Court Opinion

ID: 9375396
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-27 17:07:31.698056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:58.482761
License: Public Domain

J-A28043-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :    IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                               :         PENNSYLVANIA
                                               :
                v.                             :
                                               :
                                               :
    BRANDON NATHANIEL N. MOODY                 :
                                               :
                        Appellant              :    No. 2485 EDA 2021

             Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered October 21, 2021
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at
                       No(s): CP-51-CR-0006659-2007

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., LAZARUS, J., and SULLIVAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY SULLIVAN, J.:                          FILED FEBRUARY 27, 2023

        Brandon Nathaniel N. Moody (“Moody”) appeals pro se from the order

dismissing as untimely his second petition for relief filed pursuant to the Post

Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”).1 We affirm.

        The relevant facts and procedural history of this appeal are as follows.

In 2006, when Moody was eighteen years and nine months old, he shot and

killed Israel Rivera. A jury found Moody guilty of first-degree murder and

related offenses, and the trial court sentenced him to a mandatory prison

sentence of life without parole for murder and concurrent sentences for the

other crimes.        This Court affirmed Moody’s convictions, and our Supreme

Court    denied      allowance   of   appeal   on   November   14,   2011.   See

Commonwealth v. Moody, 24 A.3d 449 (Pa. Super.) (unpublished

memorandum), appeal denied, 34 A.3d 828 (Pa. 2011). Moody timely filed a
____________________________________________

1   See 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546.
J-A28043-22

first PCRA petition in 2012, and the court appointed counsel (“PCRA counsel”),

who filed a no-merit letter and a petition to withdraw from representation.2

Lengthy proceedings ensued, during which Moody filed pro se responses to

counsel’s no-merit letter and sought leave to file amended petitions, and

asserted PCRA counsel’s ineffectiveness for filing a no-merit letter. The PCRA

court issued a Rule 907 notice, and Moody filed a pro se response again

seeking leave to amend his petition and, in relevant part, asserting a new

claim that the mandatory imposition of a life without parole sentence was

unconstitutional because Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012),3 should

be extended to offenders over the age of eighteen. See Pro Se Response to

Intent to Dismiss First PCRA Amended Petition, 6/3/15, at 14-15 (referencing

studies cited in Miller indicating that adolescence did not end until the age of

twenty). The PCRA court ordered PCRA counsel to respond to Moody’s pro se

filings, and PCRA counsel filed a supplemental no-merit letter. In June 2018,

the PCRA court denied relief without a hearing and permitted PCRA counsel to

withdraw.     Moody took a pro se appeal, and this Court affirmed the PCRA

____________________________________________

2 See Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988);
Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa. Super. 1988) (en banc).

3 The U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller that a mandatory life without parole
sentence constituted a cruel and unusual punishment when imposed on
individuals who committed their offense before turning eighteen years of age.
See Miller, 567 U.S. at 465.

                                           -2-
J-A28043-22

court’s denial of Moody’s first PCRA petition.4         See Commonwealth v.

Moody, 221 A.3d 291, 2019 WL 3913232 (Pa. Super. 2019) (unpublished

memorandum). Our Supreme Court denied allowance of appeal on March 16,

2020. See Commonwealth v. Moody, 221 A.3d 291, 2019 WL 3913232

(Pa. Super. 2019) (unpublished memorandum), appeal denied, 227 A.3d 313

(Pa. 2020).

       Moody filed the instant pro se PCRA petition, his second, in March 2021,

wherein he asserted that the mandatory imposition of his life without parole

sentence was unconstitutional. Moody acknowledged that Miller did not apply

to offenders over eighteen years of age and maintained that he was not

attempting to “extend” Miller.          See Pro Se PCRA Petition, 3/12/21, at 2.

Rather, Moody claimed that he obtained new information that individuals over

eighteen years old have similar behaviors, cognitive levels, and brain functions

as those under eighteen years old. See id. Those facts, he noted, had been

discussed by or presented to other courts in Cruz v. United States, 11-CV-

787 (JCH), 2018 WL 1541898 (D. Conn. Mar. 29, 2018), vacated and

remanded, 826 Fed.Appx. 49 (2d Cir. 2020), and People v. Antolin Garcia-

Torres, No. 213515 (Ca. Super. Ct. (Santa Clara Cty. 2012 to 2017)). See

____________________________________________

4This Court considered and rejected Moody’s argument that PCRA counsel had
been ineffective by filing no merit letters to the claims Moody attempted to
raise during the litigation of his first PCRA petition. See Moody, 2019 WL
3913232, at *7.       It is unclear, however, whether Moody pursued an
unconstitutional sentencing claim in his appeal. See id.

