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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37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.
CLAY CALDWELL
Appellant No. 3603 EDA 2014
Appeal from the PCRA Order November 24, 2014
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0202251-2000
CP-51-CR-1107861-1999
BEFORE: BOWES, J., PANELLA, J., and FITZGERALD, J.*
JUDGMENT ORDER BY PANELLA, J. FILED OCTOBER 14, 2015
Appellant, Clay Caldwell, appeals pro se from the order dismissing his
fourth petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act as untimely. After
reviewing Caldwell’s filings and briefs, we conclude that he failed to
successfully plead an exception to the PCRA’s jurisdictional time bar. As a
result, we affirm.1
Caldwell pled guilty to first-degree murder and simple assault on
December 19, 2000, and did not file a direct appeal. In 2010, this Court
____________________________________________
*
Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
1
In light of our conclusion that the PCRA court correctly determined that it
lacked jurisdiction to entertain Caldwell’s petition, we deny Caldwell’s motion
to strike the Commonwealth’s brief.
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affirmed the dismissal of Caldwell’s third PCRA petition, filed May 26, 2009,
as untimely. See Commonwealth v. Caldwell, 940 EDA 2010
(unpublished judgment order filed December 22, 2010).
Given this history, it is clear that Caldwell’s instant petition, filed
September 17, 2013, is also facially untimely. Once again, Caldwell’s
petition failed to plead any exceptions to the PCRA’s time-bar. In a
“memorandum of law,” attached to his petition, Caldwell briefly summarizes
case law concerning abandonment by counsel. See Memorandum of Law in
Support of the Defendants [sic] PCRA petition, 9/15/13, at 1. However,
Caldwell failed to apply the cited law to the facts of his case in any manner.
Even assuming that the memorandum of law attached to his petition
functioned as a pleading, Caldwell has not satisfied the requirements for
successfully pleading abandonment by counsel as an exception to the time
bar. See Commonwealth v. Burton, 936 A.2d 521, 525 (Pa. Super.
2007); Commonwealth v. Williamson, 21 A.3d 236, 242 n.6 (Pa. Super.
2011). Therefore, the PCRA court correctly concluded that Caldwell’s
petition was untimely and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.
Order affirmed. Petition to Strike Appellee’s Brief denied. Motion to
file supplemental brief denied. Jurisdiction relinquished.
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 10/14/2015
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