Com. v. Colbert, J. ( 2019 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
JOHN COLBERT, :
:
Appellant : No. 472 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-0100721-1973
BEFORE: DUBOW, J., NICHOLS, J., and FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.
MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Appellant, John Colbert, appeals from the Order entered January 25,
2018, denying as untimely his Petition for collateral relief filed under the Post
Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546. We affirm.
This Court has previously stated the background of this case as follows:
In April 1973, a jury convicted Appellant of first-degree murder.
The trial judge imposed a sentence of life in prison. Our Supreme
Court, which had original appellate jurisdiction in first-degree
murder cases at the time of Appellant’s direct appeal, affirmed the
judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Colbert, 476 Pa. 531,
383 A.2d 490 (1978).
In March 1978, Appellant filed his first petition for collateral relief
under the PCRA’s predecessor, the Post Conviction Hearing Act
(PCHA), claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Following
an evidentiary hearing, the PCHA judge denied relief. This Court
affirmed. Commonwealth v. Colbert, 463 A.2d 47 (Pa. Super.
1983) (unpublished memorandum).
In 1984, Appellant filed a second PCHA petition, alleging layered
ineffectiveness claims against trial and direct appeal counsel. The
PCHA court denied relief[,] and this Court again affirmed.
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Commonwealth v. Colbert, 512 A.2d 49 (Pa. Super. 1986)
(unpublished memorandum). Our Supreme Court denied
allocatur on November 12, 1986.
Appellant subsequently sought habeas corpus and other relief in
federal court but was unsuccessful. He returned to state court
and filed PCRA petitions in 1992, 1996[,] and 2002, all of which
were denied. This Court affirmed the denial of the 2002 petition,
Appellant’s fifth petition for post-conviction relief.
Commonwealth v. Colbert, 815 A.2d 1124 (Pa. Super. [2002]),
appeal denied, 814 A.2d 676 ([Pa.] 2002).
On December 5, 2008, Appellant filed a “Motion to Vacate and Set
Aside Judgment Based upon Fraud upon the Court,” requesting
relief under 42 Pa.C.S.[] § 5505, not under the PCRA. The PCRA
court reviewed the motion, treated it as a PCRA petition and, after
issuing a [Pa.R.Crim.P.] 907 notice, dismissed it as time-barred.
Commonwealth v. Colbert, No. 2355 EDA 2009, unpublished memorandum
at 1-3 (Pa. Super. filed Apr. 9, 2010) (footnotes omitted), appeal denied, 8
A.3d 341 (Pa. 2010). This Court affirmed. Id. at 5.
In November 2010, Appellant filed the instant Petition, his seventh.
Following a lengthy delay, for which there appears no explanation in the
record, Appellant filed an Amended Petition in March 2016. According to
Appellant, his conviction and Judgment of Sentence resulted in a miscarriage
of justice, as he was guilty of an offense no more serious than voluntary
manslaughter. Appellant’s Amended Petition, 3/22/2016, at 8.
Acknowledging his Petition was untimely, Appellant attached to his Amended
Petition a letter purportedly written in May 2006 by Arthur R. Shuman, Esq.,
who had prosecuted Appellant for Murder in 1973. Id., Exhibit (Shuman
Letter). In the letter, Attorney Shuman suggests that his prosecution of
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Appellant was overzealous and that Appellant was entitled to a commutation
of his sentence. Id.
In December 2017, the PCRA court issued notice pursuant to Rule 907,
informing Appellant of its intent to dismiss his Petition as untimely.
Thereafter, in January 2018, the court dismissed Appellant’s Petition. PCRA
Court Order, 1/25/2018. Appellant timely appealed.1
Appellant raises the following issue:
Whether the PCRA court erred in denying Appellant’s post-
conviction petition as untimely filed when Appellant established
that his after-discovered facts claim was within the plain language
of the timeliness exception set forth at 42 Pa.C.S.[] §
9545(b)(1)(ii) and Section 9545(b)(2).