                                           -3-
J-A28043-22

Pro Se PCRA Petition, 3/12/21, at 2.5 He also alleged that prison officials had

interfered with the timely presentation of his constitutional claim by

confiscating his mail containing documents related to Cruz and Garcia-

Torres and refusing him access to his mail before the PCRA court denied relief

on his first PCRA petition. See id. at 1-2, 5.6

____________________________________________

5 Moody asserted that he learned of this information from a third-party who
assisted in researching cases, including Cruz and Garcia-Torres, and who
attempted to mail him documents from those cases. More specifically, Moody
identified materials or passages in Garcia-Torres and Cruz from two
scientists, Dr. Erin Bigler (“Dr. Bigler”) and Dr. Laurence Steinberg (“Dr.
Steinberg”), indicating, in part, that recent studies revealed further insight
into the brains and behaviors of adolescents and that it was now accepted that
the portions of the brain or an individual’s cognitive capacity relating to
criminal culpability do not fully mature until people reach their mid-twenties.
See, e.g., Declaration of Dr. Erin Bigler, 8/29/17, at 3 (filed in Garcia-
Torres, No. 213515, and attached to Moody’s pro se PCRA petition). We add
that we have not been able locate a reference to a decision in Garcia-Torres
in a commercial database; but materials in that case are available at:
https://www.scscourt.org /general_info/news_media/garcia-torres.shtml.

6 Moody also attached to his pro se PCRA petition copies of correspondence
with and his grievances to the Department of Corrections from May 2018 to
June 11, 2018, two days before the PCRA court dismissed his first PCRA
petition. The correspondence indicated that prison officials confiscated the
mail due to a policy of not allowing inmates to receive legal paperwork that
do not belong to the addressee.

Although Moody did not specify when he actually received the information
withheld by prison official, he has alleged adequate facts to conclude that he
did not receive or discover the information until after he appealed the
dismissal of his first PCRA petition. See Commonwealth v. Lark, 746 A.2d
585 (Pa. 2000); Commonwealth v. Montgomery, 181 A.3d 359, 364 (Pa.
Super. 2018) (en banc) (clarifying that a petitioner may not file a subsequent
PCRA petition until an appeal concerning a previous PCRA petition is
completed).

                                           -4-
J-A28043-22

      In sum, Moody asserted that he discovered more recent scientific

studies to challenge the categorical distinction between individuals, like

himself, who were just over eighteen years old at the time of their offense and

those who were under eighteen years of age.        See generally Roper v.

Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 572-75 (2005) (adopting a categorical distinction at

eighteen years of age and holding that the imposition of the death penalty for

“juvenile offenders” who committed an offense when they were under

eighteen years of age is unconstitutional); Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48,

68, 82 (2010) (holding that sentences of life without parole were

unconstitutional for juvenile offenders who did not commit homicide and

noting that “developments in psychology and brain science continue to show

fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds”); Miller, 567 U.S.

at 465, 479-80 (extending the rationale of Roper and Graham to hold that

the mandatory imposition of a sentence of life without parole on those who

were under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense was

unconstitutional). Moody concluded that he properly alleged newly discovered

facts and governmental interference so that the PCRA court had jurisdiction

to consider his claims that his sentence constituted a cruel and unusual

punishment and denied him equal protection.

      The PCRA court issued a Rule 907 notice of intent to dismiss Moody’s

pro se PCRA petition in August 2021 and dismissed the petition on October

21, 2021. Moody timely appealed. The PCRA court did not order a Pa.R.A.P.

1925(b) statement but filed an opinion reasoning that Moody failed to

                                     -5-
J-A28043-22

establish a PCRA time bar exception because court decisions do not constitute

new facts. See PCRA Court Opinion, 12/22/21, at 3 (citing Commonwealth

v. Cintora, 69 A.3d 759 (Pa. Super. 2013), abrogation recognized in

Commonwealth v. Lee, 206 A.3d 1, 3 n.3 (Pa. Super. 2019) (en banc)).

The PCRA court further concluded that even if prison officials withheld his mail,

Moody could have challenged the constitutionality of his sentence in a post-

sentence motion, his direct appeal, or in his first PCRA proceeding. See id.

      Moody raises the following issues for our review:

      I.     Whether the PCRA [c]ourt erred in dismissing the
             second/subsequent PCRA petition without first holding a
             hearing to determine if the facts presented therein,
             including the supporting documents attached, accepted as
             true, are sufficient to establish the exceptions to the PCRA’s
             one year time bar for governmental interference and/or
             after-discovered facts?

      II.    Whether the PCRA [c]ourt erred in concluding that the
             averments of two reputable experts in adolescent brain
             development, revealed in both a declaration and
             postconviction hearing testimony, respectively, are not
             considered facts for the purpose of satisfying the time bar
             exceptions?

