Com. v. Fegley, R. ( 2015 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee
v.
RALPH C. FEGLEY,
Appellant No. 1397 MDA 2014
Appeal from the Order Dated July 30, 2014
In the Court of Common Pleas of Northumberland County
Criminal Division at No(s): CR-0420-1977
BEFORE: BOWES, ALLEN, and LAZARUS, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.: FILED JUNE 15, 2015
Ralph C. Fegley appeals from the July 30, 2014 order denying his
“Motion to Compel” and “Motion for Conflict.” We affirm.
On January 24, 1986, a Northumberland County jury found Appellant
guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife after he shot her five times with
a shotgun. The court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment without
parole on February 6, 1987. The murder occurred in 1977. Appellant
walked into a police station following the killing and admitted to the crime.
Appellant initially pleaded guilty but withdrew his plea. Thereafter, he
requested a change of venue, which was granted, and he was found guilty
by a jury in Luzerne County in 1978. During post-conviction review, under
the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (“PCHA”), Appellant was awarded a new
trial. As noted, a subsequent jury found Appellant guilty of killing his wife.
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This Court affirmed on direct appeal, Commonwealth v. Fegley, 544 A.2d
1040 (Pa.Super. 1988) (unpublished memorandum), and Appellant did not
timely seek review with our Supreme Court.
Appellant subsequently filed a PCHA petition alleging that appellate
counsel was ineffective in failing to request allowance of appeal. The PCHA
court denied that petition. This Court affirmed. Commonwealth v.
Fegley, 598 A.2d 1327 (Pa.Super. 1991) (unpublished memorandum).
Appellant again sought post-conviction relief, this time under the Post-
Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). The PCRA court dismissed his petition, and
this Court upheld that decision. Commonwealth v. Fegley, 627 A.2d 201
(Pa.Super. 1993). Appellant filed a third collateral petition on March 15,
1994. The PCRA court denied the petition that same date. Appellant did not
appeal.
This matter arose when Appellant filed a self-styled “Motion to
Compel” on July 8, 2014 at his criminal docket number. In that motion,
Appellant alleged that the Clerk of Courts refused to supply him with a
certification of the nonexistence of an affidavit of probable cause for his
arrest. The trial court issued a rule to show cause on July 10, 2014. The
Clerk of Courts filed a reply and answer on July 29, 2014. That same date,
Appellant filed a “motion for conflict” wherein he asked that this matter be
transferred to federal court.
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According to Appellant, the district attorney of Northumberland County
had previously represented him in PCRA proceedings; therefore, a conflict of
interest existed in having the case heard before the Northumberland County
Court of Common Pleas.1 The trial court dismissed both Appellant’s motion
to compel and motion for conflict. This timely appeal ensued. The trial
court directed Appellant to file and serve a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) concise
statement of errors complained of on appeal. Appellant complied, and the
trial court issued a Rule 1925(a) order. The matter is now ready for this
Court’s review. Appellant presents five issues for our consideration:
1. Did the trial court error [sic] in denying this Appellant’s
motion to compel the Clerk of Court to issue a certified
statement concerning the demand presented to this Clerk of
Court?.[sic]
2. Did the Clerk of Court deny this Appellant his constitutional
right to access to the court, by outright refusing to issue a
certified statement concerning the demand presented to the
Clerk of Court?.[sic]
3. Is there intentional prejudice and irreparable harm present if
this Appellant is not granted relief?.[sic]
4. Is there a direct conflict present by the Office of Attorney
General representing the Northumberland County Clerk of
Court, wherein, this Appellant is only challenging the denial of
the Clerk of Court in the responsibilities mandated under
statute?.[sic]
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1
The Attorney General’s Office is representing the Commonwealth in this
matter.
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5. Has this Appellant submitted critical information and evidence
that warrant the transfer of this Appellant’s entire file to the
jurisdiction of the federal forum, whereas, the direct conflicts
present, deny this Appellant a fair and unbias [sic] ruling in
what is and will be presented to the courts for a review of the
entirety of the case?.[sic]
Appellant’s brief at V.
Although Appellant purports to raise five issues, his brief contains only
two separate argument sections. Aside from a citation to 42 Pa.C.S. § 2757,
defining the duties of a Clerk of Court, Appellant provides no citation to
authority in his initial argument. He baldly asserts that the Northumberland
Clerk of Court was required to prepare a certification that no affidavit of
probable cause existed in his criminal case file.
He further maintains, for the first time, that the Office of Attorney
General is improperly acting as an appellee in this case and that the proper
appellee is the solicitor for the office of the Clerk of Court. According to
Appellant, the Northumberland County Clerk of Court has denied him access
to unspecified records and a certification of the non-existence of a record.2
The Commonwealth responds that the sole issue preserved for appeal
is Appellant’s initial claim. It adds that Appellant erroneously filed a motion
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2
According to Appellant, the Clerk of Court responded to his request for a
copy of his criminal complaint, an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest,
and printout of the docket entries in his criminal case by informing him that
no affidavit of probable cause for arrest was filed.
