Court Opinion

ID: 9374095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-22 16:19:20.017056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:44.822520
License: Public Domain

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Gregory Dunbar,                                :
                      Appellant                :
                                               :
              v.                               :
                                               :
Superintendent Kauffman                        :    No. 1004 C.D. 2021
SCI Huntingdon                                 :    Submitted: December 9, 2022

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION
PER CURIAM                                                   FILED: February 22, 2023

              Gregory Dunbar (Dunbar) appeals pro se from the Huntingdon County
Common Pleas Court’s (Huntingdon County Common Pleas) May 21, 2021 order
transferring his Petition for Emergency Writ of Habeas Corpus (Petition) to the
Dauphin County Common Pleas Court (Dauphin County Common Pleas). The sole
issue before this Court is whether the Huntingdon County Common Pleas properly
transferred the Petition to the Dauphin County Common Pleas.1 After review, this
Court affirms.

       1
         Dunbar presents three issues in his “Statement of Questions:” (1) whether the Huntingdon
County Common Pleas unlawfully transferred his Petition to the Dauphin County Common Pleas
in bad faith; (2) whether the Huntingdon County Common Pleas knowingly violated Dunbar’s
federal and state rights to access the courts; and (3) whether the Huntingdon County Common
Pleas complied with Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 240, Pa.R.Civ.P. 240, as this Court
directed on December 13, 2021. Dunbar Br. at 5. However, because Dunbar appealed from the
Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ transfer order, the issue as stated by this Court is the only
issue properly before this Court.
               On or about February 21, 2020, Dunbar was charged with nine counts
of Retaliation Against a Prosecutor or Judicial Official2 and one count of Barratry3
originating out of Dauphin County. At that time, Dunbar was an inmate at State
Correctional Institution (SCI)-Greene. On March 30, 2021, Dunbar was transferred
from SCI-Greene to SCI-Huntingdon. On April 29, 2021, Dunbar filed the Petition
in the Huntingdon County Common Pleas. On May 21, 2021, the Huntingdon
County Common Pleas entered an order directing the transfer of the Petition to the
Dauphin County Common Pleas. Thereafter, Dunbar filed in the Huntingdon
County Common Pleas a Notice of Appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court
(Notice of Appeal). On June 9, 2021, the Dauphin County Common Pleas received
the Petition and the Notice of Appeal.4 On August 3, 2021, the Pennsylvania
Superior Court transferred the appeal to this Court.
               By December 13, 2021 Memorandum and Order, this Court remanded
the matter to the Dauphin County Common Pleas and directed the Dauphin County
Common Pleas’ Clerk of Courts to return the file transferred from the Huntingdon
County Common Pleas, including Dunbar’s Notice of Appeal from the Huntingdon
County Common Pleas’ May 21, 2021 order, to the Huntingdon County Common
Pleas Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts for appropriate action. This Court further
directed that the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts
enter Dunbar’s Notice of Appeal upon the docket and transmit the Notice of Appeal
to this Court in accordance with Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure (Rule)

       2
         18 Pa.C.S. § 4953.1(a) (“A person commits an offense if he harms or attempts to harm
another or the tangible property of another by any unlawful act in retaliation for anything lawfully
done in the official capacity of a prosecutor or judicial official.”).
       3
         18 Pa.C.S. § 5109 (“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree if he vexes
others with unjust and vexatious suits.”).
       4
         On June 23, 2021, the Dauphin County Common Pleas ordered Dunbar to file a concise
statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure
(Rule) 1925(b) (Rule 1925(b) Statement). On July 6, 2021, Dunbar filed his Rule 1925(b)
Statement.
                                                 2
905(b).5 On March 21, 2022, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas filed its
opinion pursuant to Rule 1925(a) (Rule 1925(a) Opinion). On March 25, 2022, this
Court received the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ record. On September 2,
2022, SCI-Huntingdon Superintendent Kevin Kauffman filed a notice of non-
participation in this appeal.6
               The Huntingdon County Common Pleas determined that since the
Petition arose from Dunbar’s Dauphin County Common Pleas criminal case (Docket
No. CP-22-CR-0000873-2020), the Huntingdon County Common Pleas was not the
proper venue for the Petition, and transfer to the Dauphin County Common Pleas
was appropriate. See Rule 1925(a) Opinion at 1.
               Initially, Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 108 (relating to
habeas corpus venue) provides, in relevant part:

