From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Commonwealth v. Piedra

SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Sep 27, 2016
No. 2926 EDA 2015 (Pa. Super. Ct. Sep. 27, 2016)

Opinion

J-S63041-16 No. 2926 EDA 2015

09-27-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. ERASMO M. PIEDRA Appellant


NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

Appeal from the PCRA Order September 15, 2015 in the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-15-CR-0001234-2007 CP-15-CR-0001882-2007 CP-15-CR-0001922-2007 CP-15-CR-0001966-2007 BEFORE: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., SHOGAN, J., and FITZGERALD, J. JUDGMENT ORDER BY FITZGERALD, J.:

Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

Pro se Appellant, Erasmo M. Piedra, appeals from the order dismissing his second Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA") petition as untimely. We affirm.

We adopt the facts and procedural history set forth in the PCRA court's opinions. See Rule 1925 Second Supplemental Op., 10/22/15, at 1-2; Rule 1925 Supplemental Op., 10/19/15, at 1-3; see also Order, 9/15/15, at 2 n.1.; see generally Commonwealth v. Piedra , 595 EDA 2013 (Pa. Super. Dec. 4, 2013) (affirming denial of Appellant's first PCRA petition); Commonwealth v. Piedra , 323 EDA 2009 (Pa. Super. Oct. 5, 2010) (affirming Appellant's direct appeal). As noted by the PCRA court, Appellant's second petition, docketed on May 15, 2015, raised only one issue: a challenge to the discretionary aspects of his sentence. Following a Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice, Appellant filed a pro se response raising one additional issue: a claim that his sentence was illegal under Alleyne v. United States , 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013). The court formally dismissed Appellant's petition on September 15, 2015. Appellant timely appealed and timely filed a court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement raising a host of additional issues that were not raised in his original petition or response to the Rule 907 notice.

It is well-settled those additional issues are waived because they were not first presented to the PCRA court. See Pa.R.A.P. 302.

Before addressing the merits of Appellant's two preserved claims, we examine whether we have jurisdiction. See Commonwealth v. Fahy , 737 A.2d 214, 223 (Pa. 1999). "Our standard of review of a PCRA court's dismissal of a PCRA petition is limited to examining whether the PCRA court's determination is supported by the evidence of record and free of legal error." Commonwealth v. Wilson , 824 A.2d 331, 333 (Pa. Super. 2003) (en banc) (citation omitted). A PCRA petition "must normally be filed within one year of the date the judgment becomes final . . . unless one of the exceptions in § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii) applies and the petition is filed within 60 days of the date the claim could have been presented." Commonwealth v. Copenhefer , 941 A.2d 646, 648 (Pa. 2007) (citations and footnote omitted).

After careful review of the record, the parties' briefs, and the decision by the PCRA court, we affirm on the basis of the PCRA court's reasoning. See PCRA Ct. Order, 9/15/15, at 2 n.1; Order, 7/9/15, at 2 n.1 (holding (1) Appellant failed to plead and prove any one of the three timeliness exceptions to the one-year time bar; (2) challenge to discretionary aspects of sentence is not cognizable under PCRA; and (3) Alleyne does not apply retroactively to Appellant's case, as his judgment of sentence became final well before Alleyne was issued); see also Commonwealth v. Washington , ___ A.3d ___, ___, 2016 WL 3909088 at *8 (Pa. July 19, 2016) (holding, " Alleyne does not apply retroactively to cases pending on collateral review"). Having discerned no abuse of discretion or error of law, we affirm.

Order affirmed. Judgment Entered. /s/_________
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary Date: 9/27/2016

Image materials not available for display.


Summaries of

Commonwealth v. Piedra

SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Sep 27, 2016
No. 2926 EDA 2015 (Pa. Super. Ct. Sep. 27, 2016)
Case details for

Commonwealth v. Piedra

Case Details

Full title:COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. ERASMO M. PIEDRA Appellant

Court:SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Date published: Sep 27, 2016

Citations

No. 2926 EDA 2015 (Pa. Super. Ct. Sep. 27, 2016)