Court Opinion

ID: 9840259
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-15 17:10:47.742809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:11:38.936264
License: Public Domain

J-S23005-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA         :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                      :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                      :
              v.                      :
                                      :
                                      :
 KAREEM J. STANSBURY                  :
                                      :
                   Appellant          :   No. 215 EDA 2023

          Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered January 4, 2023
          In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
          Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0006484-2014,
                         CP-51-CR-0006485-2014

 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA         :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                      :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                      :
              v.                      :
                                      :
                                      :
 KAREEM J. STANSBURY                  :
                                      :
                   Appellant          :   No. 216 EDA 2023

          Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered January 4, 2023
          In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
          Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0006484-2014,
                         CP-51-CR-0006485-2014

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., KUNSELMAN, J., and KING, J.

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.:               FILED SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

     Kareem Stansbury appeals pro se from the order entered in the

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on January 4, 2023, dismissing
J-S23005-23

his petition1 filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.

C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546 as untimely. Because we agree with the PCRA court that

Stansbury’s petition was untimely and he failed to plead and prove an

exception to the PCRA time-bar, we affirm the PCRA court’s order denying the

PCRA petition.

       We previously summarized the factual and procedural history on appeal

from a prior PCRA petition as follows:

       [Stansbury] drove up to a home in Philadelphia and fired shots at
       two individuals sitting on the porch: Abdul Scott, his brother, and
       Rachel Ostrow, a resident of the building. [Stansbury] was
       charged with various crimes related to the incident at two separate
       docket numbers: one as to victim Scott (CP-51-CR-0006485-
       2014) and one as to victim Ostrow (CP-51-CR-0006484-2014).

       The two cases proceeded to a consolidated trial, at which
       [Stansbury] exercised his right to represent himself. After a
       mistrial and a second trial, a jury convicted [Stansbury] of two
       counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault,
       and other firearm-related crimes. [Stansbury] was sentenced to
       an aggregate term of thirty-five to seventy years of incarceration,
       followed by seven years of probation. [Stansbury]’s pro se direct
       appeal, involving both lower-court docket numbers, resulted in no
       relief.

Commonwealth v. Stansbury, 303 EDA 2019 (Pa. Super., filed 9/5/2019)

(unpublished memorandum). In May 2018, Stansbury filed his first PCRA

petition which was subsequently denied. We affirmed the denial on appeal.

See id.

____________________________________________

1 Stansbury   filed a separate notice of appeal under both of the lower court
dockets involved. We consolidated the appeals sua sponte as they raised
identical challenges to the PCRA court’s order.

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       On November 5, 2019, Stansbury filed the instant PCRA petition, in

which he raised claims regarding an illegal sentence, and violations of double

jeopardy and due process.

       On September 14, 2021, Stansbury filed a motion for leave to amend

his PCRA petition, along with his proposed amended PCRA petition and

memorandum of law. Nothing in the certified record or docket indicates that

the PCRA court granted leave to amend.2 In the motion for leave to amend,

Stansbury does not explicitly invoke any time-bar exception. However, he

states that “[d]ue to governmental interference by the prior Judge[,]

Stansbury would like an evidentiary hearing to develop a record on both

claims.” See Motion for Leave to Amend, filed 9/14/2021. In the proposed

amended PCRA petition, Stansbury does not expand on this claim of

interference by a prior judge, nor does he mention this claim at all. The

proposed amended petition otherwise argued the same issues raised in the

initial petition, namely claims regarding an illegal sentence, and violations of

double jeopardy and due process.

____________________________________________

2 A pro se document appears in the certified record titled “Pro Se Motion for

an Evidentiary Hearing based on Newly Discovered Facts”, along with an
accompanying memorandum of law in support of the motion. These
documents are not time-stamped as having been filed and do not appear on
the docket. The proof of service page included with the documents states the
motion and memorandum were “served on this 15th day of May of 2022 on
the parties …”. Absent some other evidence that this document was actually
filed, we conclude it is irrelevant to this appeal.

                                           -3-
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      After issuing notice of its intent to dismiss the petition without a hearing

pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907, the PCRA court dismissed the petition. This

timely appeal followed.

      Prior to reaching the merits of Stansbury’s claims on appeal, we must

first consider the timeliness of his PCRA petition. See Commonwealth v.

Miller, 102 A.3d 988, 992 (Pa. Super. 2014).

