Court Opinion

ID: 9401886
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-14 15:09:15.051676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:55.915254
License: Public Domain

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania               :
                                           :
               v.                          :
                                           :
William Dicks,                             :   No. 721 C.D. 2020
                      Appellant            :   Submitted: January 27, 2023

BEFORE:        HONORABLE CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge
               HONORABLE ELLEN CEISLER, Judge
               HONORABLE LORI A. DUMAS, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION
BY JUDGE FIZZANO CANNON                        FILED: June 14, 2023

                William Dicks (Appellant) appeals pro se from the January 18, 2019
order (Trial Court Order) of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
(trial court) that denied his “Motion for Time Credit” (Motion for Time Credit),
which the trial court treated as a petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act1
(PCRA). Upon review, we vacate the Trial Court Order and accept the Motion for
Time Credit as a petition for review filed with this Court in its original jurisdiction.
               On June 21, 1990, Appellant received consecutive sentences of four to
nine years of incarceration for convictions of robbery and conspiracy (Robbery
Convictions). See Trial Court PCRA Opinion April 28, 2019 (Trial Court Opinion)
at 1, n.1; see also Docket No. CP-51-CR-0110611-1985. With 11 months remaining

      1
          42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-46.
on the maximum dates of the Robbery Convictions,2 police arrested Appellant on
the charges underlying the instant appeal. See Trial Court Opinion at 1; see also
Docket No. CP-51-CR-0001238-2008.
              On January 8, 2013, Appellant entered a negotiated nolo contendere
plea to indecent assault of a person under 13 years old and corruption of minors
(Assault Convictions). See Trial Court Opinion at 1; see also Docket No. CP-51-
CR-0001238-2008 (Assault Docket). Appellant received a sentence of two to four
years of incarceration for the indecent assault conviction and a consecutive term of
five years of probation for the corruption of minors conviction, with credit for time
served. See id. Appellant did not appeal his judgment of sentence on the Assault
Convictions. See Trial Court Opinion at 2.
              On August 5, 2013, Appellant filed a timely pro se PCRA petition
claiming that his trial counsel’s deficient performance had caused him to enter an
involuntary plea regarding the Assault Convictions. See Trial Court Opinion at 2.
The trial court, which was also the PCRA court, appointed counsel, who filed a
Turner/Finley3 letter that concluded Appellant’s claim lacked merit.                    See id.
Appellant objected to PCRA counsel’s Turner/Finley letter and raised another claim
that PCRA counsel had failed to file a direct appeal as directed. See id. The PCRA
court conducted a hearing on February 3, 2017, and dismissed Appellant’s PCRA
petition thereafter. See id. Appellant appealed the dismissal of his PCRA petition

       2
         Appellant had been sentenced to serve his conspiracy conviction sentence consecutive to
his robbery conviction sentence. See Docket No. CP-51-CR-0110611-1985 at 2. At the time of
his arrest in the matter underlying the instant appeal, Appellant’s sentence on his robbery
conviction had maxed out, but he was still serving the sentence on his conspiracy conviction. See
id.
       3
        See Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988); Commonwealth v. Finley, 550
A.2d 213 (Pa. Super. 1988) (en banc).

                                               2
to the Superior Court, which affirmed the PCRA court’s dismissal. See id. Appellant
filed a petition for allowance of appeal that the Supreme Court denied on April 30,
2019.4 See id.; see also Commonwealth v. Dicks (Pa. Super., No. 774 EDA 2017,
filed Oct. 24, 2018), slip op. at 6.
              On December 21, 2018, Appellant filed the Motion for Time Credit at
issue in the instant matter. See Trial Court Opinion at 3; see also Motion for Time
Credit. Therein, Appellant claimed he was not awarded all credit to which he was
entitled for time served on the Assault Convictions. See generally Motion for Time
Credit. The Commonwealth filed a response to the Motion for Time Credit on
January 15, 2019, that conceded Appellant should receive some credit for time
served and requested an evidentiary hearing to allow Appellant to prove the credits
to which he claims entitlement. See Trial Court Opinion at 3; see also Response of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the Motion for Time Credit Filed by
Appellant.
              On January 18, 2019, the trial court entered the Trial Court Order
dismissing the Motion for Time Credit. See Trial Court Order. The Trial Court
Order explained that because

              the sole basis of [Appellant’s] claim is error in
              computation of time credit to be applied to [Appellant’s]
              sentence made by the Department of Corrections,
              [Appellant’s] relief must be sought through a [m]andamus
              [a]ction filed in Commonwealth Court. (See McCray v.
              Pa. [Dep’t of Corr.], 872 A.2d 1127, 1130 (Pa. [] 200[5]);
              Gaito v. [Pa.] [Bd.] of Prob[. &] Parole, [] 563 A.2d 545
              ([Pa. Cmwlth.] 1989).

