Commonwealth v. Chambers

1

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. EAVIN CHAMBERS Appellant

No. 393 EDA 2020

No. J-A21032-21

Superior Court of Pennsylvania

October 26, 2021

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 3, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0003090-2018

BEFORE: KUNSELMAN, J., NICHOLS, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E ^[*]

MEMORANDUM

STEVENS, P.J.E.:

Appellant Eavin Chambers appeals the judgment of sentence entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County after Appellant pled guilty to aggravated assault and strangulation. Appellant challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, the discretionary aspects of his sentence, and the revocation of his bail following the denial of his post-sentence motion. After careful review, we affirm.

The trial court summarized the factual background of the case as follows:

The underlying case stems from the arrest of Appellant for beating and strangling the complainant, Shalema McLean between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on December 22, 2017 in Appellant's rented residence at 5551 Ludlow Street in the City and County of Philadelphia. On that date, in the basement of the residence, the complainant and Appellant were involved in a verbal argument regarding their relationship.

The argument had been triggered by a female texting Appellant's phone then calling the complainant's phone. Appellant found a condom in the complainant's back pocket and retorted "you want to jump on my back about shit and you got a condom in your pocket." (See Philadelphia Police Department Investigation Report No. 2017-18-085872.1, 12/27/17). Appellant then began beating the complainant, punching and kicking her several times while choking her. The complainant had attempted to defend herself, but was overpowered by Appellant.

During this attack, Appellant forcibly removed the complainant's Pandora bracelet, took her cell phone and physically forced her to stay in his basement. After approximately two hours, the complainant was [able to] escape Appellant's basement and notified a family member of what had taken place while she was at 5551 Ludlow St. As a result of the assault, [the] complainant suffered a fractured and swollen black right eye, numerous bruises and scratches on both arms, and a contusion behind her right ear. Id. The complainant was treated for her injuries at Jefferson Hospital on December 23, 2017.

Trial Court Opinion (T.C.O.), 12/14/21, at 1-2.

In connection with this attack, Appellant was initially charged with aggravated assault, robbery, strangulation, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. Appellant pled not guilty on all charges and proceeded to a jury trial.

On December 3, 2019, Appellant's jury trial began and the complainant testified at trial. Following the complainant's testimony, Appellant agreed to enter a negotiated guilty plea to aggravated assault and strangulation in exchange for the remaining charges to be dropped. The parties agreed that Appellant would be sentenced to four to ten years' imprisonment for the aggravated assault charge and a four-year term of probation that would run concurrently to the parole period. The written plea colloquy did not discuss Appellant's post-sentencing bail.

That day, defense counsel requested a colloquy on the record in which he noted that Appellant would agree to a four-to-ten year prison term with a surrender date forty-five days later. While the trial court initially indicated that it would deny Appellant's request for post-sentence bail, which the trial court considered an invitation for Appellant to flee, Appellant pleaded with the trial court to delay his incarceration for forty-five days to allow him to see family members including his mother, sister, and two children, all of whom live out-of-state. While Appellant acknowledged that he was not permitted to leave Pennsylvania while on bail, he claimed that these family members would come to Pennsylvania to see him before he was incarcerated. Appellant also indicated that he had health issues that he wished to address with medical providers before his incarceration.

The trial court conducted an oral colloquy in which Appellant admitted to the factual basis for his pleas as presented by the Commonwealth, indicated that he was satisfied with his counsel's representation and indicated that he fully understood the terms and conditions of his negotiated sentence.

Thereafter, on the same day, December 3, 2019, the trial court entered a sentencing order incorporating the sentencing terms as agreed by the parties to four to ten years' imprisonment with a four-year probation term concurrent to Appellant's parole period. In addition, the trial court included other conditions including, inter alia, required drug treatment, drug testing, and a stay away order from the complainant. The trial court reconsidered Appellant's request for a deferred surrender date, revoked its decision to deny bail, and indicated that Appellant's sentence would begin on January 17, 2020.