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to compel where the proper action would have been a writ of mandamus.
Appellant himself in his own brief acknowledges that this “appeal is in the
Nature of a Petition for Writ of Mandamus[.]” Appellant’s brief at 5. The
Commonwealth maintains that Appellant improperly filed a motion in his
criminal case instead of a separate writ of mandamus. In addition, the
Commonwealth submits that there is no statutory authority requiring a Clerk
of Court to certify the non-existence of a record.
Preliminarily, we note that a Clerk of Court is a public official,
Pa.Const. Art. 9, § 4; see also Richardson v. Peters, 19 A.3d 1047, 1048
(Pa. 2011), and the acts of a Clerk of Court are ministerial.
Commonwealth v. Williams, 106 A.3d 583, 588 (Pa. 2014). In order to
compel a public official to perform an official mandatory act or duty, the
proper action is a writ of mandamus. Brown v. Levy, 73 A.3d 514, 516 n.2
(Pa. 2013) (“mandamus will lie to compel action by an official where his
refusal to act in the requested way stems from his erroneous interpretation
of the law.”); Commonwealth Department of Health v. Hanes, 78 A.3d
676, 685 n. 19 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2013) (“When the petitioner seeks the official
performance of a ministerial act or mandatory duty, the petitioner properly
sounds in mandamus.”). Mandamus does not lie where the public official’s
act or duty requires the exercise of judgment, i.e., is discretionary. See
Levy, supra.
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The writ, however, when involving a Commonwealth government
official acting in his official capacity, must ordinarily be filed with the
Commonwealth Court. 42 Pa.C.S. § 761(a)(1) (“The Commonwealth Court
shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions or proceedings: (1) Against
the Commonwealth government, including any officer thereof, acting in his
official capacity[.]”); cf. Peters, supra; see also Humphrey v.
Department of Corrections, 939 A.2d 987, 991 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2007), aff'd
in part, appeal denied in part, 955 A.2d 348 (Pa. 2008); compare
Commonwealth v. LeBar, 860 A.2d 1105 (Pa.Super. 2004) (court of
common pleas had jurisdiction over motion to compel against Clerk of Court
and Department of Corrections).
Of course, where a party erroneously files a legal document with the
wrong court, that court is required to transfer the matter to the proper
court. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 5103;3 Pa.R.A.P. 751. In this case, Appellant did
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3
42 Pa.C.S. § 5103 provides:
If an appeal or other matter is taken to or brought in a court or
magisterial district of this Commonwealth which does not have
jurisdiction of the appeal or other matter, the court or
magisterial district judge shall not quash such appeal or dismiss
the matter, but shall transfer the record thereof to the proper
tribunal of this Commonwealth, where the appeal or other
matter shall be treated as if originally filed in the transferee
tribunal on the date when the appeal or other matter was first
filed in a court or magisterial district of this Commonwealth. A
(Footnote Continued Next Page)
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not file a writ of mandamus with the court of common pleas, thereby
triggering the transfer requirement. We acknowledge that the title of a
motion is not necessarily dispositive. However, in LeBar, supra, this Court
considered an appeal from a motion to compel a Clerk of Court and the
Department of Corrections to return money to LeBar because he was not
ordered to pay fines and costs. We did not conclude that the court of
common pleas did not have jurisdiction and should have considered the
matter as a writ of mandamus and then transferred the case. Instead, we
reached the merits and determined that the Clerk of Court and DOC had
violated governing statutory law by taking $406. Accordingly, we ordered
the return of that money. In light of LeBar, we decline to hold that the
court of common pleas lacked jurisdiction to consider the motion to compel.
Further, there is no obligation on the part of a Clerk of Court to certify the
non-existence of a record; indeed, such a rule would be nonsensical since
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(Footnote Continued)
matter which is within the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or
magisterial district judge of this Commonwealth but which is
commenced in any other tribunal of this Commonwealth shall be
transferred by the other tribunal to the proper court or
magisterial district of this Commonwealth where it shall be
treated as if originally filed in the transferee court or magisterial
district of this Commonwealth on the date when first filed in the
other tribunal.
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items dehors the record are not considered to exist for purposes of litigation.
Thus, the court did not err in dismissing the motion.
With respect to Appellant’s second argument, since he did not cite to
any legal authority, it fails. Appellant’s position is that because the district
attorney represented him during earlier proceedings in this case and a senior
judge in Northumberland County prosecuted him, the matter should have
been transferred to the federal courts. Initially, no conflict exists because
neither individual with an alleged conflict was involved in the underlying
litigation in this appeal. Moreover, Appellant provides no indication under
what authority a federal court would have jurisdiction in this case. Where a
conflict of interest does exist, the proper remedy is not a transfer to federal
court, but to remove the conflict. Since there is no conflict, Appellant’s claim
is baseless.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 6/15/2015
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