      A PCRA petition, including a second or subsequent one, must be
      filed within one year of the date the petitioner’s judgment of
      sentence becomes final, unless he pleads and proves one of the
      three exceptions outlined in 42 Pa.C.S.[A.] § 9545(b)(1). A
      judgment becomes final at the conclusion of direct review by this
      Court or the United States Supreme Court, or at the expiration of
      the time for seeking such review. The PCRA’s timeliness
      requirements are jurisdictional; therefore, a court may not
      address the merits of the issues raised if the petition was not
      timely filed. The timeliness requirements apply to all PCRA
      petitions, regardless of the nature of the individual claims raised
      therein. The PCRA squarely places upon the petitioner the burden
      of proving an untimely petition fits within one of the three
      exceptions.

Commonwealth v. Jones, 54 A.3d 14, 16-17 (Pa. 2012) (internal citations

and footnote omitted).

      Stansbury’s judgment of sentence became final in May 2018. The instant

petition, filed over one year later, is patently untimely. Therefore, the PCRA

court lacked jurisdiction to review Stansbury’s petition unless he was able to

successfully plead and prove one of the statutory exceptions to the PCRA’s

time-bar. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii).

      The PCRA provides three exceptions to its time bar:

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      (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)(i)-(iii). Exceptions to the time-bar must be pled in

the petition, and may not be raised for the first time on appeal. See

Commonwealth v. Burton, 936 A.2d 521, 525 (Pa. Super. 2007); see also

Pa.R.A.P. 302(a) (providing that issues not raised before the lower court are

waived and cannot be raised for the first time on appeal). Further,

      [a]lthough this Court is willing to construe liberally materials filed
      by a pro se litigant, pro se status generally confers no special
      benefit upon an appellant. Accordingly, a pro se litigant must
      comply with the procedural rules set forth in the Pennsylvania
      Rules of the Court. This Court may quash or dismiss an appeal if
      an appellant fails to conform with the requirements set forth in
      the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Commonwealth v. Lyons, 833 A.2d 245, 251–52 (Pa. Super. 2003)

(citations omitted).

      Even liberally construed, Stansbury has failed to plead and prove that

any of his claims constitute a valid exception to the PCRA time-bar. In fact,

Stansbury failed to make any attempt to plead an exception in his petition.

See Pro Se PCRA Petition, filed 11/5/2019.

                                      -5-
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       It could be argued that Stansbury attempted to raise a claim of

governmental interference in his amended petition. See Motion for Leave to

Amend, filed 9/14/2021 (“Due to governmental interference by the prior

Judge[,] Stansbury would like an evidentiary hearing to develop a record on

both claims.”). However, Pa.R.Crim.P. 905(A) requires leave of court to submit

an amended petition. See Commonwealth v. Rykard, 55 A.3d 1177, 1189

(Pa. Super. 2012). Even though Stansbury requested leave to amend his

petition, the PCRA court still had to explicitly grant permission for amendment

in order for these claims to be preserved. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 905(A); see also

Rykard, 55 A.3d at 1189. Therefore, the PCRA court could not have

considered any pleading outside of the initial PCRA petition filed in 2019

without having expressly granted permission for Stansbury to file an amended

petition.3

       In a reply brief, Stansbury again fails to even attempt to plead a time-

bar exception. Instead, Stansbury argues his petition was timely filed pursuant

to Commonwealth v. Lark, 746 A.2d 585 (Pa. 2000). In Lark, we held “that

____________________________________________

3 Even if the court had granted Stansbury leave to amend his petition,
Stansbury nevertheless failed to preserve a claim regarding an exception
under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1)(i). While Stansbury insinuates a “prior
Judge” committed governmental interference, he does not indicate which
judge he is referring to, nor what interference the judge is alleged to have
committed. Further, Stansbury only included this generic assertion in his
motion for leave to amend, but did not include this claim in his actual proposed
amended petition. Accordingly, this undeveloped claim would not have been
preserved regardless.

                                           -6-
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when an appellant's PCRA appeal is pending before a court, a subsequent

PCRA petition cannot be filed until the resolution of review of the pending

PCRA petition by the highest state court in which review is sought, or upon

the expiration of the time for seeking such review.” Id. at 588 (footnote

omitted). Stansbury’s reliance on Lark is misplaced. The holding in Lark does

not toll the PCRA time-bar. Rather, “[i]f the subsequent petition is not filed

within one year of the date when the judgment became final, then the

petitioner must plead and prove that one of the three exceptions to the time

bar under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1) applies.” Id.

      As the PCRA court properly concluded Stansbury’s PCRA petition was

untimely, and Stansbury failed to plead and prove any exception to the PCRA

time bar, we affirm the PCRA court’s order denying the petition.

      Order affirmed. Jurisdiction relinquished.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary

Date: 9/15/2023

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