Com. v. Shearer, T. ( 2022 )


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  • J-S21001-22
    NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
    :        PENNSYLVANIA
    Appellant               :
    :
    :
    v.                             :
    :
    :
    TOSHIA MARIE SHEARER                       :   No. 1663 MDA 2021
    Appeal from the Order Entered November 19, 2021
    In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s):
    CP-67-CR-0004617-2020
    BEFORE:      DUBOW, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*
    MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.:                               FILED AUGUST 15, 2022
    The Commonwealth appeals from the order granting the Motion to
    Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 600 filed by Appellee Toshia Marie Shearer. At issue
    is whether a period of 57 days—from July 6, 2020, to August 31, 2020—is
    excludable from the calculation of the mechanical run date of trial due to York
    County’s     COVID-19      judicial   emergency    closure   orders.   Pursuant   to
    Commonwealth v. Carl, 
    276 A.3d 743
     (Pa. Super. 2022), we vacate and
    remand for reinstatement of the case.
    On July 6, 2020,1 the Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint against
    Appellee charging her with, inter alia, Possession of Controlled Substances.
    ____________________________________________
    *   Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
    1In its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) Opinion, the trial court refers to July 5, 2020, as the
    date Appellee was charged. However, the docket indicates the criminal
    (Footnote Continued Next Page)
    J-S21001-22
    On July 7, 2020, the magisterial district court scheduled a preliminary hearing
    for October 6, 2020. On October 6, 2020, the court held the matter for trial
    and on October 29, 2020, Appellee waived her formal arraignment.
    The docket indicates that nearly a year later, on September 27, 2021,
    the court scheduled a status conference for October 8, 2021. On October 8,
    2021, the court ordered the case to be placed on the trial list for the week of
    November 8, 2021.
    On October 8, 2021, Appellee filed her Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to
    Rule 600. The court held a hearing on the Rule 600 motion on November 16,
    2021, where the parties agreed that 91 days was excludable due to a judicial
    emergency COVID-19 shutdown from November 2020 to February 2021, but
    disagreed as to whether the 57 days following Appellee’s arrest until August
    31, 2020, when a local COVID emergency judicial declaration was in effect,
    was time to be excluded for purposes of Rule 600 calculations. On November
    19, 2021, the court granted Appellee’s motion and dismissed the case. The
    Commonwealth timely appealed. Both the Commonwealth and the trial court
    complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.
    In its sole issue raised for our review, the Commonwealth asserts that
    the trial court erred in granting Appellee’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule
    600. Commonwealth’s Br. at 5. The Commonwealth argues that due to the
    ____________________________________________
    complaint was filed with the magisterial district court on July 6, 2020. July 6,
    2020, thus, began the running of the Rule 600 clock. Pa.R.Crim.P.
    600(A)(2)(a). We have adjusted the arithmetic throughout our memorandum.
    -2-
    J-S21001-22
    COVID-19 pandemic emergency declaration entered by the President Judge of
    the York County Court of Common Pleas on May 27, 2020, the period between
    July 6, 2020, and August 31, 2020, should have been excluded from the
    calculation of the trial’s run date because the York County judicial emergency
    declaration extended the suspension of Rule 600 to August 31, 2020. See
    Commonwealth’s Br. at 9.
    We review the trial court’s disposition of a Rule 600 motion for an abuse
    of discretion. Commonwealth v. Harth, 
    252 A.3d 600
    , 614 n.13 (Pa 2021).
    Rule 600 provides that trial must commence within 365 days of the filing of
    the complaint. Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(A)(2)(a). “[P]eriods of delay at any stage of
    the proceedings caused by the Commonwealth when the Commonwealth has
    failed to exercise due diligence shall be included in the computation of the
    time within which trial must commence. Any other periods of delay shall be
    excluded from the computation.” 
    Id.
     at (C)(1).
    On March 18, 2020, our Supreme Court issued an emergency order in
    response to the COVID-19 pandemic which, among other things, suspended
    the application of Rule 600. The statewide judicial emergency and suspension
    of Rule 600 was extended to and ended on June 1, 2020. See In re General
    Statewide Judicial Emergency, 
    229 A.3d 229
     (Pa. 2020); In re General
    Statewide Judicial Emergency, 
    230 A.3d 1015
     (Pa. 2020); In re General
    Statewide Judicial Emergency, 
    234 A.3d 408
     (Pa. 2020). However, the
    Supreme Court allowed local judicial districts to extend their emergency
    -3-
    J-S21001-22
    orders beyond June 1, 2020, including the suspension of Rule 600 timeliness
    requirements. The York County President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
    entered the following order on May 28, 2020:
    Per the Supreme Court’s Order dated May 27, 202[0], authorizing
    President Judges to declare judicial emergencies in their judicial
    districts, I declare a judicial emergency in the 19th Judicial District
    through August 31, 2020. During the emergency the following
    shall apply:
    (1)   Limit in-person access and proceedings in order to
    safeguard the health and safety of court personnel, court
    users, and members of the public;
    (2)   Suspend statewide rules that restrict, directly or indirectly,
    the use of advanced communication technologies; and
    (3)   Suspend statewide rules pertaining to the rule-based
    right of criminal defendants to a prompt trial.
    Any postponement caused by the judicial emergency shall
    be considered a court postponement and shall constitute
    excludable time for purposes of the application of Rule 600.
    [].
    Declaration, entered May 28, 2020 (Adams, P.J.) (“See” citations omitted;
    emphasis added). The court entered a subsequent judicial emergency order
    suspending trials from November 30, 2020, to February 28, 2021.
    In Commonwealth v. Carl, 
    276 A.3d 743
     (Pa. Super. 2022), this Court
    recently interpreted the plain language of the York County Declaration as
    providing that, regardless of the procedural posture of the case leading up to
    trial, the period of March 31, 2020, through August 31, 2020, is not to be
    included in Rule 600 calculations.
    Construing Subsection (3) in accordance with the plain meaning
    of its words, we find that it clearly and simply directs that rule-
    based, “prompt trial” time computations are suspended for the
    -4-
    J-S21001-22
    duration of the judicial emergency at hand. The intended effect
    on Rule 600 computations in criminal cases existing at that time
    is thus evident: such computations are to be held in abeyance and
    shall not include days transpiring during the effective time of the
    Declaration until the expiration of the declared emergency, at
    which time resumption or commencement of such computations
    may proceed.
    
