Opinion ID: 2300815
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Original PCRA Petition Without Evidentiary Hearing

Text: Appellant asserts he was left defenseless and without eyewitness testimony that would have altered the jury's verdict because the PCRA court failed to act promptly and grant an evidentiary hearing. He specifically contends if the PCRA court had promptly held an evidentiary hearing, he would have been able to present the testimony of Steve McCarter and trial counsel, both of whom became unavailable prior to this Court's remand for an evidentiary hearing. Thus, he argues the PCRA court deprived him of his right to due process. Appellant essentially contends his right to a speedy trial was violated, which is analyzed as a due process claim when asserted in a PCRA petition. Commonwealth v. Glass, 526 Pa. 329, 586 A.2d 369, 373 (1991) ([t]he asserted right to promptness in appeals is framed in terms of due process rather than the speedy trial right...) (citing Commonwealth v. Pounds, 490 Pa. 621, 417 A.2d 597, 601 (1980)). In Pounds, two years lapsed from the jury's conviction of first degree murder to the defendant's sentencing hearing where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pounds, at 600. On appeal, he argued his right to a speedy trial was violated due to the two-year delay. This Court assumed the defendant's sentencing phase was part of the trial for purposes of his right to a speedy trial and analyzed several principal factors in determining whether there was an unconstitutional deprivation of this right. The factors included the length of delay, reason for delay, assertion of the right to a speedy trial, and resulting prejudice to interests protected by such right. Id., at 599. Regarding the prejudice factor, the defendant claimed he was prejudiced by the resulting delay in the consideration of his appeal. We noted the interests that the right to a speedy trial protects: (1) prevention of oppressive pretrial incarceration; (2) minimization of an accused's anxiety and concern; and, (3) limitation of the possibility that the defense will be impaired. Id., at 601 n. 10 (citing Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 532, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972) (prejudice should be assessed in light of those interests of defendants which speedy trial right was designed to protect)); see also Commonwealth v. Jones, 450 Pa. 442, 299 A.2d 288, 292 (1973) (same). Thus, we held the defendant's resulting delay in the consideration of his appeal was not the type of interest which the right to a speedy trial protects. Pounds, at 601. In Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 107 S.Ct. 1990, 95 L.Ed.2d 539 (1987), the United States Supreme Court analyzed the scope of the right to due process for criminal trials, appeals as of right, and collateral post-conviction proceedings. The Court held a state law providing indigent prisoners the right to assistance of counsel in collateral post-conviction proceedings does not require the full procedural protection guaranteed by the federal Constitution for criminal trials and the first appeal as of right. In reaching this conclusion, the Court reasoned: [p]ost-conviction relief is even further removed from the criminal trial than is discretionary direct review. It is not part of the criminal proceeding itself, and it is in fact considered to be civil in nature. It is a collateral attack that normally occurs only after the defendant has failed to secure relief through direct review of his conviction. States have no obligation to provide this avenue of relief, and when they do, the fundamental fairness mandated by the Due Process Clause does not require that the State supply a lawyer as well. Id., at 556-57, 107 S.Ct. 1990 (citations omitted). Consistent with Finley and Pounds, states generally assess a defendant's speedy trial claim in light of the interests that the right was designed to protect, and thus find the extent of its protection decreases as cases progress through their sentencing phases and again in their appellate phases. In Perdue v. Commonwealth, 82 S.W.3d 909 (Ky.2002), the Supreme Court of Kentucky found the Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment applies to trial and, to a lesser extent, sentencing or re-sentencing in a criminal case and its subsequent appeal. Id., at 911 (citing Pollard v. United States, 352 U.S. 354, 361, 77 S.Ct. 481, 1 L.Ed.2d 393 (1957)). The Court specifically found the speedy trial balancing factors set forth in Barker are used for analyzing a speedy sentencing violation; however, they are balanced differently in a speedy sentencing case than they are in a speedy trial case because most of the interests protected by the Speedy Trial Clause are not implicated in a post-conviction situation. Id., at 912 (citing Barker, at 514, 530). Thus, the Court held a collateral attack is not part of the procedure used to assure that a defendant is not deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Id., at 913 (citing Finley, at 556, 107 S.Ct. 1990). In State v. Watson, 284 N.W.2d 204 (Iowa 1979), the Supreme Court of Iowa found speedy trial requirements do not apply to proceedings ordered as result of post-conviction petition. Id., at 205-06. Additionally, the Supreme Court of Ohio has held that [w]hile the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees a speedy trial, no such requirement attaches to proceedings subsequent to trial, primarily because the presumption of innocence at the trial level does not exist at the appellate or postappellate levels. State ex rel. Jones v. Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, et al., 55 Ohio St.2d 130, 378 N.E.2d 471, 472 (1978) ( per curiam ). In State v. Greathouse, 519 S.W.2d 299 (Mo. Ct.App.1975), the Missouri Court of Appeals found the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and its parallel clause in the Missouri Constitution have no bearing on post-conviction proceedings nor on appeals from criminal prosecutions. Id., at 301. In light of these cases, we conclude a PCRA appeal is too far removed from the interests protected by the right to a speedy trial. Moreover, it is important to note that under Pa.R.Crim.P. 909(B), appellant is not automatically entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his PCRA petition. He only received the hearing because this Court granted him one, which he now attempts to morph into a speedy trial claim. Because appellant has no underlying constitutional right to an evidentiary hearing in state post-conviction proceedings, he has no constitutional right to insist on a speedy trial in these proceedings.