J-S32027-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

v.

ROBERT WILLIAM JORDAN 

Appellant

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 1551 MDA 2022

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered October 24, 2022

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

No(s): CP-08-CR-0000979-2013

BEFORE: DUBOW, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and NICHOLS, J.

MEMORANDUM BY KUNSELMAN, J.: FILED: NOVEMBER 6, 2023

Robert William Jordan appeals pro se from the order denying his second 

petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). 42 Pa.C.S.A. 

§§ 9541-46. We affirm.

As previously summarized:

The relevant facts and procedural history are as follows. 

[Jordan’s] then-15 year-old daughter reported that [Jordan] had 

given her drugs and had sexual intercourse with her on numerous 

occasions during the summer of 2013. Consequently, the 

Commonwealth charged [Jordan] with numerous offenses arising 

from this conduct. On July 11, 2014, after considering the 

testimony of witnesses including the victim, a jury convicted 

[Jordan] of 27 drug and sex offenses. Following trial, and after 

holding a Grazier hearing, the court entered an Oder vacating 

the appointment of [trial counsel] and permitted [Jordan] to 

represent himself.

On October 14, 2014, the sentencing court, with the benefit 

of a Pre-Sentence Investigation Report, sentenced [Jordan] to an 

aggregate term of 122 years to 333 years of incarceration. We 

affirmed [Jordan’s] Judgment of Sentence and our Supreme Court 
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denied allowance of appeal [on July 19, 2016]. Commonwealth 

v. Jordan, 134 A.3d 489 (Pa. Super. 2015) (unpublished 

memorandum), allocatur denied, [145 A.3d 163] (Pa. 2016).

Commonwealth v. Jordan, 258 A.3d 545 (Pa. Super. 2021), nonprecedential decision at 1-2 (footnotes omitted).

On January 3, 2017, Jordan filed a timely pro se PCRA petition, and the 

PCRA court appointed counsel, who filed an amended petition. On September 

21, 2017, the PCRA court issued a Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice of its intent to 

dismiss the PCRA petition without a hearing. Jordan filed a pro se response 

in which he requested that the PCRA court appoint new PCRA counsel. The 

PCRA court appointed new PCRA counsel. 

Thereafter, Jordan filed a second amended PCRA petition in which he 

raised twenty-nine claims. The PCRA court held two evidentiary hearings. By 

order entered June 4, 2020, the PCRA court dismissed Jordan’s second 

amended PCRA petition. Jordan appealed to this Court in which he raised ten 

issues. Finding them to lack merit, on June 23, 2021, this Court affirmed the 

denial of post-conviction relief. Jordan, supra. 

On November 22, 2021, Jordan filed the pro se PCRA at issue, his 

second. In this petition, Jordan raised claims of PCRA counsel’s 

ineffectiveness. On June 23, 2022, the PCRA court issued Rule 907 notice to 

dismiss Jordan’s second petition as meritless. Jordan filed a pro se response. 

By order entered October 24, 2022, the PCRA court denied Jordan’s second 

petition. This timely appeal followed. The PCRA court did not require Rule 

1925(a) compliance. 
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Jordan raises the following four issues on appeal:

[1.] The [trial] court abused its discretion when it sentenced 

[Jordan] to 122-322 years, thus violating [his] 8th Amendment 

right under the U.S. Constitution and through the 14th Amendment 

of the Pennsylvania Constitution and all PCRA counsel was 

ineffective for failing to brief, argue and/or point to pertinent legal 

authorities. 

[2.] Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to 

Commonwealth Exhibit (2) going out to the jury during 

deliberations in violation of Pa.R.Crim.P. 646(c) and PCRA counsel 

was ineffective for failing to brief, argue and point to pertinent 

legal authorities during PCRA proceedings and in the [appellate 

brief] filed with the Pa. Superior Court on appeal from the denial 

of the PCRA petition.

[3.] Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the faulty 

jury instructions on the (10) counts of incest and PCRA counsel 

was also ineffective for failing to [brief], argue, and point to 

pertinent legal authorities during the PCRA proceedings and to the 

Pa. Superior Court on appeal.

[4.] The Commonwealth violated [Jordan’s] U.S. constitutional 

right to due process and the court violated [his] U.S. constitutional 

right not to be put in double jeopardy and PCRA counsel was 

ineffective for failing to brief, argue, and point to pertinent legal 

authorities during the PCRA proceedings and to the Pa. Superior 

Court on appeal.

Jordan’s Brief at viii-ix (excess capitalization omitted).

