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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
EX REL TAVEREN ROBINSON : PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
SUPERINTENDENT ROBERT GILMORE, :
STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION :
GREENE, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT :
OF CORRECTIONS :
:
APPEAL OF: TAVEREN ROBINSON :
: No. 1663 WDA 2015
Appeal from the Order October 9, 2015
in the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County Civil Division
at No(s): AD-178-2015
BEFORE: LAZARUS, STABILE, and FITZGERALD,* JJ.
JUDGMENT ORDER BY FITZGERALD, J.: FILED MARCH 29, 2016
Appellant, Taveren Robinson, appeals from the order entered in the
Greene County Court of Common Pleas dismissing his second petition for
writ of habeas corpus. He argues he is unlawfully imprisoned at the State
Correctional Institution in Greene County (“SCI-Greene”) because the trial
court in Erie County did not file a sentencing order in his case. We affirm.
The relevant procedural history follows. On March 22, 2004, the Erie
County Court of Common Pleas sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment and
a consecutive term of 60 to 120 months’ imprisonment following his
convictions for second-degree murder and other offenses. This Court
*
Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
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affirmed his judgment of sentence on April 13, 2005, and our Supreme Court
denied allowance of appeal. Commonwealth v. Robinson, 688 WDA 2004
(Pa. Super. Apr. 13, 2005), appeal denied, 254 WAL 2005 (Pa. Oct. 25,
2005). Subsequently, Appellant timely filed a petition for post-conviction
relief,1 and the PCRA court dismissed his petition. This Court affirmed.
Commonwealth v. Robinson, 1848 WDA 2006 (Pa. Super. Apr. 17,
2007).2
On December 5, 2013, while incarcerated at SCI-Greene, Appellant
filed, inter alia, a praecipe for writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum.
Robinson v. Folino, 528 WDA 2014, at 2 (Pa. Super. Feb. 20, 2015). The
Greene County Court of Common Pleas transferred the record to the Erie
Count Court of Common Pleas for consideration, and Appellant appealed.
This Court quashed the appeal, finding the order was interlocutory. We
further observed:
We note, nevertheless, that the [Greene County]
trial court properly transferred this action to Erie
County. Pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal
Procedure 108,
[a] petition for writ of habeas corpus
challenging the legality of the petitioner’s
detention or confinement in a criminal matter
shall be filed with the clerk of courts of the
1
See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546.
2
On October 7, 2011, Appellant filed a motion in Erie County to subpoena
surgical notes, the denial of which this Court affirmed. Commonwealth v.
Robinson, 25 WDA 2012 (Pa. Super. July 11, 2012).
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judicial district in which the order directing the
petitioner’s detention or confinement was
entered.
Pa.R.Crim.P. 108(A). [Appellant] was sentenced in
Erie County. While he contends, for various reasons,
that Rule 108 is not controlling, we note the
primary claim in his habeas petition is that he
has been confined without a valid sentencing
order. Such a claim tests “the legality of [his]
commitment and detention” and therefore, is
“properly addressed in the court of record from
which his judgment of sentence originated.” Brown
v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Corrections, 81 A.3d
814, 815 (Pa. 2013). That court of record is the
Erie County Court of Common Pleas.
Id. at 5 n.3 (emphases added).
On March 12, 2015, Appellant filed the instant, second petition for a
writ of habeas corpus in Greene County, where he is still incarcerated. On
October 9, 2015, the trial court dismissed Appellant’s petition. Appellant
timely appealed.3 Appellant challenges the dismissal of his petition and
argues he is entitled to relief because “the trial court failed to issue a
sentencing order against [A]ppellant.” Appellant’s Brief at 5.
We review the trial court’s dismissal of a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus for an abuse of discretion. Joseph v. Glunt, 96 A.3d 365, 369 (Pa.
Super.), appeal denied, 101 A.3d 787 (Pa. 2014). Instantly, Appellant
previously filed a petition on the same grounds in Greene County in 2013,
which was properly transferred for consideration to Erie County. See
3
The trial court did not order compliance with Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate
Procedure 1925.
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Pa.Crim.P. 108. Accordingly, the trial court of Greene County did not abuse
its discretion when it dismissed the instant petition, which was duplicative of
the petition it previously transferred. See Joseph, 96 A.3d at 369.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 3/29/2016
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