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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
ROBERT P. SMITH, :
:
APPELLANT :
: No. 3559 EDA 2015
Appeal from the PCRA Order November 24, 2015
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0005836-2011
BEFORE: DUBOW, SOLANO, AND PLATT*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 08, 2017
Appellant, Robert P. Smith, appeals from the November 24, 2015
Order denying his first Petition for relief filed pursuant to the Post Conviction
Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-46, in which he requested the
reinstatement of his direct appeal rights nunc pro tunc. After careful review,
we affirm.
We summarize the relevant facts and procedural history as gleaned
from the record. On May 8, 2012, following a waiver trial, the trial court
convicted Appellant of Aggravated Assault, Simple Assault, and Recklessly
Endangering Another Person. The court sentenced Appellant that same day
*
Retired Senior Judge Assigned to the Superior Court.
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to a term of five to ten years’ incarceration, followed by five years’
probation. The court also convicted Appellant of Terroristic Threats, but
imposed no further penalty on that conviction. Appellant did not file a Post-
Sentence Motion or a timely Notice of Appeal.
On October 2, 2012, Appellant filed a pro se PCRA Petition seeking
reinstatement of his appellate rights. On November 12, 2013, the PCRA
court appointed Appellant counsel who filed an Amended PCRA Petition on
November 6, 2014, and a second Amended PCRA Petition on August 27,
2015. On November 24, 2015, the PCRA court held a hearing on Appellant’s
Petition, at which Appellant and his trial counsel, Lenora Clayton, Esquire,
testified.
Appellant testified that Ms. Clayton represented him at trial, and that
at the conclusion of trial, he requested that the court impose sentence
immediately because he did not want to remain in county custody. N.T.,
11/24/15, at 17, 19, 23. He testified that immediately after the imposition
of sentence he asked Ms. Clayton to file an appeal on his behalf. Id. at 23-
24. He testified that he has not had any direct contact with Ms. Clayton
since his trial, but that he wrote her a letter the evening after the trial
ended, and attempted to call her at least three times, leaving several voice
messages in the following days, to no avail. Id. at 19-20. He acknowledged
that he kept no records of these calls or a copy of the letter. Id. at 21. He
also testified that he wrote a letter to Ms. Clayton’s supervisors regarding his
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desire to file an appeal; however, he did not keep copies of those letters.
Id. at 22-23, 25, 28. He testified that Ms. Clayton responded to his letter to
her supervisor on August 10, 2012. Id. at 25-27. In it, Appellant testified,
Ms. Clayton emphatically denied ever receiving a receiving a request from
him to file an appeal. Id.
Ms. Clayton also testified at Appellant’s PCRA hearing. She testified
that she has been a criminal defense attorney with the Defender Association
for her entire 33-year career. Id. at 31, 33. She testified that after the trial
court found Appellant guilty of the Aggravated Assault and related charges,
she recommended requesting a pre-sentence report prior to proceeding to
the imposition of sentence. Id. at 33. Instead, Appellant insisted on being
sentenced immediately because “he didn’t want to stay in Philadelphia.” Id.
Ms. Clayton also testified that at no time did Appellant request that
she file an appeal on his behalf. Id. at 33-34. Had he done so, she
testified, she would have written the word “appeal” on the file and submitted
it to her office’s appellate unit within the 30-day time limit. Id. at 37-39.
She also testified that she received no correspondence from Appellant
requesting that she file an appeal, and she does not recall receiving any calls
or phone messages from him. Id. at 33-34, 46. Ms. Clayton confirmed that
she responded to two letters sent to her supervisor by Appellant, in which
she denied categorically that Appellant had ever asked her to file an appeal
on his behalf. Id. at 34, 37.
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Following his PCRA hearing, the PCRA court denied Appellant’s Petition.
On November 30, 2015, Appellant filed a timely Notice of Appeal from the
Order denying his PCRA Petition. Both Appellant and the PCRA court
complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.
Appellant raises one issue on appeal in which he claims that the PCRA
court erred in denying his request for reinstatement of his direct appeal
rights nunc pro tunc. Appellant’s Brief at 3. Appellant specifically claims
that the trial court abused its discretion when it credited the testimony of
Appellant’s trial counsel that Appellant did not ask her to file an appeal from
Appellant’s Judgment of Sentence over Appellant’s testimony to the
contrary. Id. at 7.