On December 13, 2019, Appellant filed a post-sentence motion in which he sought to withdraw his guilty plea based on his assertion of his innocence. Appellant requested a new trial "to contest the false charges against him" and indicated that he intended to call three witnesses to testify as to the complainant's character for violence. In addition, Appellant requested that the trial court to reconsider his sentence "as a lesser term of total confinement would suffice." Post-sentence motion, 12/13/19, at 2. Appellant did not develop his sentencing claim beyond this bald assertion.

On December 19, 2019, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing, at which Appellant presented only one of his three proposed witnesses. Joyce Nwogu, Appellant's maternal aunt, testified that on an unknown rainy night in 2017, which was admittedly not the night of the assault at issue, she observed the complainant walking down the street barefoot. When Nwogu asked where her shoes were, the complainant indicated that something had happened with her boyfriend, and asked Nwogu to take her back to Appellant's house. When they returned, Appellant and the complainant had a verbal altercation in Nwogu's car after which Nwogu dropped the Appellant and the complainant off at a grocery store. Nwogu indicated that Appellant and the complainant did not engage in a physical altercation.

After Nwogu's testimony, Appellant asked the trial court to grant him a new trial to bring forth additional character witnesses. The trial court reminded Appellant that he had pled guilty in the middle of his first trial and had ample opportunity to decide whether to proceed with trial. Appellant denied asking the Court to withdraw his guilty plea and again admitted his guilt, stating "I never [said] I wasn't guilty, Judge." When the trial court confronted Appellant with the fact that Appellant's post-sentence motion asserted his innocence and asked to withdraw his guilty plea, Appellant acknowledged these points and conceded that he made these claims to ask for a reduced sentence.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied Appellant's post-sentence motion. In addition, the trial court revoked Appellant's bail as the trial court felt Appellant posed a flight risk, posed a risk to the victim, and was using the post-sentence motion to manipulate the system. Appellant was taken into custody following the evidentiary hearing. On January 21, 2020, Appellant filed a timely appeal and subsequently complied with the trial court's direction to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).^[1]

Appellant raises the following issues on appeal:

1. Did the court err in denying the motion to withdraw the guilty plea?

2. Did the court err in denying the motion to modify sentence?

3. Did the court err in incarcerating [Appellant] on December 19, 2019, in violation of the agreement reached on December 3, 2019, to let him surrender 45 days after the plea (original surrender date to be on January 17, 2020)? Having denied the motion to withdraw the guilty plea, did the court err in depriving [Appellant] the benefit of the bargain and did it so because [Appellant] filed a post sentence motion on December 13, 2019, in violation of the due process clauses of the federal constitution and the law of the land clause of the Pennsylvania constitution?

Appellant's Brief, at 1-2.

We initially must discuss the fact that Appellant's brief fails to comply with our Rules of Appellate Procedure. Appellant includes no argument, citation to case law, or relevant analysis to support his first two claims, but instead focuses the argument section of his brief on solely on the third issue. See Pa.R.A.P. 2119(a) (requiring the argument to include "such discussion and citation of authorities as are deemed pertinent.").

As such, we find that Appellant has waived the first two arguments due to his failure to develop these claims on appeal. Commonwealth v. McGrath, 255 A.3d 581, 588, n.5 (Pa.Super. 2021) (citing Commonwealth v. Perez, 625 Pa. 601, 93 A.3d 829, 838 (2014) (the failure to develop an appellate argument with citations to supporting authorities and the record is waived)); Commonwealth v. Donoughe, 243 A.3d 980, 986 (Pa.Super. 2020) (emphasizing that "[i]t is not the role of this Court to formulate an appellant's arguments for him").

Thus the only claim Appellant properly developed on appeal is his challenge to the trial court's decision to revoke his bail after the post-sentence motion hearing despite its prior indication that Appellant would...