Com. v. Wisotzkey, M.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 7, 2020
Docket245 MDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Wisotzkey, M. (Com. v. Wisotzkey, M.) 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. Wisotzkey, M., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-S60003-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : MATTHEW J. WISOTZKEY : : Appellant : No. 245 MDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 27, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-67-CR-0007095-2014

BEFORE: SHOGAN, J., STABILE, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY SHOGAN, J.: FILED JANUARY 07, 2020

Appellant, Matthew Wisotzkey, appeals from the judgment of sentence

of seven and one-half to fifteen years of incarceration imposed after a jury

convicted him of one count of persons not to possess firearms and two counts

of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance.1 Specifically,

Appellant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to counsel, and

he challenges the trial court’s January 19, 2016 order permitting counsel to

withdraw and denying Appellant’s motion for appointment of co-counsel. After

careful review, we affirm.

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105 and 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(30), respectively. J-S60003-19

The underlying facts of the criminal charges against Appellant are not

relevant to the disposition of this appeal. Accordingly, we simply note that

the criminal charges were filed after searches of Appellant’s residence and a

leased garage uncovered illegal narcotics and firearms. The procedural history

as recounted by the trial court however, is germane to the outcome of this

case:

[Appellant] was formally arraigned on December 2, 2014, and represented by privately-retained counsel, Shane Kope, Esq. On March 10, 2015, [Appellant] filed a counseled Omnibus Pre- trial Motion challenging the constitutionality of the search of his home and seizure of his firearms. A hearing was scheduled to convene on April 20, 2015, but was later moved to April 30, 2015. On April 30, 2015, Attorney Kope withdrew the Omnibus Pre-trial Motion and this matter was placed on the July 2015 trial docket.

On July 1, 2015, Attorney Kope filed a Motion for Continuance indicating [Appellant] discharged him from service. On July 9, 2015, this [c]ourt granted [Appellant] in forma pauperis status and on July 10, 2015, during a status hearing, granted Attorney Kope’s Motion to Withdraw as Counsel. Additionally, this [c]ourt continued [t]rial to September 8, 2015, and informed [Appellant] that he must retain counsel immediately as no further continuances would be granted.

On September 3, 2015, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Motion for a Pre-trial Conference and on September 11, 2015, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Motion for Bail Reduction and Petition for In Forma Pauperis status. On September 15, 2015, Joshua Neiderhiser, Esq., a York County assistant public defender, entered his appearance on [Appellant’s] behalf and on September 30, 2015, this [c]ourt granted [Appellant] in forma pauperis status.

On October 14, 2015, this [c]ourt issued an Order scheduling a hearing on [Appellant’s] bail reduction motion for November 25, 2015. On November 25, 2015, at the conclusion of the hearing on [Appellant’s] bail reduction matter, this [c]ourt denied [Appellant’s] request. On December 4, 2015, Attorney

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Neiderhiser filed a Petition for Nominal Bail which this [c]ourt denied. On December 31, 2015, at the behest of [Appellant] who had filed a “Motion for Waiver of Counsel,” Attorney Neiderhiser filed a Motion to Withdraw as Counsel citing [Appellant’s] desire to act in the capacity of co-counsel and file meritless motions. On January 19, 2016, this [c]ourt convened a hearing on counsel’s motion and subsequently issued an Order granting counsel’s Motion to Withdraw but denying [Appellant’s] request for appointment of co-counsel.

On January 20, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Motion for Discovery and on January 28, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Petition for Transcription of Hearing Notes of January 19, 2016. On February 2, 2016, this [c]ourt denied [Appellant’s] request for a transcription of hearing notes. On February 18, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a 50-page Omnibus Pre-trial Motion essentially renewing previously-filed and disposed pro se motions.

On April 4, 2016, and April 25, 2016, this [c]ourt issued Orders denying [Appellant’s] Omnibus Pre-trial Motion. On May 9, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a motion renewing his request for internal police documents. On May 16, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Motion for Reconsideration of [Appellant’s] Motion in Limine and Motion for the Production of Witnesses. On May 27, 2016, this [c]ourt continued [Appellant’s] trial to the July 2016 trial term. On June 29, 2016, [Appellant], pro se, filed a Motion in Limine to bar the concealment of the identity of any confidential informant.

Following a jury trial July 19, 2016, through July 21, 2016, the jury unanimously convicted [Appellant] of all counts. On September 23, 2016, [Appellant] prematurely filed a Post- Sentence Motion. The [t]rial [c]ourt ordered a Pre-Sentence Investigation and deferred sentencing to September 27, 2016, at which time this [c]ourt sentenced [Appellant] as follows: five (5) to ten (10) years of imprisonment in a State Correctional Institution for Count 1; two and one half (2 1/2) to five (5) years of imprisonment in a State Correctional Institution for Count 2, to run consecutively to Count 1; and two (2) to four (4) years of imprisonment in a State Correctional Institution [for Count 3], to run concurrently with Count 2. [Appellant’s] aggregated term of confinement is seven and one half (7 1/2) to fifteen (15) years.

-3- J-S60003-19

On September 27, 2016, this [c]ourt appointed Jonelle Harter Eshbach, Esquire, to represent [Appellant] during appellate proceedings. [Appellant], pro se, filed an Amended Post-Sentence Motion on October 13, 2016. On April 3, 2017, [Appellant’s] Post- Sentence Motion was denied by operation of law. [Appellant] did not take [a] direct appeal.

On May 8, 2018, [Appellant], pro se, filed his first petition under the Post-Conviction Relief Act. On June 4, 2018, this [c]ourt appointed Charles J. Hobbs, Esquire to represent [Appellant] in his PCRA litigation. On December 3, 2018, Attorney Hobbs filed a motion requesting an extension of time within which to amend [Appellant’s] PCRA motion which this [c]ourt granted on December 12, 2018.

On January 4, 2019, Attorney Hobbs filed an amended PCRA petition seeking reinstatement of [Appellant’s] direct appeal rights. On January 14, 2019, this [c]ourt granted Appellant’s requested relief. On February 12, 2019, Appellant, by and through Attorney Hobbs, timely filed a Notice of Appeal to the Superior Court.

Trial Court Opinion, 4/18/19, at 3–6.

Appellant raises the following issue for review:

Whether Appellant knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his right to counsel and invoked his constitutional right to self- representation where the trial court never conducted an on-the- record colloquy in accordance with Pa.R.Crim.P. 121?

Appellant’s Brief at 4 (full capitalization omitted).

Although stated as a single question, we understand Appellant’s claim

to have two components. First, did the trial court err when it granted Attorney

Neiderhiser’s motion to withdraw? We review a trial court’s ruling on a petition

to withdraw under an abuse of discretion standard. Commonwealth v.

Magee, 177 A.3d 315, 322 (Pa. Super. 2017). Second, did the court’s failure

-4- J-S60003-19

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Wisotzkey, M., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-wisotzkey-m-pasuperct-2020.