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Commonwealth v. Dickson

SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Apr 24, 2018
No. 1826 EDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. Apr. 24, 2018)

Opinion

J. S15044/18 No. 1826 EDA 2017

04-24-2018

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. DARRYL H. DICKSON, Appellant


NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

Appeal from the PCRA Order, May 16, 2017, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Criminal Division at No. CP-51-CR-020501-1983 BEFORE: STABILE, J., DUBOW, J., AND FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E. MEMORANDUM BY FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.:

Appellant, Darryl Dickson, appeals pro se , from the May 16, 2017 order dismissing his second petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-9546, without a hearing. We affirm.

The PCRA court provided the following procedural history:

On September 8, 1983, [appellant] pled guilty to murder generally, criminal conspiracy, robbery, and possessing an instrument of crime before the Honorable Juanita Kidd Stout. Judge Stout found [appellant] guilty of second degree murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was sentenced to an aggregate sentence of twelve and [one-]half (12½) to thirty (30) years for the lesser offenses. No direct appeal was filed.

On February 24, 2004, [appellant] filed his first pro se [PCRA] petition. Counsel was appointed, and subsequently filed a Turner/ [ Finley ] no-merit letter to the court.[Footnote 2] On November 30, 2004, the PCRA petition was dismissed. The Pennsylvania
Superior Court affirmed the PCRA court's decision on November 10, 2005.[Footnote 3] [Appellant] did not file a petition for allowance of appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

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

[Footnote 3] Commonwealth v. Dickson , 890 A.2d 1097 (Pa.Super. 2005) (unpublished memorandum).

The instant petition was filed on August 13, 2012, followed by several amended petitions dated March 11, 2016, March 22, 2016, and August 17, 2016. Pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 907, [the PCRA] court sent a notice of intent to dismiss the petition as untimely without exception on March 7, 2017. [Appellant] did not file a response to the 907 notice. [The PCRA] court formally dismissed the petition on May 16, 2017. [Appellant] timely filed a notice of appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court on June 6, 2017.
PCRA court opinion, 7/25/17 at 1-2 (footnote 4 omitted). The PCRA court did not order appellant to file a concise statement of errors pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). The PCRA court filed an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) on July 25, 2017.

Appellant challenges the constitutionality of his sentence of life imprisonment. (Appellant's brief at 1.) Specifically, appellant maintains that his sentence is unconstitutional pursuant to the Supreme Court of the United States' holdings in Miller v. Alabama , 567 U.S. 460 (2012); Alleyne v. United States , 570 U.S. 99 (2013); and Montgomery v. Louisiana , 136 S.Ct. 718 (2016). ( See appellant's brief in passim.)

Having determined, after careful review, that the Honorable Tracy Brandeis-Roman, in her Rule 1925(a) opinion of July 25, 2017, ably and comprehensively disposes of appellant's issues on appeal, with appropriate references to the record and without legal error, we will affirm on the basis of that opinion dismissing appellant's serial PCRA petition as untimely. Additionally, appellant was 21 years of age at the time of the offense.

Order affirmed. Judgment Entered. /s/_________
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary Date: 4/24/18

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Summaries of

Commonwealth v. Dickson

SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Apr 24, 2018
No. 1826 EDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. Apr. 24, 2018)
Case details for

Commonwealth v. Dickson

Case Details

Full title:COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. DARRYL H. DICKSON, Appellant

Court:SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Date published: Apr 24, 2018

Citations

No. 1826 EDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. Apr. 24, 2018)