Court Opinion

ID: 9949910
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-12 19:18:11.697807+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:34:20.783483
License: Public Domain

J-S05037-24

 NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA           :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                        :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                        :
              v.                        :
                                        :
                                        :
 JOSHUA JAMES GOYETTE JR.               :
                                        :
                   Appellant            :   No. 577 WDA 2023

              Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered May 4, 2023
               In the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County
                Criminal Division at CP-10-CR-0001980-2005

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., KING, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.:                 FILED: March 12, 2024

     Joshua James Goyette Jr. (Appellant) appeals pro se from the order

denying his sixth petition filed pursuant to the Post-Conviction Relief Act

(PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541–9546. We affirm.

     The PCRA court summarized the following case history:

     [Appellant] was found guilty by a jury of attempted homicide,
     aggravated assault and criminal mischief in January of 2007. He
     was sentenced to serve a period of incarceration for not less than
     240 months nor more than 480 months. [Appellant] then filed
     Post Sentence Motions, which were denied in June of 2007. The
     Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the conviction and the
     Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a petition for allowance of
     appeal. [Commonwealth v. Goyette, No. 1353 WDA 2007 (Pa.
     Super. filed June 27, 2008) (unpublished memorandum), appeal
     denied, No. 341 WAL 2008 (Pa. Nov. 5, 2008).]

     [Appellant] then proceeded to file five separate unsuccessful
     petitions under the [PCRA] from 2009 up through the Superior
     Court’s ruling on October 17, 2022, affirming this [c]ourt’s
     dismissal of [Appellant’s] fifth PCRA [petition]. Commonwealth
     v. Goyette Jr., [No. 282 WDA 2022 (Pa. Super. filed Oct. 17,
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     2022) (unpublished memorandum)]. [Appellant] has now filed his
     sixth PCRA on December 5, 2022.

PCRA Court Opinion (PCO), 3/30/23, at 1.

     On March 30, 2023, the PCRA court issued notice of its intent to dismiss

Appellant’s petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907. The PCRA court explained:

     [Appellant] was given an opportunity to respond to the proposed
     dismissal and notified that his failure to respond timely would
     result in dismissal of his [p]etition. [Appellant] responded in a
     timely manner.

     The [c]ourt reviewed [Appellant’s] response in which he again
     refined his claims for relief.   The [c]ourt still holds [that
     Appellant’s] claims lack merit.

Order, 5/4/23 (single page).

     Appellant timely filed a notice of appeal and court-ordered concise

statement pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). We set forth Appellant’s issues on

appeal verbatim, apart from replacing Appellant’s name:

     A. Did the PCRA Court err where it denied [Appellant’s] PCRA
     Petition of Newly Discovered Facts without an evidentiary hearing
     for what the Court cited as no merit? Violating COMMONWEALTH
     v. Burton. (SEE pg. 10)

     B. Did the PCRA Court err where it denied [Appellant’s] PCRA
     Petition of Newly Discovered Facts when it made clear bias and
     prejudice decisions in fabricating statements concerning
     [Appellant’s] knowledge and strong disdain of Former Saxonburg
     Police Officer Eric Bergstrom? Then used said fabrications to claim
     no merit? (SEE pgs. 9-14)

     C. Did the PCRA Court err where it denied [Appellant’s] PCRA
     Petition of Newly Discovered Facts when it claimed [Appellant] did
     not meet the requirements set forth in 42 Pa C.S.A. 9545(b)(ii) of
     filing within in year of discovering said facts? (SEE pg. 8)

     D. Did the PCRA Court err where it denied [Appellant’s] PCRA
     Petition of Newly Discovered Facts when through the Court’s own
     reason’s for denying [Appellant’s] petition, at minimum expposed

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      the Prosecuting District Attorney of committing a Brady Violation?
      (SEE pgs. 14, 15)

      E. Did the PCRA Court err where it denied [Appellant’s] PCRA
      Petition of Newly Discovered Facts when the court chose a minor
      supporting fact and made it the focal point for it’s denial to claim
      no merit, while steering clear of the main argument of
      [Appellant’s] petition? (SEE pg. 16)

      F. Is it an error to leave an innocent man in prison, and outright
      dismiss the accounts of women who were sexually harassed and
      retaliated on by an Ex-Saxonburg Police Officer? Who through
      facts established by an investigation by the former Mayor of
      Saxonburg and through phone records was fired from his position.
      The one and the same man who showed up at the scene of the
      crime in question, (which was already secured by the State
      Troopers) names a suspect, leads Troopers to the location, then
      he himself just happens to find what appeared to be incriminating
      evidence as if he knew it was there the whole time? Evidence that
      the court claimed [Appellant] wore for several hours on an 88
      degree day, whiledo extreaneous activities but yet left no DNA
      in/on said evidence? Then the former officer attempted to tamper
      with further evidence and the investigation by offering inside
      information of size and gender to disregard evidence that he
      deemed to not be [Appellant’s].

