Com. v. Bittinger, R., 1630 MDA 2016

In 1985 Robert Allen Bittinger pled guilty to first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy for a contract killing; he received mandatory life for murder plus a consecutive sentence for conspiracy.
Direct appeals concluded in 1986; this Court affirmed the convictions and later affirmed a resentencing on the conspiracy count.
Bittinger filed an initial PCHA/PCRA petition in 1987–1989, which was denied and affirmed on appeal.
On March 28, 2016, Bittinger filed a second PCRA petition asserting a retroactive constitutional claim under Miller/Montgomery; the PCRA court issued a Rule 907 notice and dismissed the petition as untimely on September 6, 2016.
Bittinger appealed pro se, arguing Miller/Montgomery made his life-without-parole collateral attack timely despite being 19 at the time of the offense.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Miller/Montgomery’s retroactivity exception to the PCRA time-bar applies when petitioner was 19 at the time of the offense	Bittinger: Miller/Montgomery announce a new retroactive Eighth Amendment rule that should make his petition timely	Commonwealth: Miller applies only to those under 18; petitioner was 19 so the exception is inapplicable	Court: Miller does not apply to offenders 18 or older; petition remains untimely and was properly dismissed

Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012) (holding mandatory life without parole unconstitutional for defendants under 18)
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016) (holding Miller is retroactive on state collateral review)
Commonwealth v. Cintora, 69 A.3d 759 (Pa. Super. 2013) (holding Miller does not create a new right for those 18 or older at the time of the offense)
Commonwealth v. Furgess, 149 A.3d 90 (Pa. Super. 2016) (reaffirming Miller’s inapplicability to offenders 18 or older)
Commonwealth v. Ousley, 21 A.3d 1238 (Pa. Super. 2011) (standard of review for PCRA denials)
Commonwealth v. Brown, 111 A.3d 171 (Pa. Super. 2015) (timeliness of PCRA petitions is jurisdictional)