Com. v. Brown, J., 2151 EDA 2017

Jaron Brown pled guilty to multiple counts of robbery, conspiracy, and possessing instruments of crime on December 12, 2013.
On April 11, 2014, the trial court sentenced Brown to concurrent 7–14 year terms on the robbery counts, concurrent 7–14 year terms on the conspiracy counts (running with robbery), and 5 years probation consecutive to the robbery sentences.
Brown filed a pro se PCRA petition on March 20, 2015, and an amended petition through counsel on April 7, 2016; the PCRA court denied relief on April 10, 2017.
Brown appealed, claiming his sentence was imposed pursuant to the mandatory minimum provisions of 42 Pa.C.S. § 9712(a) (which he contends are unconstitutional under Alleyne) and that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge that sentence.
The certified record included DC-300B sentencing forms showing Brown was not sentenced under a statutory mandatory minimum; the sentencing transcript was not included.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Brown was sentenced under § 9712(a) mandatory minimums	Brown: Sentence imposed pursuant to § 9712(a), which is unconstitutional under Alleyne	Commonwealth/PCRA court: Record (DC-300B) shows no mandatory minimum was applied	Court: Brown was not subject to a § 9712(a) mandatory minimum; claim fails
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the mandatory minimum	Brown: Counsel should have raised/appealed unconstitutionality of § 9712(a) at sentencing or on direct appeal	Commonwealth: Counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to raise a meritless claim	Court: Ineffectiveness claim fails because the underlying claim lacked arguable merit
Whether PCRA denial without a hearing was proper	Brown implicitly: Relief warranted or hearing required	PCRA court/Commonwealth: Record dispositive; no hearing needed	Court: Denial without hearing affirmed
Procedural deficiency re: single notice of appeal disposing multiple cases	Brown: filed a single notice of appeal for multiple dockets	Commonwealth: Walker requires separate notices going forward; Walker applied prospectively	Court: Walker not applied retroactively here; appellate review permitted

Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013) (facts increasing statutory minimum must be found by a jury)
Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 107 A.3d 206 (Pa. Super. 2015) (held § 9712(a) unconstitutional under Alleyne)
Commonwealth v. Lesko, 15 A.3d 345 (Pa. 2011) (three-part ineffectiveness test and burden on defendant)
Commonwealth v. Steele, 961 A.2d 786 (Pa. 2008) (counsel presumed effective; appellant bears burden to prove ineffectiveness)
Commonwealth v. Fears, 86 A.3d 795 (Pa. 2014) (ineffectiveness and preservation principles)