Com. v. Cowan, K., Com. v. Cowan, K. No. 242 MDA 2017

Appellant Kaylon Evan Cowan pled guilty under an Alford plea to aggravated assault and was sentenced on October 3, 2013 to a mandatory minimum term of 5 to 20 years and a $100 fine.
Cowan did not file a direct appeal; his judgment of sentence became final on November 4, 2013 (expiration of time to seek direct review).
Cowan filed a pro se PCRA petition on September 12, 2016 — well past the one-year statutory filing deadline (November 4, 2014).
Appointed PCRA counsel submitted a Turner/Finley no‑merit letter and moved to withdraw; the court gave Rule 907 notice and dismissed Cowan’s petition without a hearing.
Cowan argued his sentence was illegal under Alleyne and invoked the PCRA timeliness exception for newly recognized constitutional rights.
The PCRA court dismissed the petition as untimely; this appeal followed and the Superior Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a sentence alleged to be void can trigger the PCRA one‑year filing period (i.e., was Cowan's petition timely)	Cowan: sentence is illegal under Alleyne, so his claim invokes the newly recognized constitutional‑right exception to the one‑year time bar	Commonwealth: Cowan’s petition is facially untimely; Alleyne was decided before his petition and does not apply retroactively on collateral review	Court held the PCRA petition was untimely. Alleyne does not provide a retroactive basis for relief on collateral review and Cowan’s claim failed the timeliness exceptions

Commonwealth v. Ford, 44 A.3d 1190 (Pa. Super. 2012) (standard of review for PCRA dismissal)
Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013) (facts increasing mandatory minimum must be submitted to jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt)
Commonwealth v. Washington, 142 A.3d 810 (Pa. 2016) (Alleyne does not apply retroactively on collateral review)
Commonwealth v. Boyd, 923 A.2d 513 (Pa. Super. 2007) (sixty‑day rule for newly recognized constitutional rights under PCRA)