Opinion ID: 2353264
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: LaVaughn Robinson Declaration

Text: In a supplemental filing with the PCRA court, Appellant submitted the unsigned, undated declaration of LaVaughn Robinson. Because it is not even signed by the declarant, this declaration does not satisfy the PCRA's requirement that only a signed certification can warrant a hearing: Where a petitioner requests an evidentiary hearing, the petition shall include a signed certification as to each intended witness stating the witness's name, address, date of birth and substance of testimony and shall include any documents material to that witness's testimony. Failure to substantially comply with the requirements of this paragraph shall render the proposed witness's testimony inadmissible. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(d)(1). Regardless of this deficiency, however, and even assuming the truth of the assertions, Appellant's claim fails. Police interviewed Robinson a month after the robbery, and Robinson stated that Appellant had confessed to the robbery and murder. In the declaration, Robinson states that this statement was untrue and that he was coerced into lying about hearing the confession by threats of jail time for violating probation if he didn't tell police what they wanted to hear. Robinson asserts that he did not want to risk a perjury charge, so rather than testify truthfully at trial and contradict his police statement, he fled. Although Robinson did not testify at trial, his girlfriend Martha Harrington testified that she listened in on the telephone conversation between Appellant and Robinson in which Appellant confessed. Appellant baldly asserts, without any analysis or argument, that had trial counsel interviewed Robinson, this information could have been presented to the jury, apparently raising an ineffectiveness claim for failing to interview Robinson or present him as a witness. This assertion, however, is belied by the declaration itself. By his own admission, Robinson was unwilling to testify truthfully, and fled from police to avoid doing so. Therefore, Appellant cannot establish that Robinson was available to testify for the defense, and his ineffectiveness claim necessarily fails. See Fletcher, 750 A.2d at 275.