       4
         The Supreme Court had not yet ruled on Appellant’s petition for allowance of appeal at
the time the trial court filed the Trial Court Opinion. See Trial Court Opinion at 2; see also
Commonwealth v. Dicks (Pa. Super., No. 774 EDA 2017, filed Oct. 24, 2018), slip op. at 6.

                                              3
Trial Court Order. Appellant timely appealed to this Court.
                 On appeal, Appellant claims that the trial court erred and abused its
discretion by dismissing the Motion for Time Credit where a question remained as
to whether the Department of Corrections (Department) awarded all credit for time
served to which Appellant was entitled on the Assault Convictions.5                         The
Commonwealth counters that the trial court properly dismissed the Motion for Time
Credit because claims regarding miscalculated credit for time served must be
brought in the Commonwealth Court as opposed to before a court of common pleas.
                 As our Supreme Court has observed:

                 Where discretionary actions and criteria are not being
                 contested, but rather the actions of the Department in
                 computing an inmate’s maximum and minimum dates of
                 confinement are being challenged, an action for
                 mandamus remains viable as a means for examining
                 whether statutory requirements have been met.

McCray, 872 A.2d at 1130-31. Thus, the Commonwealth Court is the appropriate
forum for claims challenging the Department’s calculation of the application of an
inmate’s credit for time served. See id. at 1131.

       5
           Appellant states his question presented as follows:

                 I. Whether based on the information the Appellant provided to the
                 [trial] court, there may be a question as to whether or not he received
                 all the credit he was entitled to for the time spent detained [] and the
                 [trial] court abused its discretion in determining “Petitioner’s relief
                 must be sought through a mandamus action filed in the
                 Commonwealth Court[”] while citing McCray v. Pa. [Dep’t] of
                 Corr[.], 872 A.2d 1127, 1130 (Pa. 200[5])?

Appellant’s Brief at 4 (all capitals omitted).

                                                    4
              Regarding the transfer of erroneously filed matters, Section 5103(a) of
the Judicial Code provides:

              If an appeal or other matter is taken to or brought in a court
              or magisterial district of this Commonwealth which does
              not have jurisdiction of the appeal or other matter, the
              court or magisterial district judge shall not quash such
              appeal or dismiss the matter, but shall transfer the record
              thereof to the proper tribunal of this Commonwealth,
              where the appeal or other matter shall be treated as if
              originally filed in the transferee tribunal on the date when
              the appeal or other matter was first filed in a court or
              magisterial district of this Commonwealth. A matter
              which is within the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or
              magisterial district judge of this Commonwealth but which
              is commenced in any other tribunal of this Commonwealth
              shall be transferred by the other tribunal to the proper court
              or magisterial district of this Commonwealth where it shall
              be treated as if originally filed in the transferee court or
              magisterial district of this Commonwealth on the date
              when first filed in the other tribunal.

42 Pa.C.S. § 5103(a).
              Here, although the trial court treated this matter as a petition filed
pursuant to the PCRA,6 it is apparent from a review of the Motion for Time Credit
that Appellant is challenging his maximum and minimum dates of confinement
based on the application of credits for time served to which Appellant claims he is
entitled. Thus, the matter is properly viewed as a mandamus request over which this
Court has jurisdiction.       See McCray.          Therefore, the trial court should have

       6
         To the extent the Trial Court Opinion observes that a trial court acting as a PCRA court
has no jurisdiction to entertain an additional PCRA petition during the pendency of a previously-
filed PCRA petition, we observe that the claims contained in the Motion for Time Credit differed
from the claims of Appellant’s first PCRA petition and were further improperly characterized as a
PCRA petition when they should have been brought in a mandamus action before this Court, as
discussed herein.
                                               5
transferred the matter to this Court pursuant to Section 5103(a) of the Judicial Code
and erred by not doing so. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 5103(a).
             Because the trial court erred by not transferring the Motion for Time
Credit to this Court, we vacate the Trial Court Order. Instead, we will treat the
Motion for Time Credit as being transferred to this Court with a filing date of
December 21, 2018. We direct the Prothonotary to assign the matter for disposition
by the Court.

                                       __________________________________
                                       CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge

                                         6
          IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania              :
                                          :
             v.                           :
                                          :
William Dicks,                            :   No. 721 C.D. 2020
                   Appellant              :

                                     ORDER

             AND NOW, this 14th day of June, 2023, the January 18, 2019 order of
the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County is VACATED.
             Appellant William Dicks’ Motion for Time Credit, filed in the Court of
Common Pleas of Philadelphia County on December 21, 2018, shall be treated as a
petition for review addressed to this Court’s original jurisdiction. See 42 Pa.C.S. §
761; Pa.R.A.P. 1502. Accordingly, the Prothonotary shall docket the Motion for
Time Credit as a petition for review and assign a new docket number in this Court’s
original jurisdiction. The Prothonotary is further directed to assign the matter to a
panel of this Court for disposition on the papers.
             The Prothonotary shall send a copy of this Order to the Honorable
Susan I. Schulman of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

                                       __________________________________
                                       CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge