Commonwealth v. Stahley

201 A.3d 200

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania

v.Tristan STAHLEY, Appellant

No. 3109 EDA 2017

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued August 7, 2018

Filed December 19, 2018

Marsha Levick, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Robert M. Falin, Assistant District Attorney, Norristown, for Commonwealth, appellee.

BEFORE: STABILE, J., STEVENS,^* P.J.E., and STRASSBURGER,^** J.

OPINION BY STEVENS, P.J.E.:

Appellant, Tristan Stahley, appeals from the order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County dismissing his petition filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 1941-1946. Herein, he contends the PCRA court erroneously denied his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims and his legality of sentencing claim based on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's recent decision in Commonwealth v. Batts , 640 Pa. 401, 163 A.3d 410 (2017) (" Batts II ") (devising procedural safeguards to ensure proper implementation of Miller v. Alabama , 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) in the consideration of life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders). We affirm.

The PCRA court aptly provides a comprehensive recitation of relevant facts and procedural history, as follows:

[Appellant's stipulated non-jury trial] established that on May 25, 2013, Appellant murdered Julianne Siller, who was 17 years-old. N.T. (trial), 9/29/14, at 13. Appellant was 16 years of age at the time of the murder. Id.

On the night of the incident, a dispatch came into the State Police of a stabbing in Palmer Park. Id. The two responding troopers went to Appellant's house, where they saw Appellant and his father on the ground fighting. Id. After separating the two, Appellant [made] a statement that he stabbed his girlfriend because she broke up with him and that he thought she would hook up with other people. Id.

The troopers took Appellant to Palmer Park and he directed them to the trail where [ ] Ms. Siller was [lying]. Id. There was blood on the trail and a trail of blood [leading] into the woods of the park. Id. Appellant's DNA was found at the scene. There was DNA on the knife used to kill Ms. Siller. Id. at 13-14. The handle of the knife contained Appellant's DNA and on the blade was [DNA belonging to] Ms. Siller. Id. at 14. In addition, one of the troopers found blood in the bathroom at Palmer Park that was genetically matched to Appellant. Id.

At the scene of the crime the troopers found Ms. Siller's jean jacket with a stab wound in it, a shirt that had blood on it, stab wounds on Ms. Siller, and the murder weapon, 10 feet from Ms. Siller's body. Id.

Trooper Barry Bertolet took custody of Appellant at the scene when Ms. Siller's body was found. Id. Trooper Bertolet went through the Miranda^[1] warnings form with Appellant while in the presence of his mother. Id. Appellant and his mother both signed the form, indicating they understood all of his rights. Id.

Appellant gave the troopers a statement. During this statement Appellant told the trooper that he was sober and that he understood what was going on. Id. In the statement, Appellant gave a rendition of the facts, wherein he said that he and Ms. Siller were in a relationship, but they were on-again, off-again and that she would always come back. Id. at 15. Additionally, he told the troopers that they got into a fight that night about her going out and that he stabbed her in the neck with the knife. Id. The trooper asked Appellant, "When did you make the decision in your mind?" [Appellant] replied, "About two seconds before I did it." Id.

An autopsy was performed on Ms. Siller and the cause of death was determined to be multiple stab and cutting wounds, and the manner of death was homicide. Id. Ms. Siller suffered over 75 stab wounds to her body, including 27 to her head and neck and 45 to her torso and shoulders. Id.

At the conclusion of trial, [the trial court] found Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murder in the first degree. Id. at 19.

On December 17, 2014, a sentencing hearing was held. After considering the Miller v. Alabama , [567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) ] factors as codified in 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 1102.1 and stating its reasons on the record, including the finding of irreparable corruption, [the trial court] imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. No appeal was filed.

On December 22, 2015, Appellant filed a pro se PCRA petition. Counsel was appointed, and after multiple extensions of time, PCRA counsel filed an Amended PCRA Petition on February 13, 2017.

A PCRA Hearing was conducted on July 25, 2017. Appellant's trial counsel, Timothy Barton, a seasoned defense attorney of 29 years, provided credible testimony as follows.

Attorney Barton's involvement in this case began when he had been privately retained by the Stahleys. Id. at 4. In his initial meeting with the Stahley family, he discussed the scope and nature of his representation and he also interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Stahley regarding anything they might know about the incident. N.T., (PCRA hearing), 7/25/17, at 5.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Stahley had been present the night that Appellant was arrested. Id. Mrs. Stahley accompanied Appellant to the police station and was present during the custodial interrogation when Appellant, then a minor, gave a statement to police. Id. at 5-6.

Attorney Barton estimated that he met with Appellant over a dozen times, "if not more." Id. at 6. He met with him on a weekly basis for a period of time at Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Id. In addition, Attorney Barton testified that he met with Appellant's parents "[o]ften" and were in frequent contact, although he was unable to estimate on how many occasions. Id. at 6-7.

Since Appellant admitted to the murder in his statement to police, Attorney Barton's initial strategy was to focus on whether at the time of the crime Appellant could have formed a specific intent to kill and what degree of guilt it might be. Id. at 7.

Prior to trial, Attorney Barton in part prepared a decertification motion, for which he retained two psychiatrists, Dr. John O'Brien and Dr. Steven Samuel for the purpose of interviewing Appellant to ascertain what defenses there might be at trial. Id. at 25-27. In part, Attorney Barton wanted to use Dr. Samuel's report to show the [District Attorney] that there should be some sort of plea negotiations. Id. at 27. In addition, he had several conversations with the assigned Assistant District Attorney, Jeremy Lupo, who had been assigned the case and with the then District Attorney, Risa Ferman, about possible resolutions. Id. at 8. ADA Lupo informally suggested that if Appellant were to plead guilty, the Commonwealth would recommend a sentence of 40-80 years' imprisonment. Id. at 28. Attorney Barton testified that Appellant was not interested in that deal in large part because he believed that in 40 years his mom and/or dad would be deceased. Id. That was very important to Appellant, the hope that he would be able to unify with his parents. Id.

Attorney Barton testified that in his conversations with Appellant, they spoke about whether he actually formed the intent to kill. Id. at 9. Attorney Barton also testified that Appellant had described his state of mind the evening of the murder, telling him that he intended to kill the victim. Id. at 32. Appellant told Attorney Barton this at various meetings at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Specifically, Appellant told Attorney Barton that it was not his intent to kill Miss Siller when they were home or left the home or went to the park, but at some point while at the park he decided to kill her. Id.

Attorney Barton stated that he had reviewed discovery, which included a property receipt for a search that was executed at the Stahleys' home. Id. at 9-10. In that property receipt was a "nearly empty bottle of raspberry vodka." Id. at 11.

Attorney Barton also reviewed various witness statement, and in particular the statement of Todd Evans, a paramedic who treated Appellant the evening of the murder, wherein Appellant told Mr. Evans that he was under the influence of alcohol. Id. at 12. Appellant had also told police in his statement that he had been under the influence of alcohol. Id.

According to Attorney Barton, he had also received an expert report from Dr. O'Brien which opined "It is my opinion that [Appellant's] records and the psychological testing performed by Dr. Samuel reflect him to have been a troubled adolescent with a combination of both psychiatric symptoms and characterological difficulties which rendered him susceptible to the disinhibiting effects of alcohol on the night of the offense." Id. at 13, 15. The report concluded "It is my opinion that as a result of his psychiatric, psychological and characterological impairments, and his degree of intoxication at the time of the offense, [Appellant] was not able to premeditate, deliberate and formulate the intent to kill Julianne Siller, notwithstanding his response to police questioning about the timing of his ‘decision’ to kill Julianne Siller at the time of the offense."Id. at 17.

Attorney Barton had this report prior to the trial; however, he did not call Dr. O'Brien to testify at the time of trial or at the suppression hearing. Id. at 17-18. On cross-examination, Attorney Barton explained that Dr. O'Brien had been privately retained by the Stahley family for an opinion regarding Appellant's ability to form the specific intent to kill, in anticipation of him testifying at a jury trial. Id. at 29.

At some point, Attorney Barton had concerns about Dr. O'Brien's opinion. Id. at 30. He elaborated that in speaking with Dr. O'Brien after the Commonwealth had an expert examine Appellant and prepare a report, and some of the statements Appellant made after Dr. O'Brien's report was prepared, that Dr. O'Brien's opinion was weakened, if not invalidated. Id. at 30. More specifically, Attorney Barton had the expert report prepared by Dr. Barbara Ziv, the expert retained

...