      III.   Whether the facts presented by Doctors Bigler and
             Steinberg, regarding the diminished culpability of late
             adolescents (over 18), raise a genuine issue that the
             mandatory life without parole sentence imposed upon
             [Moody] is unconstitutional, which is cognizable for relief
             pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.[A. §] 9543(a)(2)(vii)?

Moody’s Brief at 4-5.

                                      -6-
J-A28043-22

      Moody’s first two issues are related; therefore, we address together his

claims that he timely filed the instant PCRA petition. Our standard of review

is well-settled:

            When reviewing the denial of a PCRA petition, we must
      determine whether the PCRA court’s order is supported by the
      record and free of legal error. Generally, we are bound by a PCRA
      court’s credibility determinations. However, with regard to a
      court’s legal conclusions, we apply a de novo standard.

Lee, 206 A.3d at 6 (internal citation omitted).

      Under the PCRA, any petition “including a second or subsequent petition,

shall be filed within one year of the date the judgment becomes final[.]” 42

Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1).     A judgment of sentence 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 time for seeking the review.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(3). The

PCRA’s timeliness requirements are jurisdictional in nature, and a court may

not address the merits of the issues raised if the PCRA petition was not timely

filed. See Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 994 A.2d 1091, 1093 (Pa. 2010).

      Moody acknowledges that the instant PCRA petition was facially

untimely because he did not file it until 2021, more than nine years after his

convictions became final. See Moody’s Brief at 15; see also 42 Pa.C.S.A. §

9545(b)(1), (3). Therefore, we consider whether he stated an exception to

the PCRA time bar.

                                     -7-
J-A28043-22

      Pennsylvania courts may consider an untimely PCRA petition if the

petitioner explicitly pleads and proves one of three exceptions set forth under

section 9545(b)(1), which provides:

      (b) Time for filing petition.--

      (1) Any petition under this subchapter, including a second or
      subsequent petition, shall be filed within one year of the date the
      judgment becomes final, unless the petition alleges and the
      petitioner proves that:

         (i) the failure to raise the claim previously was the result of
         interference by government officials with the presentation of
         the claim in violation of the Constitution or laws of this
         Commonwealth or the Constitution or laws of the United
         States;

         (ii) 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; or

         (iii) the right asserted is a constitutional right that was
         recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or the
         Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after the time period provided
         in this section and has been held by that court to apply
         retroactively.

42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). Any petition attempting to invoke one of these

exceptions must “be filed within one year of the date the claim could have

been presented.” Id. § 9545(b)(2).

      When reviewing claims that a PCRA petition alleged newly discovered

facts pursuant under section 9545(b)(1)(ii), a court must pay careful attention

to the fact alleged.   The relevant fact for section 9545(b)(1)(ii) is not the

publication of a scientific report, but the scientific principles contained in the

report. See Commonwealth v. Edmiston, 65 A.3d 339, 352 (Pa. 2013)

                                      -8-
J-A28043-22

(concluding that information in a scientific report critiquing the reliability of

hair comparison analysis did not constitute a new fact), overruled on other

grounds by Commonwealth v. Small, 238 A.3d 1267 (Pa. 2020) (abrogating

the “public records presumption” that information available in a public record

could not be deemed unknown to the petitioner). However, sources containing

information repudiating previously accepted scientific methods and evidence

may set forth new facts. See Commonwealth v. Chmiel, 173 A.3d 617, 626

(Pa. 2017) (distinguishing Edmiston). A petitioner must establish that he

acted with due diligence; the focus is on a “circumstance-dependent analysis

of the petitioner’s knowledge, not that of the public at large.” See Small, 238

A.3d at 1283. A petitioner’s presentation of a previously known fact through

a newly discovered source will not establish a timeliness exception under

section 9545(b)(1)(ii). See Chmiel, 173 A.3d at 625.

      To establish the governmental interference exception, a petitioner must

plead and prove: (1) the failure to previously raise the claim was the result of

interference by government officials, and (2) the petitioner could not have

obtained the information earlier with the exercise of due diligence.        See

Commonwealth v. Abu-Jamal, 941 A.2d 1263, 1268 (Pa. 2008).

Interference based on the conditions on a petitioner’s incarceration or access

to resources requires a showing that the government interference, i.e. the

restriction on access to prison resources, was illegal. See Commonwealth

                                      -9-
J-A28043-22

v. Bankhead, 217 A.3d 1245, 1248 (Pa. Super. 2019); Commonwealth v.

Rizvi, 166 A.3d 344, 348 (Pa. Super. 2017).

      Moody claims that he stated a time bar exception under section

9545(b)(1)(ii) because he recently received information about recent scientific

studies to challenge the categorical distinction between adult and juvenile

offenders at eighteen years of age. See id. at 21. Moody further asserts that

he stated a time bar exception under section 9545(b)(1)(i) because prison

officials had confiscated his mail containing such information and prevented

him from challenging the constitutionality of his sentence when litigating his

timely first PCRA petition. See id. at 15.