Jordan challenges the denial of his most recent attempt to obtain postconviction relief. Using the applicable standard of review, we must determine 

whether the ruling of the PCRA court is supported by the record and is free of 

legal error. Commonwealth v. Blakeney, 108 A.3d 739, 749-50 (Pa. 2014)

(citations omitted). We apply a de novo standard of review to the PCRA court’s 

legal conclusions. Id. 
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Before addressing Jordan’s substantive issues, we must first determine 

whether Jordan’s was untimely filed, and whether he established an exception 

to the PCRA’s time bar.

The timeliness of a post-conviction petition is jurisdictional. 

Commonwealth v. Hernandez, 79 A.3d 649, 651 (Pa. Super. 2013). 

Generally, a petition for relief under the PCRA, including a second or 

subsequent petition, must be filed within one year of the date the judgment 

becomes final unless the petition alleges, and the petitioner proves, that an 

exception to the time bar is met.

The three narrow statutory exceptions to the one-year time bar are as 

follows: “(1) interference by government officials in the presentation of the 

claim; (2) newly discovered facts; and (3) an after-recognized constitutional 

right.” Commonwealth v. Brandon, 51 A.3d 231, 233-34 (Pa. Super. 2012) 

(citing 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i-iii)). In addition, exceptions to the PCRA’s 

time bar must be pled in the petition and may not be raised for the first time 

on appeal. Commonwealth v. Burton, 936 A.2d 521, 525 (Pa. Super. 

2007); see also Pa.R.A.P. 302(a) (providing that issues not raised before the 

lower court are waived and cannot be raised for the first time on appeal). 

Moreover, a PCRA petitioner must file his petition “within one year of date the 

claim could have been presented.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(2).

Finally, if a PCRA petition is untimely and the petitioner has not pled and 

proven an exception “neither this Court nor the [PCRA] court has jurisdiction 

over the petition. Without jurisdiction, we simply do not have the legal 
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authority to address the substantive claims.” Commonwealth v. 

Derrickson, 923 A.2d 466, 468 (Pa. Super. 2007) (citation omitted).

Here, Jordan’s judgment of sentence became final on October 17, 2016, 

ninety days after our Supreme Court denied his allocatur petition and the time 

for filing a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court expired. 

See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(3); U.S. Sup.Ct. 13. Therefore, Jordan had one 

year in which to file a timely PCRA petition. Because Jordan filed the petition 

at issue in 2021, it is patently untimely unless he has satisfied his burden of 

pleading and proving that one of the enumerated exceptions to the PCRA’s 

time bar applies. See Hernandez, supra.

Jordan has not acknowledged that his second petition is untimely and 

therefore has not addressed any of the time-bar exceptions. It appears that 

both Jordan and the PCRA court are of the belief that a claim of PCRA counsel’s 

ineffectiveness can be raised in a serial petition.

1

 Pertinent case law holds 

otherwise.

Although not cited by Jordan, our Supreme Court’s decision in 

Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d 381, 401 (Pa. 2021), belies his claim. 

In Bradley, the High Court held “that a PCRA petitioner may, after a PCRA 

court denies relief, and after obtaining new counsel or acting pro se, raise 

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1

In its brief, the Commonwealth acknowledges that Jordan’s second petition 

is untimely but noted that the PCRA court addressed the merits of Jordan’s 

substantive issues. Commonwealth’s Brief at 1. It then briefly explains why 

Jordan’s issues are either previously litigated or waived under the PCRA. See 

42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9544.
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claims of PCRA counsel’s ineffectiveness at the first opportunity to do so, even 

if on appeal.” However, the Bradley Court noted that its decision did not 

create an exception to the PCRA’s jurisdictional time-bar and that the “new 

rule allows PCRA counsel ineffectiveness claims to be raised on collateral 

appeal, rather than in a serial PCRA petition.” Id. at 406 (Dougherty, J., 

concurring).

Moreover, this Court has since held that “[n]othing in Bradley creates 

a right to file a second PCRA outside the PCRA’s one-year time limit as a 

method of raising ineffectiveness of PCRA counsel or permits recognition of 

such a right.” Commonwealth v. Stahl, 292 A.3d 1130, 1136 (Pa. Super. 

2023). The Stahl court clarified that “our Supreme Court in Bradley

unambiguously rejected the filing of a successive untimely PCRA petition as 

a permissible method of vindicating the right to effective representation by 

PCRA counsel.” Id. Therefore, Bradley does not excuse the facial 

untimeliness of Jordan’s second PCRA petition. 

In sum, because Jordan’s second PCRA petition was untimely, the PCRA 

court lacked jurisdiction to consider his substantive issues. Derrickson, 

supra. We likewise lack jurisdiction to consider them. Id. We therefore 

affirm the PCRA court’s order denying Jordan post-conviction relief.2

Order affirmed.

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2 The Superior Court may affirm on any basis. Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 

151 A.3d 1117, 1127 n.14 (Pa. Super. 2016).
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Judgment Entered.

Benjamin D. Kohler, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 11/06/2023