When reviewing the denial of a PCRA Petition, “we examine whether
the PCRA court’s determination is supported by the record and free of legal
error.” Commonwealth v. Fears, 86 A.3d 795, 803 (Pa. 2014) (internal
quotation marks and citation omitted). “The scope of review is limited to the
findings of the PCRA court and the evidence of record, viewed in the light
most favorable to the prevailing party at the trial level.” Commonwealth
v. Spotz, 84 A.3d 294, 311 (Pa. 2014) (citation omitted). Credibility
determinations are left to the sound discretion of the PCRA court; this Court
will not disturb those determinations on appeal. Commonwealth v. Lehr,
583 A.2d 1234, 1236 (Pa. Super. 1990). Moreover, this Court grants great
deference to the PCRA court’s findings as long as the record contains any
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support for those findings. Commonwealth v. Carr, 768 A.2d 1164, 1166
(Pa. Super. 2001).
With respect to a defendant’s right to appeal from his judgment of
sentence, this Court has explained:
The right of a criminal defendant to appeal is guaranteed
in the Pennsylvania Constitution, Article V § 9. However,
before a court will find ineffectiveness of trial counsel for
failing to file a direct appeal, Appellant must prove that he
requested an appeal and that counsel disregarded this
request. Mere allegation will not suffice; the burden is on
Appellant to plead and prove that his request for an appeal
was ignored or rejected by trial counsel.
Commonwealth v. Harmon, 738 A.2d 1023, 1024 (Pa. Super. 1999)
(citations omitted). It is the petitioner’s obligation to present facts, and
supporting evidence where necessary, of each issue asserted in his PCRA
Petition. Commonwealth v. Collins, 687 A.2d 1112, 1115 (Pa. 1996).
As Appellant aptly notes, his issue on appeal challenges the trial
court’s credibility determination, to which, as a reviewing court, we accord
great deference. As to the credibility of Appellant and his trial counsel, the
trial court explained its decision to credit counsel’s testimony over that of
Appellant as follows:
After carefully reviewing the record before it, this [c]ourt
finds that [Appellant] failed to meet his burden of proof
and that his testimony is patently self-serving and entirely
unsupported by objective evidence. The [c]ourt
specifically finds that [Appellant’s] testimony that he asked
Ms. Clayton to file an appeal at the conclusion of his bench
trial before Judge Beloff, and that he subsequently
followed up by writing to and calling her, is simply not
credible. Furthermore, [Appellant] failed to produce any
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evidence or documents supporting this contention. To the
contrary, the evidence suggests just the opposite. The
[c]ourt notes that not only does [Appellant] have a
working knowledge of the judicial system as a result of his
extensive criminal record, but was well aware of the
procedural steps necessary to protect his appellate rights,
as he testified that he knew he had thirty days to file an
appeal and that if counsel didn’t file a timely appeal on his
behalf he would have done it himself “to preserve” his
rights. In point of fact, [Appellant] filed the instant pro se
PCRA [P]etition himself [ ], lending support to his
testimony.
In contrast, the [c]ourt finds credible Ms. Clayton’s
testimony that had [Appellant] requested that she file an
appeal, she would have written “appeal” across the face of
the file and forwarded it to her office’s appellate unit for
further action. The [c]ourt further finds that Ms. Clayton’s
testimony that [Appellant] never asked her to file an
appeal is credible and is supported by the evidence of
record and is consistent with the evidence of record.
Furthermore, as noted above, she did in fact respond to
two untimely letters [sent to her supervisor], in which she
stated categorically that [Appellant] had never asked her
to file an appeal on his behalf.
PCRA Court Opinion, 3/23/16, at 5-6 (citations omitted).
Following our review of the record, including the Notes of Testimony
from Appellant’s November 24, 2015 PCRA hearing, we agree with the trial
court that Appellant “utterly failed to meet his burden of proof and is not
entitled to reinstatement of his appellate rights as trial counsel was not
ineffective in her representation” of Appellant. Id. at 7. Because Appellant
failed to offer the PCRA court anything more than unsupported allegations of
his counsel’s ineffectiveness in support of his claim that he requested that
Ms. Clayton file an appeal on his behalf, and the court found Ms. Clayton’s
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testimony to the contrary credible, the court did not abuse its discretion in
denying Appellant’s requested relief. Accordingly, Appellant’s claim on
appeal lacks merit.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 2/8/2017
-7-
Com. v. Smith, R.
Combined Opinion