Appellant’s Br. at 4.
This Court’s standard of review regarding an order denying a petition
under the PCRA is whether the determination of the PCRA court is supported
by the evidence of record and is free of legal error. See Commonwealth v.
Ragan, 923 A.2d 1169, 1170 (Pa. 2007). We afford the court’s factual
findings deference unless there is no support for them in the certified record.
Commonwealth v. Brown, 48 A.3d 1275, 1277 (Pa. Super. 2012) (citing
Commonwealth v. Anderson, 995 A.2d 1184, 1189 (Pa. Super. 2010)).
We address the timeliness of Appellant’s Petition, as it implicates our
jurisdiction and may not be altered or disregarded in order to address the
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1 The court did not issue an order directing Appellant’s compliance with
Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).
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merits of his claims. See Commonwealth v. Bennett, 930 A.2d 1264, 1267
(Pa. 2007). Under the PCRA, any petition for relief, including second and
subsequent petitions, must be filed within one year of the date on which the
judgment of sentence becomes final. Id. There are three statutory
exceptions. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). Any petition attempting to
invoke these exceptions “shall be filed within 60 days of the date the claim
could have been presented.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(2) (1982) (amended
1995) (current version at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(2) (2018) (effective
12/24/2018)); see Commonwealth v. Gamboa-Taylor, 753 A.2d 780, 783
(Pa. 2000).
Appellant’s Petition is untimely.2 Accordingly, Appellant must establish
jurisdiction by pleading and proving an exception to the timeliness
requirement. See Bennett, 930 A.2d at 1267.
Appellant asserts that he is entitled to rely on the newly discovered facts
exception under Section 9545(b)(1)(ii). Appellant’s Br. at 9. This section
affords the PCRA court jurisdiction where “the facts upon which the claim is
predicated were unknown to the petitioner and could not have been
ascertained by the exercise of due diligence[.]” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(ii).
____________________________________________
2 Appellant’s Petition is patently untimely. His Judgment of Sentence became
final on April 26, 1978, ninety days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
affirmed his judgment of sentence. See Commonwealth v. Colbert, 383
A.2d 490 (Pa. 1978); 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(3) (a judgment of sentence
becomes final at the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time
for seeking review); Sup.Ct.R. 22 (1970) (affording petitioner 90 days to seek
certiori with U.S. Supreme Court). Appellant’s PCRA Petition, filed November
16, 2010, was filed more than 31 years late.
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According to Appellant, Attorney Shuman’s statements were previously
unknown to him, and “no amount of diligence” could have uncovered them
sooner. Appellant’s Br. at 13.
We disagree. Appellant has raised similar claims before. In affirming
the PCRA court’s denial of Appellant’s prior Petition, we noted:
[Appellant’s] requested relief is based upon the prosecuting
attorney’s statements [that] he was overly aggressive in pursuing
a conviction. Even if the statements qualified as an exception to
the PCRA’s timeliness requirements, which they do not, Appellant
cannot pretend he filed his petition within sixty days of discovering
the statements.3
3 As the Commonwealth suggests, “[t]he prosecutor’s statement
amounted to no more than a reiteration of the same statement he
had been making (and courts of this Commonwealth had been
rejecting) since 1982.” Commonwealth’s Brief at 8, n.4 (referring
to Commonwealth Exhibits A and B, attached to its brief, revealing
the same statements were sent to the Board of Pardons in 1982
and 1984, as well as in 2006. See 2006 letter attached to
Appellant’s response to the PCRA court’s Rule 907 notice).
Colbert, No. 2355 EDA 2009, unpublished memorandum at 5.
Appellant has long been aware of Attorney Shuman’s statements and,
therefore, cannot establish an exception to the timeliness requirements of the
PCRA. Accordingly, the PCRA court was without jurisdiction to consider
Appellant’s Petition. See Bennett, 930 A.2d at 1267.
Order affirmed.
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 2/19/19
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