               (A) A petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the
               legality of the petitioner’s detention or confinement in a
               criminal matter shall be filed with the clerk of courts of the
               judicial district in which the order directing the
               petitioner’s detention or confinement was entered.
               ....
               Comment: . . . .
               . . . . A petition misfiled in the wrong judicial district under
               this rule may be transferred to the proper judicial district
               pursuant to Section 5103[(a)] of the Judicial Code, 42
               Pa.C.S. § 5103(a) [(relating to the transfer of erroneously
               filed matters generally)].

       5
         Pa.R.A.P. 905(b) (relating to transmission to the appellate court).
       6
          On September 6, 2022, Dunbar filed a “Motion for Summary Relief Res Judicata-Bar
Application for Relief” (Application for Relief). By September 16, 2022 Order, this Court directed
that the Application for Relief be decided with the merits of this appeal. On December 8, 2022,
Dunbar filed a “Petition for Reconsideration and Rule to Show Cause why this Court in Bad Faith
Disregard[ed] its own Precedent on Nov[ember] 22, 2022[,] and Dec[ember] 13, 2021[,] and
Request to Correct the Record” (Petition for Reconsideration). By January 9, 2023 Order, this
Court denied the Petition for Reconsideration.
                                                3
Pa.R.Crim.P. 108.
               In his Petition, Dunbar alleged that his March 30, 2021 transfer from
SCI-Greene to SCI-Huntingdon was illegal because all transfers were stayed
pending his video hearing at SCI-Greene on his Dauphin County criminal charges
(Docket No. CP-22-CR-0000873-2020) scheduled to occur on April 12, 2021. See
Petition ¶ 1; Original Record (O.R.) at 201-202.7 Dunbar further averred that his
continued confinement is unlawful because there is no complaint or arrest warrant
in his prison file. See Petition ¶¶ 5-6; O.R. at 203. Finally, Dunbar claimed that he
was released from custody on docket number MJ-12104-CR-0000869-2019.8 See
Petition ¶ 7; O.R. at 203.
               Because the Dauphin County Common Pleas directed “[Dunbar’s]
detention or confinement” on the criminal charges at issue, the Dauphin County
Common Pleas is the proper habeas corpus venue.                         Pa.R.Crim.P. 108(A).
Accordingly, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas “transferred [the Petition] to
the proper judicial district pursuant to Section 5103 of the Judicial Code[.]” Id.
comment.
               For all of the above reasons, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’
order is affirmed.9

       7
          Because the Original Record pages are not numbered, the page numbers referenced herein
reflect electronic pagination.
        8
          Docket No. MJ-12104-CR-0000869-2019 indicates the same Dauphin County Common
Pleas charges, i.e., nine counts of Retaliation Against a Prosecutor or Judicial Official and one
count of Barratry, were dismissed by a magisterial district judge on February 23, 2020. See O.R.
at 119-121.
        9
          Given this Court’s disposition of the appeal, Dunbar’s Application for Relief is dismissed
as moot.
                                                 4
           IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Gregory Dunbar,                     :
                  Appellant         :
                                    :
           v.                       :
                                    :
Superintendent Kauffman             :   No. 1004 C.D. 2021
SCI Huntingdon                      :

PER CURIAM
                               ORDER

           AND NOW, this 22nd day of February, 2023, the Huntingdon County
Common Pleas Court’s May 21, 2021 order is AFFIRMED. Gregory Dunbar’s
“Motion for Summary Relief Res Judicata-Bar Application for Relief” is
DISMISSED as moot.