      The PCRA court, as noted above, did not specifically address Moody’s

assertions that he discovered new facts, but rather concluded that Moody

could not rely on the decisions in Cruz and Garcia-Torres as new facts and

prison officials did not prevent Moody from raising his constitutional claims

earlier. The court also concluded that even if it would have addressed the

merits of Moody’s claims, no relief would be due.

      Following our review, we affirm the PCRA court’s dismissal of Moody’s

petition, albeit for different reasons. See Commonwealth v. Doty, 48 A.3d

451, 456 (Pa. Super. 2012) (noting that this Court may affirm the PCRA court

on any basis). Our review shows that Moody attempted to litigate a similar

unconstitutional sentencing claim in relation to his first PCRA petition,

although PCRA counsel at the time asserted that his attempt to extend Miller

                                    - 10 -
J-A28043-22

to offenders over eighteen years old was meritless. See Pro Se Response to

Intent to Dismiss First PCRA Amended Petition for PCRA Relief, 6/3/15, at 14-

15 (asserting that studies at that time indicated that adolescence did not end

until the age of twenty); Counsel’s Letter to the PCRA Court, 1/4/16, at 8.7

Although Moody references Dr. Bigler’s and Dr. Steinberg’s discussions of

more recent studies, those studies constitute new sources of existing facts or

scientific principles for the purpose of the PCRA time bar, not new facts or

scientific   principles.8       Cf.   Edmiston,    65   A.3d   at   352;   accord

Commonwealth v. Howard, 285 A.3d 652, 669 (Pa. Super. 2022) (holding

____________________________________________

7 We add that Moody arguably failed to plead that his constitutional sentencing
claim was not previously litigated or waived by failing to raise the issue in his
first PCRA appeal. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9544.

8 We add that by 2019, when this Court affirmed the dismissal of Moody’s first
PCRA petition, litigants and courts were well aware of the scientific principles
and the acceptance of studies that adolescent behavior, cognition, and brain
functioning applied equally to those under eighteen and those over eighteen
years old. For example, in 2017, nearly one year before the dismissal of
Moody’s first PCRA petition, and more than two years before this Court
affirmed the dismissal of that petition, a trial court in Kentucky summarized
many of the scientific principles on which Moody relies and concluded that that
state’s death penalty was a disproportionate sentence when imposed on
offenders younger than twenty-one years of age. See Commonwealth v.
Bredhold, 2017 WL 8792559, at *3 (Ky. Cir. Ct. 2017). In Lee, which was
decided five months before our decision in Moody’s first PCRA appeal, an en
banc panel of this Court recognized the “vast expert research” in the area of
adolescent behavior and brain functioning and urged “our Supreme Court to
review this issue in light of the research available” even since 2017. See Lee,
206 A.3d at 11 & n.11. Moody’s reliance on Garcia-Torres and Cruz for
information concerning recent studies into adolescence, therefore, also
implicates new sources of information rather than new facts.

                                          - 11 -
J-A28043-22

that a governmental report concerning jury selection in capital cases did not

contain new facts satisfying section 9545(b)(1)(ii)).

      Furthermore,    Moody’s    arguments     based    on   the   governmental

interference and the new facts exceptions in section 9545(b)(1)(i) and (ii) rely

on his actual discovery of the materials in Garcia-Torres and Cruz, which

prison officials delayed when refusing to forward him filings from other cases.

However, Moody has not established that the prison’s mail regulations were

illegal or unconstitutional interferences by government officials.          See

Bankhead, 217 A.3d at 1248. Critically, the record also lacks any indication

that Moody alerted either the first PCRA court or this Court to these cases or

his difficulties obtaining the materials despite being aware of the information

and mailing issues as early as May 2018. Thus, we conclude that Moody failed

to establish due diligence in obtaining the allegedly new information discussed

in Garcia-Torres and Cruz or in overcoming the obstacles presented by the

prison mailing system. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(ii); Abu-Jamal, 941

A.2d 1263, 1268.

      For these reasons, we will not disturb the PCRA court’s decision to

dismiss Moody’s petition as untimely. Moreover, we discern no issues of fact

to support Moody’s assertion that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing.

See Commonwealth v. Marshall, 947 A.2d 714, 723 (Pa. 2008) (rejecting

a claim that a PCRA petitioner was entitled to an evidentiary hearing when the

PCRA court properly determined it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petition).

                                     - 12 -
J-A28043-22

Lastly, because Moody did not invoke a court’s jurisdiction pursuant to the

PCRA, we will not address the merits of Moody’s final issue challenging the

constitutionality of his sentence. See Albrecht, 994 A.2d at 1093.

     Order affirmed.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary

Date: 2/27/2023

                                   - 13 -