Com. v. Gray, T., 1210 MDA 2016

Appellant Timmy Sam Gray pled guilty on October 21, 2015 to failure to comply with registration requirements (18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1(a)(2)) pursuant to a negotiated plea for 27–54 months, concurrent to an existing sentence.
Gray signed a written plea colloquy and made an oral admission that he moved in with his girlfriend and failed to notify his supervising officer or update his address; the court accepted the plea as knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
Gray did not file post-sentence motions or a direct appeal; he timely filed a PCRA petition on April 25, 2016 asserting he had in fact updated his address with the police.
PCRA counsel filed a Turner/Finley no-merit letter and moved to withdraw; the court granted the motion, issued a Pa.R.Crim.P. 907 notice, and denied relief on July 5, 2016.
Gray appealed pro se and was ordered to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement; the court granted an extension but Gray did not file the concise statement and thus failed to comply with the court’s order.
The Superior Court deemed Gray’s appellate issue(s) waived for failure to file a Rule 1925(b) statement and affirmed the denial of PCRA relief; the court also noted the sentencing order did reference Section 4915.1.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Gray’s PCRA claim that he timely updated his address invalidates his conviction	Gray contends he did update his address with police, making the conviction unlawful	Commonwealth argues Gray admitted the factual basis at plea and failed to preserve issues by not filing a 1925(b) statement	Waived for appellate review due to Gray’s failure to file a Rule 1925(b) statement; PCRA denial affirmed
Whether appellate court may consider a new claim that the sentencing order lacked statutory citation	Gray argues court lacked statutory authorization because the sentencing order did not cite the statute	Commonwealth asserts the sentencing order did reference Section 4915.1, so statutory authorization is shown	Court found the record belies the claim—the sentencing order expressly referenced Section 4915.1

Commonwealth v. Castillo, 888 A.2d 775 (Pa. 2005) (failure to file a Rule 1925(b) statement generally results in waiver)
Commonwealth v. Lord, 719 A.2d 306 (Pa. 1998) (same — issues not raised in a 1925(b) statement are deemed waived)
Commonwealth v. Turner, 544 A.2d 927 (Pa. 1988) (procedures for court-appointed counsel seeking to withdraw under a no-merit theory)
Commonwealth v. Finley, 550 A.2d 213 (Pa. Super. 1988) (en banc) (procedural guidance for no-merit submissions by counsel)