J-S67012-14

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37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 firstdegree 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 Super. 2015) (unpublished 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 

____________________________________________

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.

____________________________________________

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