Appellant’s Brief at 2-3.

      Our review is “limited to examining whether the PCRA court’s

determination is supported by the evidence of record and whether it is free of

legal error.”   Commonwealth v. Sandusky, 203 A.3d 1033, 1043 (Pa.

Super. 2019) (citation omitted).     “The PCRA court’s findings will not be

disturbed unless there is no support for the findings in the certified record.”

Commonwealth v. Wah, 42 A.3d 335, 338 (Pa. Super. 2012).               “It is an

appellant’s burden to persuade us that the PCRA court erred and that relief is

due.” Commonwealth v. Stansbury, 219 A.3d 157, 161 (Pa. Super. 2019)

(citation omitted).

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        In addition, it is “well-settled that, relative to PCRA petitions, questions

of timeliness are jurisdictional in nature; therefore, courts must address these

questions as threshold issues.” Commonwealth v. Smith, No. 6 EAP 2023,

2024 WL 696237, at *6 (Pa. Feb. 21, 2024) (citation omitted).

        A PCRA petition must be filed within one year of the petitioner’s
        judgment of sentence becoming final. 42 Pa.C.S.[] § 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 the time for seeking the review.” 42 Pa.C.S.[] §
        9545(b)(3). The timeliness of a PCRA petition is jurisdictional. If
        a PCRA petition is untimely, a court lacks jurisdiction.
        Commonwealth v. Wharton, ... 886 A.2d 1120, 1124 ([Pa.]
        2005); see also Commonwealth v. Callahan, 101 A.3d 118,
        121 (Pa. Super. 2014) (courts do not have jurisdiction over an
        untimely PCRA petition). “Without jurisdiction, we simply do not
        have the legal authority to address the substantive claims.”
        Commonwealth v. Lewis, 63 A.3d 1274, 1281 (Pa. Super.
        2013).

Commonwealth v. Reeves, 296 A.3d 1228, 1230–31 (Pa. Super. 2023).

        Appellant’s judgment of sentence “became final in 2009 following the

conclusion of his direct appeal.” See Commonwealth v. Goyette Jr., supra

at 3.    Appellant concedes his petition is untimely, but asserts that he has

satisfied the newly-discovered facts exception set forth in 42 Pa.C.S. §

9545(b)(1)(ii).    See Appellant’s Brief at 4.     As the Pennsylvania Supreme

Court recently stated:

        The PCRA … provides three exceptions to the one-year
        jurisdictional time-bar, the applicability of which a petitioner must
        plead and prove.         See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii);
        Commonwealth v. Abu-Jamal, 941 A.2d [1263,] 1268 [(Pa.
        2008)] (providing that PCRA petitioner has “burden to allege and
        prove that one of the timeliness exceptions applies”). Relevant

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      here, … the “newly discovered facts” exception—set forth in
      Section 9545(b)(1)(ii) of the PCRA—requires a petitioner to show
      that “the facts upon which the claim is predicated were unknown
      to the petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the
      exercise of due diligence.”      42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(ii).
      Additionally, the PCRA requires that “[a]ny petition invoking an
      exception ... shall be filed within one year of the date the claim
      could have been presented.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(2).

Commonwealth v. Towles, 300 A.3d 400, 415 (Pa. 2023)

      Appellant filed his PCRA petition on November 29, 2022. He claims he

discovered new facts during “the first week of December of 2021.” Appellant’s

Brief at 4.   According to Appellant, the new facts “reveal that [f]ormer

Saxonburg Police Officer Eric Bergstrom was suspended and later fired . . . for

a long list of actions unbecoming an [o]fficer[,] including trying to cover up a

crime.” Id. Appellant argues the PCRA court erred by denying relief “without

an evidentiary hearing so that these facts can be brought properly before th[e]

court as they are relevant to establish a prima facie case that evidence

suspiciously found by a corrupt [police] officer is fruit of the poisonous tree

and should never [have] been used against [Appellant] at trial, and to

establish that [Appellant] is actually innocent.” Id. at 9.

