J-S31041-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

v.

AARON WHEELER 

Appellant

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 338 EDA 2023

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered January 17, 2023

In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at 

No(s): CP-51-CR-0117782-1992

BEFORE: OLSON, J., STABILE, J., and McLAUGHLIN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McLAUGHLIN, J.: FILED DECEMBER 11, 2023

Aaron Wheeler appeals pro se from the order denying his Post Conviction 

Relief Act (“PCRA”) petition. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546. Wheeler argues 

that the court erred in dismissing his petition as untimely. We affirm. 

A jury found Wheeler guilty of second-degree murder and other related 

crimes in 1993. The court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment. We 

affirmed the judgment of sentence, and in 1995, our Supreme Court denied 

Wheeler’s petition for allowance of appeal. See Commonwealth v. Wheeler, 

645 A.2d 853 (Pa.Super. 1994), appeal denied, Commonwealth v. 

Wheeler, 656 A.2d 118 (Table) (Pa. filed March 6, 1995). 

Wheeler filed the instant pro se PCRA petition on April 16, 2021, and an 

amended PCRA petition on June 25, 2021. He claimed that the trial court

lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The PCRA court issued a Rule 907 notice of 

its intent to dismiss the petition. See Notice Pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of 
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Criminal Procedure 907, filed 12/6/22; Pa.R.Crim.P. 907(1). The court 

explained that Wheeler’s petition was untimely and did not satisfy any timebar exception. See id. Wheeler filed a response to the court’s Rule 907 notice 

but did not address the timeliness of his petition. See Judicial Notice Pursuant

to Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence 201; Alternatively, Objection to Notice 

Pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 907, filed 12/21/22. The 

court dismissed Wheeler’s PCRA petition, and this timely appeal followed. 

Wheeler raises the following issue: “Whether [the] court committed 

reversible error and abused discretion in dismissing PCRA/Habeas Corpus as 

untimely when no case under bill number CP-51-CR-0117782-1992 has even 

been filed and brought against [Wheeler] as the absence of entry in official 

record shows?” Wheeler’s Br. at III (suggested answer omitted and 

unnecessary capitalization removed). 

“When reviewing the denial of a PCRA petition, we must determine 

whether the PCRA court’s order is supported by the record and free of legal 

error.” Commonwealth v. Smith, 181 A.3d 1168, 1174 (Pa.Super. 2018) 

(citation omitted). 

A PCRA petition must be filed within one year after the judgment of 

sentence becomes final. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). A judgment of 

sentence “becomes final at the conclusion of direct review, including 

discretionary review in the Supreme Court of the United States and the 

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, or at the expiration of time for seeking the 

review.” Id. at § 9545(b)(3). When a petitioner files a petition beyond the 
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one-year deadline, the petitioner must plead and prove at least one of the 

time-bar exceptions. See id. at § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). These exceptions are:

(i) the failure to raise the claim previously was the result of 

interference by government officials with the presentation 

of the claim in violation of the Constitution or laws of this 

Commonwealth or the Constitution or laws of the United 

States;

(ii) the facts upon which the claim is predicated were 

unknown to the petitioner and could not have been 

ascertained by the exercise of due diligence; or

(iii) the right asserted is a constitutional right that was 

recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or 

the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after the time period 

provided in this section and has been held by that court to 

apply retroactively.

Id. Any petition raising one of the above exceptions “shall be filed within one 

year of the date the claim could have been presented.” Id. at § 9545(b)(2). 

A court may not address the merits of an untimely PCRA petition unless the 

petitioner has pled and proven at least one of the time-bar exceptions. See 

Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 994 A.2d 1091, 1093 (Pa. 2010). 

The PCRA court properly dismissed Wheeler’s petition as untimely. 

Wheeler’s judgment of sentence became final on June 5, 1995, when his time 

to file a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court 

expired. See U.S. Sup. Ct. R. 13; 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1908. Wheeler, therefore, had 

until June 5, 1996, to file a timely PCRA petition. As such, the instant petition 

filed in 2021, was facially untimely and the PCRA court lacked jurisdiction to 

review Wheeler’s claim unless he pleaded and proved one of the time-bar 

exceptions. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). Here, Wheeler did not 
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attempt to assert any time-bar exception in his PCRA petition. The PCRA court 

therefore properly dismissed his petition as untimely.

Order affirmed. Application denied as moot.

1

Date: 12/11/2023

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1 Wheeler filed a Motion for Special Relief, asking this Court to hold a hearing 

on the authenticity of the criminal complaint. See Motion for Special Relief, 

filed 8/31/23. We deny the motion as moot.