunc pro tunc.

Appellant filed a notice of appeal on July 13, 2015. Both the trial court and

Appellant complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

-3- J-S05021-16

Before we address the questions raised on appeal, we must resolve

appellate counsel’s request to withdraw. Commonwealth v. Cartrette, 83

A.3d 1030, 1032 (Pa. Super. 2013) (en banc). There are procedural and

briefing requirements imposed upon an attorney who seeks to withdraw on

appeal. The procedural mandates are that counsel must:

1) petition the court for leave to withdraw stating that, after making a conscientious examination of the record, counsel has determined that the appeal would be frivolous; 2) furnish a copy of the brief to the defendant; and 3) advise the defendant that he or she has the right to retain private counsel or raise additional arguments that the defendant deems worthy of the court’s attention.

Id. at 1032 (citation omitted).

In this case, counsel has satisfied those directives. Within the petition

to withdraw, counsel averred that he conducted a conscientious examination

of the record, including all notes of testimony. Following that review,

counsel concluded that the present appeal is wholly frivolous. Counsel sent

to Appellant a copy of the Anders brief and petition to withdraw, as well as

a letter, a copy of which is attached to the motion. In the letter, counsel

advised Appellant that he could represent himself or retain private counsel.

We now examine whether the brief satisfies the Supreme Court’s

dictates in Santiago, which provide that:

in the Anders brief that accompanies court-appointed counsel’s petition to withdraw, counsel must: (1) provide a summary of the procedural history and facts, with citations to the record; (2) refer to anything in the record that counsel believes arguably supports the appeal; (3) set forth counsel’s conclusion that the appeal is frivolous; and (4) state counsel’s reasons for

-4- J-S05021-16

concluding that the appeal is frivolous. Counsel should articulate the relevant facts of record, controlling case law, and/or statutes on point that have led to the conclusion that the appeal is frivolous.

Cartrette, 83 A.3d at 1032 (quoting Santiago, 978 A.2d at 361).

Counsel’s brief is compliant with Santiago. It sets forth the factual

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
In Interest of JR
648 A.2d 28 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Commonwealth v. Cousar
928 A.2d 1025 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Diggs
949 A.2d 873 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Commonwealth v. Brachbill
555 A.2d 82 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Commonwealth v. Tejada
107 A.3d 788 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Rogal
120 A.3d 994 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Hitcho, G., Aplt.
123 A.3d 731 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Doughty, J., Aplt.
126 A.3d 951 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Evans
901 A.2d 528 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Lynch
72 A.3d 706 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Felder
75 A.3d 513 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Cartrette
83 A.3d 1030 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Vogelsong
90 A.3d 717 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Flowers
113 A.3d 1246 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Collington
615 A.2d 769 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Stough, R., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-stough-r-pasuperct-2016.