      In response, the Commonwealth states:

      [Appellant] bases his current claim on an allegation that a
      Saxonburg police officer involved in his case had been accused of
      sexual harassment and professional malfeasance and that
      [Appellant’s] mother had been subject to sexual overtures by that
      officer when she was a Saxonburg volunteer firefighter.
      [Appellant] is apparently contending that this officer “framed” him
      as a means of retaliating against his mother for rebuffing the
      officer’s advances. It is important to note that there is nothing
      whatsoever in the record to credibly support this allegation. Given
      that [Appellant’s] mother has been integrally involved in his case

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     from the outset and has previously alleged multiple instances of
     police misconduct via affidavit in an unsuccessful attempt to gain
     her son PCRA relief, her credibility is highly suspect, to say the
     least.

Commonwealth’s Brief at 8.

     The PCRA court further observes:

            The fact [Appellant] wishes to have the [c]ourt find to be
     newly discovered is the credibility of [O]fficer [Bergstrom,] who
     testified at the trial. [Appellant] in his PCRA [petition] states, “...
     while he [the officer] testified against me at trial, he himself was
     being investigated for a long list of actions unbecoming a police
     officer, including attempting to cover up a crime.” [Appellant]
     then goes into a lengthy discussion of what he finds to be
     unbecoming of the officer.

            It is evident to the [c]ourt the newly discovered fact
     is not new whatsoever. [Appellant] has possessed a strong
     disdain and lack of trust towards the officer from the
     beginning. [Appellant] knew of the officer’s alleged misconduct
     all the way back at the commencement of the case when charges
     [were to] be filed. ...

            Found within [Appellant’s] PCRA Ground #1, in addition to
     the credibility argument of the officer, is another argument on the
     lack of DNA testing of certain pieces of physical evidence. This
     line of argument has already been argued, appealed and affirmed
     by the Superior Court. See Commonwealth v. Goyette Jr., [No.
     282 WDA 2022 (Pa. Super. filed Oct. 17, 2022) (unpublished
     memorandum)]. The Superior Court ruled the petition [Appellant]
     filed previously on DNA testing was untimely and the issues raised
     in it were waived for failure to be raised in the lower court. The
     Superior Court affirmed this [c]ourt’s decision rendered by the
     now retired[] Hon. William Shaffer.

            In his PCRA Ground #2, [Appellant] alleges all of his
     previously appointed PCRA counsel were ineffective for filing no
     merit letters. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that
     a PCRA petitioner may, after a PCRA court denies relief, raise
     claims of PCRA counsel’s ineffectiveness at the first opportunity to
     do so, even if on appeal. Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d
     381 (Pa. 2021). [Appellant] alleges this is the first opportunity to
     file under this Supreme Court case. [Appellant] is right in saying

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      this is his first PCRA [petition] filed after the ruling, but
      misinterprets the holding in the case.

             This is not the first opportunity [Appellant] has had to raise
      claims of ineffectiveness by his PCRA counsel.                   See
      Commonwealth v. Coto, 2022 WL 57488 (Pa. Super. 2022).
      [Appellant] has appealed most if not all of the dismissals of his
      previously filed PCRA[ petition]s when a no merit letter was filed.
      Each one of those appeals reached finality in favor of the PCRA
      court’s decision. Further, the Bradley concurrence stressed that
      the decision in the case did “not create an exception to the PCRA’s
      jurisdictional time-bar….”        Bradley[, 261 A.3d] at 406
      (Dougherty, J., concurring). Finally, the decision in Bradley
      “does not sanction extra-statutory serial petitions.” Id. at 403.

PCO at 4-5 (emphasis added).

      The PCRA court’s reasoning is factually and legally sound. Appellant’s

PCRA petition is untimely, and he failed to satisfy the newly-discovered facts

exception to the statutory time-bar.      Notably, this Court “has continually

declined to extend the holding of Bradley to cases involving untimely PCRA

petitions.” Commonwealth v. Pridgen, 305 A.3d 97, 102 (Pa. Super. 2023)

(citation omitted). We discern no error in the PCRA court’s denial of relief.

      Order affirmed.

DATE: 03/12/2024

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