T.T. Moy v. PPB

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 5, 2025
Docket259 C.D. 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of T.T. Moy v. PPB (T.T. Moy v. PPB) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
T.T. Moy v. PPB, (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Tyree Tyquan Moy, : : Petitioner : : v. : No. 259 C.D. 2023 : Submitted: May 6, 2025 Pennsylvania Parole Board, : : Respondent :

BEFORE: HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge HONORABLE STACY WALLACE, Judge HONORABLE MATTHEW S. WOLF, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE WOJCIK FILED: June 5, 2025

Tyree Tyquan Moy (Parolee), a parolee confined at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Rockview, petitions for review of a decision of the Pennsylvania Parole Board (Board) denying his challenge to the Board Action recorded August 8, 2022, which recommitted him as a convicted parole violator (CPV) to serve 12 months’ backtime, and recalculated his maximum sentence date as October 25, 2028. His counsel, David Crowley, Esq. (Counsel), filed an Application for Withdrawal of Appearance (Application), along with a no-merit letter (Turner Letter1), arguing that Parolee’s appeal is frivolous and without merit.

1 See Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988). After thorough review, we grant Counsel’s Application and affirm the Board’s decision. On August 23, 2018, Parolee was sentenced to serve 2 years’ 3 months’ to 10 years’ imprisonment in the Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas (trial court) based on his convictions for possession with the intent to deliver a non- controlled substance and criminal use of communications facilities. See Commonwealth v. Moy (Pa. Super., No. 1281 MDA 2019, filed October 19, 2020), appeal denied, 261 A.3d 1032 (Pa. 2021). With an effective date of November 15, 2017, Parolee’s minimum sentence was set to expire on February 15, 2020, and his maximum sentence was set to expire on November 15, 2027. Certified Record (CR) at 2. Ultimately, Parolee was released on parole from imprisonment under the judgment of sentence on April 8, 2020. Id. at 7. On March 19, 2021, Parolee was arrested by Officer Summers of the South Williamsport Police Department and charged with nine criminal offenses that occurred when he unlawfully entered the residence of his ex-girlfriend and assaulted her. CR at 71-78. Parolee was held in the Lycoming County Prison on $75,000.00 bail for these new charges, which he did not post. Id. at 82-83. That same day, the Board issued a warrant to commit and detain him. Id. at 21. On May 24, 2022, Parolee pleaded guilty to harassment, a summary offense, and defiant criminal trespass, a misdemeanor of the third degree, in the trial court and was sentenced to pay the costs of prosecution without further penalty. CR at 79-80. The remaining charges were dismissed. Id. Parolee waived his right to counsel and requested a panel revocation hearing. Id. at 27-28. At the July 26, 2022 hearing, the Board introduced the criminal complaint regarding Parolee’s new convictions, including an attached affidavit of probable cause. Id. at 41, 71-78.

2 Following a hearing, on August 8, 2022, the Board formally recommitted Parolee as a CPV to serve 12 months’ backtime. CR at 23. The Board recalculated Parolee’s maximum sentence date as October 25, 2028, and denied credit for the time that he spent at liberty on parole because his convictions were for serious assaultive conduct involving domestic violence. Id. at 23-24. On August 21, 2022, Parolee filed a request for administrative relief with the Board. See C.R. at 130-33. Specifically, Parolee argued that the Board erred in failing to properly credit him with time under Gaito v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 412 A.2d 568 (Pa. 1980), and abused its discretion in declining to award credit for his time at liberty on parole. See id. at 131. Further, Parolee argued that the Board violated his due process and equal protection rights by failing to specify: (1) the parole condition number that he violated which would support his recommitment; (2) the definition of that condition; (3) the nature of his offense; (4) the applicable presumptive ranges; (5) any mitigating or aggravating circumstances considered by the Board for increasing or decreasing his backtime; and (6) the backtime imposed for the violation of that condition. Id. In a decision mailed on January 20, 2023, the Board treated Parolee’s request as raising issues of due process, the basis for parole revocation, the calculation of the recommitment term, and credit toward his original sentence for time incarcerated. See CR at 134-36. The Board rejected Parolee’s arguments and affirmed its August 8, 2022 determination. Id. On February 22, 2023, the instant Petition for Review was mailed to this Court. The issues that Parolee raises on appeal, reordered for the sake of clarity, are whether the Board erred or abused its discretion in: (1) applying Section

3 6138(1.1) of the Prisons and Parole Code (Code)2 as a basis for his recommitment; (2) failing to properly credit the time that he spent in custody toward his original sentence under Section 6138(a)(2) of the Code;3 (3) denying him credit for the time

2 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(1.1). Section 6138(a)(1.1) states, in pertinent part:

(1.1.) In addition to [Section 6138(a)(1) (relating to recommitment based on conviction in a court of record)], a parolee under the jurisdiction of the [B]oard who, during the period of parole . . . pleads guilty . . . [to] any of the following offenses where graded as a summary offense, may at the discretion of the [B]oard be recommitted as a parole violator:

***

(ii) Harassment under [Section 2709 of the Crimes Code,] 18 Pa. C.S. § 2709 (relating to harassment)[.]

(Emphasis added.) Section 6138(a)(1.1) became effective on April 16, 2020.

In turn, Section 6138(a)(1) of the Code provides, in relevant part: “The [B]oard may, at its discretion, revoke the parole of a paroled offender if the offender, during the period of parole . . ., commits a crime punishable by imprisonment, . . . to which the offender pleads guilty . . . at any time after in a court of record.” 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(1). As stated in Section 106(b)(8) of the Crimes Code: “A crime is a misdemeanor of the third degree if it is so designated in this title or if a person convicted thereof may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the maximum of which is not more than one year.” 18 Pa. C.S. §106(b)(8). Thus, the Board’s recommitment herein is based on Parolee’s guilty plea to “a crime punishable by imprisonment” before a “court of record” as required by Section 6138(a)(1).

3 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(2). Section 6138(a)(2) provides:

(2) If the offender’s parole is revoked, the offender shall be recommitted to serve the remainder of the term which the offender would have been compelled to serve had the parole not been granted and, except as provided under paragraph (2.1), shall be given no credit for the time at liberty on parole.

4 that he was at liberty on parole under Section 6138(a)(2.1) of the Code; 4 (4) admitting the affidavit of probable cause from his arrest on the new charges at the parole revocation hearing; (5) imposing an excessive term of recommitment; and (6) failing to identify the basis for his recommitment. Where counsel is seeking to withdraw from representation of a parolee who challenges a parole revocation order, counsel must submit a Turner Letter to this Court detailing the “nature and extent” of counsel’s review, listing each issue raised by the parolee, and explaining why counsel concluded that parolee’s claim is meritless.5 Zerby v. Shanon, 964 A.2d 956, 961 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2009) (citing Turner, 544 A.2d at 928).

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Related

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408 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1972)
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598 A.2d 607 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Gaito v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole
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Lotz v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole
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574 A.2d 558 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
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193 A.3d 1160 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
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Lewis v. Commonwealth
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T.T. Moy v. PPB, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tt-moy-v-ppb-pacommwct-2025.