Com. v. Talbert, Z.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided November 14, 2018·No. 495 EDA 2018·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S64008-18

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ZAIEE TALBERT : : Appellant : No. 495 EDA 2018

Appeal from the PCRA Order January 25, 2018 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0009688-2012, CP-51-CR-0009690-2012

BEFORE: BOWES, J., OLSON, J., and KUNSELMAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.: FILED NOVEMBER 14, 2018

Zaiee Talbert appeals from the order that dismissed his petition filed

pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). We affirm.

This Court summarized the history of the underlying case as follows.

On March 12, 2012, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Officer Timothy Stephan (“Officer Stephan”) responded to a call reporting gunshots. After arriving at the scene, Officer Stephan found an all-terrain vehicle (“ATV”) next to a parked van. Officer Stephan found 17–year–old Dexter Bowie (“Bowie”) and 18–year–old Jonathan Stokely (“Stokely”), one on either side of the van, both of whom were unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Stokely was pronounced dead at the scene. Bowie was transported to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:24 p.m.

Dr. Samuel Gulino (“Dr. Gulino”), Chief Medical Examiner of Philadelphia County, ruled each death a homicide. Bowie suffered 13 gunshot wounds to the head, back, buttock, chest, abdomen, arm, thigh and foot, which caused injury to his intestine, liver and lung. Stokely suffered at least 22 gunshot wounds, 15 of which were to the legs, with others to the back, abdomen, buttock and J-S64008-18

lung. Eyewitnesses identified [Appellant] and Christopher Lloyd Butler (“Butler”) as the shooters.

[Appellant] and Butler were arrested, and each was charged with two counts of murder and related charges. In September 2012, the Commonwealth filed a Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 802 Notice of Aggravating Circumstances. In June 2013, the Commonwealth filed a Notice of Removal of Capital Designation. In February 2014, following a jury trial, the trial court declared a mistrial because the jury could not reach a verdict regarding the charges against [Appellant]. [The jury, however, found co-defendant Butler guilty of possession of an instrument of crime and two counts of first-degree murder.]

Following a second jury trial in November 2014, [Appellant] was acquitted of possessing instruments of crime, and convicted of two counts each of murder of the first degree and conspiracy. On January 30, 2015, the trial court sentenced [Appellant] to concurrent terms of life in prison for the murder convictions and 20–40 years in prison for the conspiracy convictions.

Commonwealth v. Talbert, 129 A.3d 536, 537-38 (Pa.Super. 2015)

(footnotes omitted). This Court subsequently affirmed Appellant’s judgment

of sentence, and our Supreme Court denied his petition for allowance of

appeal. Id., appeal denied, 138 A.3d 4 (Pa. 2016).

Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition, followed by an amended

petition through retained counsel and a later supplemental petition. After the

Commonwealth filed a response, the PCRA court issued notice of its intent to

dismiss the petition without a hearing pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907. Appellant

responded pro se with an amended petition, which was followed by another

Rule 907 notice. Counsel then filed another supplemental petition which

attached affidavits from Appellant’s private investigator. The PCRA court,

concluding that none of the filings presented issues of merit, dismissed

-2- J-S64008-18

Appellant’s petition by order of January 25, 2018. Retained counsel sought

and was granted leave to withdraw. Newly-appointed counsel filed a timely

notice of appeal.

Appellant presents this Court with the following questions.

1. Did the PCRA court err in dismissing Appellant’s PCRA petition because trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument when the prosecutor stated to the jury that witnesses were afraid to testify at trial?

2. Did the PCRA court err in dismissing Appellant’s PCRA petition without an evidentiary hearing when [Appellant] presented evidence of recantation evidence relating to eyewitness, Joseph Johnson?

Appellant’s brief at 4 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).

We begin with legal principles relevant to our review. “When reviewing

the denial of a PCRA petition, our standard of review is limited to examining

whether the PCRA court’s determination is supported by evidence of record

and whether it is free of legal error.” Commonwealth v. Jordan, 182 A.3d

1046, 1049 (Pa.Super. 2018).

Appellant’s first claim relates to allegations that his trial counsel

rendered ineffective assistance. Counsel is presumed to be effective, and a

PCRA petitioner bears the burden of proving otherwise. Commonwealth v.

Becker, 192 A.3d 106 (Pa.Super. 2018). To do so, the petitioner must plead

and prove (1) the legal claim underlying his ineffectiveness claim has arguable

merit; (2) counsel’s decision to act (or not) lacked a reasonable basis designed

-3- J-S64008-18

to effectuate the petitioner’s interests; and (3) prejudice resulted. Id. The

failure to establish any prong is fatal to the claim. Id.

The legal issue underlying Appellant’s claim is that counsel failed to

object to prosecutorial misconduct during the Commonwealth’s closing

statement. The following law applies to our review of that issue.

With specific reference to a claim of prosecutorial misconduct in a closing statement, it is well settled that any challenged prosecutorial comment must not be viewed in isolation, but rather must be considered in the context in which it was offered. Our review of a prosecutor’s comment and an allegation of prosecutorial misconduct requires us to evaluate whether a defendant received a fair trial, not a perfect trial. Thus, it is well settled that statements made by the prosecutor to the jury during closing argument will not form the basis for granting a new trial unless the unavoidable effect of such comments would be to prejudice the jury, forming in their minds fixed bias and hostility toward the defendant so they could not weigh the evidence objectively and render a true verdict. The appellate courts have recognized that not every unwise remark by an attorney amounts to misconduct or warrants the grant of a new trial. Additionally, like the defense, the prosecution is accorded reasonable latitude, may employ oratorical flair in arguing its version of the case to the jury, and may advance arguments supported by the evidence or use inferences that can reasonably be derived therefrom. Moreover, the prosecutor is permitted to fairly respond to points made in the defense’s closing, and therefore, a proper examination of a prosecutor’s comments in closing requires review of the arguments advanced by the defense in summation.

Commonwealth v. Jones, 191 A.3d 830, 835–36 (Pa.Super. 2018) (quoting

Commonwealth v. Jaynes, 135 A.3d 606, 615 (Pa.Super. 2016)).

By way of background to Appellant’s claim, witnesses whose testimony

was admitted at Appellant’s trial included Curtis Stokes, Joseph Johnson, and

Lydia Santos. Mr.

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