2013 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

9-19-2013

Patrick McPherron v. Thomas Hogan

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 13-2184

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Recommended Citation

"Patrick McPherron v. Thomas Hogan" (2013). 2013 Decisions. Paper 202.

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*RESUBMIT GLD-404 NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 13-2184

___________

PATRICK S. MCPHERRON,

Appellant

v.

THOMAS HOGAN; THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE 

COUNTY OF CHESTER COUNTY; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

(D.C. Civ. No. 2-12-cv-00589)

District Judge: Honorable J. Curtis Joyner

____________________________________

Submitted on Appellant’s Request for a Certificate of 

Appealability Under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) and for Possible

Summary Action Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6

August 22, 2013

Before: FUENTES, FISHER and VANASKIE, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: September 19, 2013)

_________

OPINION

_________

PER CURIAM

Patrick S. McPherron filed pro se a habeas petition challenging his 2010 

convictions by the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for Chester County. The 
2

District Court denied the petition in its entirety with prejudice as procedurally defaulted. 

The District Court, which adopted the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation 

(“R&R”), relied in part on the Magistrate Judge’s conclusions that McPherron has not 

sought relief under Pennsylvania’s Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa. Cons. 

Stat. §§ 9541-9546, and that his time for doing so has expired. (R&R at 7, 8.) 

McPherron seeks a certificate of appealability (“COA”). 

In reviewing McPherron’s application, we noted that he actually has until January 

14, 2014, to file a PCRA petition.1 We further noted that that fact might make certain of 

his claims unexhausted rather than procedurally defaulted, and we directed the 

Commonwealth to show cause why the District Court’s judgment should not be vacated 

and this matter remanded for that reason. In response, the Commonwealth appears to 

agree that McPherron still has time to file a PCRA petition. The Commonwealth has not 

shown cause why we should not vacate and remand, however, and indeed has not argued 

that this appeal should be resolved in any particular way. We now grant McPherron’s 

application for a COA2and will vacate and remand for further proceedings.

 

1

PCRA petitions generally must be filed “within one year of the date the judgment 

becomes final.” 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 9545(b)(1). “[A] judgment 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. § 9545(b)(3). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied 

allowance of appeal on May 31, 2012, and denied rehearing on June 22, 2012. The 

United States Supreme Court then denied certiorari on January 14, 2013 (No. 12-7240). 

2

Jurists of reason would debate both the District Court’s procedural ruling and whether 

the claims noted below state valid claims of the denial of a constitutional right, 

particularly in light of the fact that the District Court did not reach the merits of those 

claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); 
3

Whether McPherron’s ability to file a PCRA petition undermines the District 

Court’s procedural default analysis depends on whether he asserted claims that he may 

still bring under the PCRA. The District Court’s conclusion that McPherron’s time to 

seek PCRA relief has expired left it with no need to make that determination, but we will 

remand for it to do so now. In that regard, we note that some of McPherron’s assertions 

could be read as attempts to assert claims that he may still bring under the PCRA. In 

Ground Two of his habeas petition, for example, he challenges the validity of a warrant 

and asserts that “I told public defender witness perjured herself at preliminary hearing, 

had proof, and they did nothing.” (ECF No. 4 at 7.) Pennsylvania defendants generally 

must raise claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in a PCRA petition rather than on 

direct appeal. See Commonwealth v. Grant, 813 A.2d 726, 738 (Pa. 2002). 

In addition, in Ground Four, McPherron challenges the withholding of allegedly 

exculpatory evidence and asserts that “I’m in forma pauperis, so the state won’t even 

send me a free copy of the transcripts[.]” (Id. at 11.) This assertion potentially states a 

claim of the denial of transcripts for use on appeal in violation of Griffin v. Illinois, 351 

U.S. 12, 19 (1956). Although we do not decide the issue, it appears that Pennsylvania 

courts sometimes review similar claims in the first instance under the PCRA. See

Commonwealth v. Williams, 950 A.2d 294, 317-18 (Pa. 2008).

We recognize that McPherron’s filings are largely delusional or incoherent and 

that he has not set these assertions forth as discrete claims for relief or developed them in 

 

Morris v. Horn, 187 F.3d 333, 341 (3d Cir. 1999). We thus have jurisdiction under 28 

U.S.C. § 1291.
4

any meaningful way. Given the liberal construction afforded to pro se filings, however, it 

appears that McPherron may be attempting to seek relief on potentially valid grounds that 

he can still raise in state court. As the District Court’s ruling now stands, McPherron 

would not be able to file another federal habeas petition after exhausting such claims in 

state court without satisfying the stringent requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b), which 

any claims he may currently have necessarily do not do. 

Thus, in an abundance of caution, we will vacate and remand. On remand, the 

District Court should determine whether McPherron has asserted any claim that he still 

has an opportunity to exhaust in state court and, if so, take such further action as may be 

appropriate with respect to his “mixed” petition. See Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 

273, 278 (2005); 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(2). McPherron’s other motions are denied.3

 

3 We do not reach the substance of the District Court’s procedural default analysis 

because one of the options in addressing a mixed petition is to dismiss it in its entirety 

without prejudice so that the petitioner can file a completely exhausted petition in the 

future. See Rhines, 544 U.S. at 274. We nevertheless note that, although the 

Pennsylvania Superior Court appears to have deemed McPherron’s claims waived on 

direct appeal under Pa. R. App. P. 2119(a), and not under the rules referenced in the 

R&R, McPherron has given us no reason to question the District Court’s analysis.