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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37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.
CHRISTOPHER R. BAKER
Appellant No. 242 WDA 2014
Appeal from the PCRA Order January 23, 2014
In the Court of Common Pleas of Potter County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-53-MD-0000119-1992
BEFORE: DONOHUE, J., MUNDY, J., and FITZGERALD, J.*
JUDGMENT ORDER BY MUNDY, J.: FILED APRIL 6, 2016
This case returns to us following remand from the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court. Specifically, on February 25, 2016, our Supreme Court
granted the petition for allowance of appeal filed by Appellant, Christopher
R. Baker, vacated our previous order affirming the dismissal of Appellant’s
petition for relief filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42
Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546, and remanded the case to us for further
proceedings consistent with Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718
(2016). After careful review, we reverse the PCRA court’s order dismissing
Appellant’s PCRA petition and remand for resentencing.
____________________________________________
*
Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
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On June 15, 1993, the trial court imposed a mandatory sentence of life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole after a bench trial, at the
conclusion of which Appellant was found guilty of one count each of first-
degree murder and theft by unlawful taking,1 committed when he was 16
years old.2 Appellant’s pro se fourth PCRA petition, which is the subject of
this appeal, asserts that the United States Supreme Court’s decision in
Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), should be retroactively applied.
On January 23, 2014, the PCRA court dismissed the amended petition. On
December 11, 2015, we affirmed the PCRA court’s order. Commonwealth
v. Baker, --- A.3d ---, 2015 WL 8550614 (Pa. Super. 2015) (unpublished
memorandum), vacated, --- A.3d ---, 2016 WL 741994 (Pa. 2016).
Appellant filed a timely petition for allowance of appeal with our Supreme
Court on January 7, 2016. While that petition was pending, on January 25,
2016, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in
Montgomery, holding that Miller’s prohibition on mandatory life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders was a
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1
18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2502(a) and 3921(a), respectively.
2
This Court affirmed Appellant’s judgment of sentence on August 29, 1994,
and our Supreme Court denied allocatur on May 26, 1999, after Appellant
was permitted to file said petition for allowance of appeal nunc pro tunc.
Commonwealth v. Baker, 653 A.2d 1296 (Pa. Super. 1994) (unpublished
memorandum), appeal denied, 763 A.2d 163 (Pa. 1999). Prior to the
instant petition, Appellant filed three PCRA petitions between 1996 and
2011, none of which garnered relief.
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new substantive rule that, under the Constitution, must be retroactive in
cases on state collateral review. Montgomery, supra at 732. Accordingly,
our Supreme Court vacated our prior order and remanded this case to us.
Moreover, this Court, in Commonwealth v. Secreti, --- A.3d ---, 2016 WL
513341 (Pa. Super. 2016), held that Miller and Montgomery afford relief
to petitioners whose PCRA petitions based on Miller were on appeal when
Montgomery was announced. Secreti, supra at *5.
Based on the foregoing, Appellant is entitled to PCRA relief from his
unconstitutional sentence of mandatory life imprisonment without parole.
See Montgomery, supra; Miller, supra at 2464; Secreti, supra.
Accordingly, we reverse the PCRA court’s January 23, 2014 order, vacate
Appellant’s judgment of sentence, and remand for resentencing in
accordance with Montgomery, Miller, and Commonwealth v. Batts, 66
A.3d 286 (Pa. 2013).3
Order reversed. Judgment of sentence vacated. Case remanded for
resentencing. Jurisdiction relinquished.
Judge Donohue did not participate in the consideration or decision of
this case.
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3
We note that the General Assembly passed Section 1102.1 in October 2012
to address Miller, which provides new mandatory minimum sentences for
juveniles convicted of first-degree murder. However, Section 1102.1’s text
limits its application to those “convicted after June 24, 2012[.]” 18
Pa.C.S.A. § 1102.1(a), (c).
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 4/6/2016
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