J-S59037-16
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA v.
SHAWN OMAR JACOBS
Appellant No. 2755 EDA 2014
Appeal from the PCRA Order August 26, 2014 in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0002057-2009
BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., OLSON, J., and FITZGERALD,* J.
MEMORANDUM BY FITZGERALD, J.: FILED JANUARY 04, 2017
Shawn Omar Jacobs ("Appellant") appeals from the order of the
Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas denying his first petition for
relief filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§
9541-9546. We affirm.
On December 10, 2008, Appellant and his co-defendant, Stanley
Howard, ("Howard") committed the armed robbery of Jamal Terry ("Terry")
and Andrew Willis ("Willis"), during the course of which Appellant shot and
killed Terry. At the conclusion of a joint trial on August 21, 2009, the jury
convicted Appellant of first-degree murder and Howard of second-degree
murder. The jury also convicted both men of robbery and related offenses.
The PCRA court summarized Willis's trial testimony as follows:
* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-S59037-16
[Willis] testified that, shortly after 11 p.m. on the night of December 10, 2008, he and [Terry] went to the Golden Dragon restaurant at the corner of Powell and Spruce Streets so that [Terry] could purchase cigarettes. Inside the restaurant, [Willis] noticed two men "standing by the door, just hanging around." At trial, [Willis] definitively identified these two men as [Appellant] and [Howard]. [Willis] testified that he was "one hundred percent sure" of the accuracy of his identification.
[Willis] testified that he and [Terry] left the Golden Dragon and were walking down Powell Street when [Terry] suddenly stopped. [Willis] turned to see why [Terry] had stopped and saw that [Appellant] and Howard were approaching them. [Willis] saw that Howard was armed with a handgun.
[Willis] testified that Howard took physical control of him, pulling him by the shirt and compelling him to proceed to a yard adjacent to 1064 Powell Street, where he forced [Willis] to lie on the ground. [Appellant] meanwhile, had taken physical control of [Terry]. [Willis] could hear [Appellant] demanding that [Terry] give him "money or anything valuable he had on him."
Still armed with the handgun, Howard ordered [Willis] to empty his pockets. [Willis] removed cash and a cell phone from his pockets. Howard picked up the phone and the cash and then pistol-whipped [Willis] three times in the head. As he lay on the ground, [Willis] could hear [Terry] telling [Appellant] to take whatever he wanted from him.
Howard then forced [Willis] to get back on his feet. Holding his gun to [Willis's] back, Howard compelled [Willis] to go into a side yard, where he ordered [Willis] to go down onto his knees and put his hands on his head. From this vantage point, [Willis] could see [Appellant] and [Terry] on the sidewalk. [Willis] could hear [Appellant] ordering [Terry] to surrender his valuables and [Terry] continuing to tell