Court Opinion

ID: 9954565
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-26 16:11:22.959384+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:11:53.740286
License: Public Domain

J-S44025-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

  COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA                   :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                                 :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                                 :
                v.                               :
                                                 :
                                                 :
  TALIQUE Q. MINCEY                              :
                                                 :
                       Appellant                 :   No. 2843 EDA 2022

    Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 30, 2022
  In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at
                     No(s): CP-51-CR-0003938-2009

BEFORE:      OLSON, J., NICHOLS, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.:                                FILED MARCH 26, 2024

       Appellant Talique Q. Mincey appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed after he was resentenced for one count of first-degree murder1

pursuant to Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and Montgomery v.

Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016).                On appeal, Appellant challenges the

discretionary aspects of his sentence. Following our review, we affirm on the

basis of the trial court’s opinion.

       The relevant facts and procedural history of this matter are well known

to the parties. See Trial Ct. Op., 12/16/22, at 1-2. Briefly, Appellant was

seventeen years old when he made arrangements to meet Thomas Fredrick

(the victim) to purchase a controlled substance on October 22, 2008. Upon

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(a).
J-S44025-23

meeting, Appellant and the victim walked into a nearby alleyway, where

Appellant killed the victim by shooting him in the head three times. See id.

at 1-2.

       Appellant fled the scene and was subsequently arrested. Following a

jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of first-degree murder, firearms not to

be carried without a license, and possessing an instrument of crime (PIC).2

On July 8, 2011, the trial court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment

without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, a consecutive

sentence of three and one-half to seven years of incarceration for firearms not

to be carried without a license, and a concurrent term of two and one-half to

five years of incarceration for PIC. See id. at 1.

       On direct appeal, this Court affirmed Appellant’s judgment of sentence,

and our Supreme Court denied the Appellant’s petition for allowance of appeal.

See Commonwealth v. Mincey, 1871 EDA 2011 (Pa. Super. filed Jul. 18,

2012) (unpublished mem.), appeal denied, 374 EAL 2012, 67 A.3d 795 (Pa.

2012).    Appellant subsequently filed a timely Post Conviction Relief Act3

(PCRA) petition.     Ultimately, the PCRA court granted relief with respect to

Appellant’s illegal sentence for first-degree murder pursuant to Miller and

____________________________________________

2 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2502(a), 6106, and 907, respectively.

3 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546.

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Montgomery.4 See Order, 1/20/17. After Appellant’s sentence was vacated

and remanded for resentencing,5 the trial court re-sentenced Appellant to a

term of thirty years to life imprisonment for first-degree murder.            See

Sentencing Order, 9/30/22. Appellant filed a post-sentence motion, which the

trial court denied, and Appellant filed a timely appeal. Both the trial court and

Appellant complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).

       On appeal, Appellant raises the following issue:

       Whether the [trial court] erred in denying [Appellant’s] motion for
       reconsideration of sentence in failing to considered [sic]
       [Appellant’s] mental health as a mitigating factor and address his
       rehabilitative needs by directing that he receive mental health
       treatment for his diagnosed bi-polar disorder.

Appellant’s Brief at 2-3.

       Specifically, Appellant argues that the trial court

       failed to provide the Department of Corrections (DOC) notice of
       [Appellant’s] bi-polar disorder so that it could address
       [Appellant’s] rehabilitative needs by providing him the tools he
       needs to make better choices when dealing with the lifelong
       challenge of mental health, as that is in the best interest not only
       of [Appellant], but also other inmates and DOC staff as well as the
       public should he be released.

____________________________________________

4 We note that Miller prohibited mandatory life sentences for juvenile
homicide offenders, and Montgomery held that Miller applied retroactively
to cases on collateral appeal. Commonwealth v. Felder, 269 A.3d 1232,
1234 (Pa. 2022). Accordingly, “[i]n the wake of these decisions, hundreds of
defendants who committed murder as a juvenile and were imprisoned under
Pennsylvania’s former mandatory-life-without-parole sentencing scheme had
to be resentenced.” Id.
5 See Order, 5/31/22.

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Appellant’s Brief at 21.

      After careful consideration of the record, the parties’ arguments, and

the trial court’s conclusions, we affirm on the basis of the trial court opinion.

See Trial Ct. Op. at 1-7.     Specifically, we agree with the trial court that

Appellant did not preserve the instant challenge to the discretionary aspects

of sentence in his post-sentence motion. See id. at 3-7. In any event, even

if Appellant properly preserved this claim for review, the trial court did not

abuse its discretion by resentencing Appellant. See id. Therefore, Appellant

is not entitled to relief.

      Judgment of sentence affirmed. Jurisdiction relinquished.

Date: 3/26/2024

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Circulated 02/28/2024 01:21 PM