Com. v. Luciw, T., Com. v. Luciw, T. No. 1722 MDA 2016

On October 25, 2012, Theodore J. Luciw pleaded guilty to DUI under 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(a)(1) and was sentenced to 90–365 days’ imprisonment; he did not file a direct appeal.
Nearly four years later (August 19, 2016), after his sentence had expired, Luciw filed a PCRA petition asserting constitutional error based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Birchfield v. North Dakota.
The PCRA court denied relief on October 4, 2016, concluding Birchfield could not be applied retroactively to his expired sentence.
Luciw appealed; PCRA counsel filed a Turner/Finley no‑merit/Anders brief and moved to withdraw, notifying Luciw of his rights to proceed pro se or retain counsel.
The Superior Court examined Turner/Finley compliance, independently reviewed the record, and determined Luciw was ineligible for PCRA relief because he was not serving a sentence when he filed the petition.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Applicability of Birchfield to Luciw’s case	Luciw argued Birchfield’s prohibition on warrantless blood tests and on criminalizing refusal entitles him to relief	Commonwealth argued Birchfield does not apply retroactively to a petitioner whose sentence expired	Court held Birchfield could not be applied because Luciw was ineligible for PCRA relief since his sentence had expired
Eligibility for PCRA relief (timeliness / jurisdiction)	Luciw implicitly sought review despite sentence expiration	Commonwealth asserted PCRA requires petitioner be serving a sentence when relief is sought; otherwise court lacks jurisdiction	Court held PCRA bars relief for petitioners not currently serving a sentence and dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction

Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S. Ct. 2160 (U.S. 2016) (warrantless blood tests unconstitutional; states may not criminalize refusal)
Commonwealth v. Ahlborn, 699 A.2d 718 (Pa. 1997) (PCRA relief requires petitioner be serving sentence when petition filed)
Commonwealth v. Turner, 80 A.3d 754 (Pa. 2013) (PCRA court loses jurisdiction when sentence expires while petition pending)
Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967) (procedural requirements for counsel withdrawal on appeal)
Commonwealth v. Widgins, 29 A.3d 816 (Pa. Super. 2011) (appellate court must independently review record when counsel seeks to withdraw under Turner/Finley)