Com. v. Villines, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 19, 2019
Docket2862 EDA 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Villines, J. (Com. v. Villines, J.) 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. Villines, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

J-S35040-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA, : PENNSYLVANIA : Appellee : : v. : : JERMAINE VILLINES, : : Appellant : No. 2862 EDA 2018

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered September 28, 2018 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0005660-2010

BEFORE: OLSON, J., STABILE, J. and STRASSBURGER, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY STRASSBURGER, J.: FILED AUGUST 19, 2019

Jermaine Villines (Appellant) appeals from the order entered September

28, 2018, dismissing his petition filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act

(PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546, without an evidentiary hearing. Upon

review, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand this matter for

proceedings consistent with this memorandum.

On September 17, 2009, Appellant’s cousin, William Villines (“Villines”),

shot Anwar Conyers outside the home of a mutual friend. Pertinent to this

appeal, testimony at trial revealed that just seconds before Villines opened

fire on Conyers, Appellant, who was standing next to Villines at the time, told

Villines “green light, hit him.” Commonwealth v. Villines, 81 A.3d 1005

(Pa. Super. 2013) (unpublished memorandum). Based on statements

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S35040-19

provided to police by witnesses, a warrant was issued for Villines’s arrest and

Villines was later apprehended.

Appellant was not arrested until January 7, 2010, after Villines gave a statement to the police implicating him in the crime. Appellant was charged with murder, conspiracy, and several violations of the Uniform Firearms Act.3 Appellant and Villines were jointly tried by a jury sitting before the Honorable M. Teresa Sarmina. ______ 3 Judgments of acquittal were entered on the charges of

firearms not to be carried without a license, carrying a firearm on a public street, and possession of an instrument of crime.

Id.

At trial, an issue arose regarding Appellant’s decision not to testify. After

being informed by trial counsel that Appellant did not wish to testify on his

own behalf, the trial court engaged Appellant in an on-the-record colloquy

regarding Appellant’s waiver of his right to testify. The record reveals, inter

alia, the following exchange between trial counsel, the trial court, Appellant,

and the Commonwealth.

[Trial court]: Did anybody make any representations to you as to why you should not take the stand?

[Appellant]: Representations?

[Trial court]: Meaning, if you testify here’s what will happen, things of that nature.

[Appellant]: No, not in those words.

[Trial court]: Well, something similar?

[Appellant]: I think it’s a matter of opinion.

-2- J-S35040-19

[Trial court]: Okay.

[Trial counsel]: I think he’s saying I expressed my opinion.

[Trial court]: Is that what you’re saying?

[Appellant]: Yeah.

[Trial court]: Well, did you give legal advice that if you do this, here’s what’s going to happen or things of that nature, [trial counsel]?

[Trial counsel]: We discussed the potential that if he were [to] testify that certain doors might be opened, that perhaps his criminal record could come in for reasons other than impeachment. He doesn’t have any crimen falsi but he’s got convictions for drugs and some other things. Depending upon what he says.

[Trial court]: Why would those convictions come in?

[Trial counsel]: In particular, the conviction for drugs might open -- he might open the door if certain questions were to be asked of him that he would deny, and then [the Commonwealth] might find a reason to want to ask the [trial c]ourt to allow his prior record to come in.

[Trial court]: It’s not likely that your prior record would come in.

[Trial counsel]: I agree.

[Trial court]: Although there is a possibility. Do you understand that, if that was affecting your decision?

[Appellant]: Yes.

[Trial court]: The only thing ordinarily that can be brought in, as a matter of right, would be if you had convictions involving dishonesty, which I understand you do not. So what I understand, is that correct or not correct?

[Trial counsel]: He does have an escape.

[Commonwealth]: Yeah.

-3- J-S35040-19

[Trial counsel]: That might come in on the issue of flight.

[Trial court]: That has to do with dishonesty.

[Trial counsel]: Also there’s a possession of firearms on another occasion. That could possibly come in.

[Trial court]: Why would that come in?

[Commonwealth]: Well, it would just be my position that … if a door was opened, for instance, when he said, I’ve been in a situation like this before. I’m actually not seeking to enter his [possession with the intent to deliver (PWID)] conviction. I don’t think it’s necessary and I’m not asking for it. But if there was something along those lines, like, I’ve never done anything -- you know, whatever, I don’t know. The suggestion that the door could be opened is always a possibility.

[Trial court]: It is. It’s not likely that your prior convictions would come in just as a matter of course, if that was informing your decision or affecting your decision as to not testifying in this case.

[Appellant]: I don’t understand. He just said the escape would fall under dishonesty. Am I wrong?

[Commonwealth]: I believe it’s crimen falsi. Escape is crimen falsi.

[Trial court]: Do you have case law on escape being crimen falsi?

[Commonwealth]: No.

[Trial court]: It may or may not come in. So if that’s the only thing affecting your decision to go ahead and not testify, we can make a decision over the luncheon recess.

[Trial counsel]: The other thing that worries me is the possession of prohibited offensive weapon and firearms. If he were to say something to the effect of, I didn’t possess a gun, I don’t possess guns, generally speaking, then you might allow those convictions to come in. They come in to show access --

-4- J-S35040-19

[Trial court]: If he ended up saying, I’ve never had a weapon in my life or something like that.

[Trial counsel]: That sort of thing, yes. That’s what I had discussed with [Appellant].

[Trial court]: So there’s that possibility. So if you advised him properly, I guess he wouldn’t be foolish enough to say something like, never in my life have I had any weapon. Other than saying something like that, which then makes it true because you have – you’ve been convicted of it at least – then that would, as they say, open the door to [the Commonwealth] being able to say, oh, never had a weapon? What about this time? Weren’t you convicted of such and such? [The Commonwealth] probably wouldn’t even be allowed to say that. [The Commonwealth would] have to bring it in through the files. But if that’s what’s making you --and there might be a number of reason why you have decided --

[Appellant]: No, that’s it.

[Trial court]: That’s the only reason?

[Appellant]: That’s it.

[Trial court]: Do you want time to discuss it further with [trial counsel]?

[Appellant]: Yeah, that would be helpful.

[Trial court]: Okay. We’ll go ahead and break for lunch now. Have a seat. In the meantime, maybe [the Commonwealth] can call [its] appeals unit and see if escape under the circumstances presented here would constitute crimen falsi, which I don’t know that it’s that clear.

[Commonwealth]: I’ll go down and research it.

***

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