    Id. at 750
    .
    Carl is dispositive here. The mechanical run date of Appellee’s trial was
    July 6, 2021. When Appellee filed the Rule 600 motion on October 8, 2021,
    460 days had passed since the filing of the complaint. In granting the Rule
    600 motion, the trial court agreed with Appellee that the 57 days between
    July 6, 2021, and August 31, 2021, was attributable to the normal progression
    of the case and, thus, included in the mechanical run date. Pursuant to Carl,
    however, the judicial emergency order in effect during that time period
    suspended the application of Rule 600, rendering the challenged 57 days
    excluded from the mechanical run date. Accordingly, when combined with the
    91-day suspension attributable to the subsequent COVID-19 emergency
    order, Appellee’s trial run date would have been adjusted by 148 days to
    November 30, 2021. Accordingly, the court abused its discretion in granting
    Appellee’s October 8, 2021 Rule 600 Motion to Dismiss.
    We, thus, vacate the Order granting the Rule 600 motion and remand
    for further proceedings.
    Order vacated. Case remanded. Jurisdiction relinquished.
    -5-
    J-S21001-22
    Judgment Entered.
    Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
    Prothonotary
    Date: 08/15/2022
    -6-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 1663 MDA 2021

Judges: Dubow, J.

Filed Date: 8/15/2022

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 8/15/2022