Com. v. Wayne, S., Com. v. Wayne, S. No. 204 EDA 2016

Between 2000–2003, Sean M. Wayne sexually assaulted two young girls (ages ~6–8) while babysitting, including digital penetration, exposing himself, and forcing contact.
An incident in July 2011 prompted the victims to report to police; Wayne was arrested March 2, 2012.
On December 4, 2012, Wayne entered a negotiated guilty plea to Indecent Assault of a Person Less Than 13 and Corrupting the Morals of a Minor.
On April 25, 2013, the court imposed an aggregate sentence of 9–23 months with credit for time served, immediate parole, and three years reporting probation; parole was later revoked for violation.
Wayne filed a pro se PCRA petition (Aug 15, 2013), an amended PCRA was filed by counsel (Nov 7, 2014), and the PCRA court denied relief on Dec 21, 2015; Wayne appealed.
Wayne argued trial counsel was ineffective for failing to withdraw his guilty plea despite his alleged instruction to do so; the record showed Wayne sworn at sentencing said he did not wish to withdraw his plea.

Issue	Wayne's Argument	Commonwealth's Argument	Held
Whether the PCRA court erred by denying an evidentiary hearing on counsel ineffectiveness for not withdrawing the guilty plea	Wayne claimed he told counsel to withdraw the plea and counsel ignored him	Record shows Wayne, under oath at the colloquy, stated he did not wish to withdraw the plea; no material factual dispute	No error: PCRA court properly denied a hearing because issue lacked arguable merit and no material facts were disputed
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to withdraw the guilty plea	Counsel ignored Wayne’s instructions to withdraw	Sworn statements at plea/sentencing bind Wayne; counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to pursue a meritless claim	Counsel was not ineffective; claim fails because it contradicted sworn in-court testimony and lacked arguable merit

Commonwealth v. Robinson, 139 A.3d 178 (Pa. 2016) (standard of appellate review of PCRA denials)
Commonwealth v. Lippert, 85 A.3d 1095 (Pa. Super. 2014) (PCRA court findings reviewed for support in record)
Commonwealth v. Jones, 942 A.2d 903 (Pa. Super. 2008) (no absolute right to evidentiary hearing when record shows no genuine material factual disputes)
Commonwealth v. Barbosa, 819 A.2d 81 (Pa. Super. 2003) (same principle regarding evidentiary hearings)
Commonwealth v. Mason, 130 A.3d 601 (Pa. 2015) (discretionary nature of PCRA evidentiary hearing review)
Commonwealth v. Stewart, 84 A.3d 701 (Pa. Super. 2013) (three-prong ineffective assistance of counsel test)
Commonwealth v. Martin, 5 A.3d 177 (Pa. 2010) (ineffectiveness claim fails if any prong not met)
Commonwealth v. Montalvo, 114 A.3d 401 (Pa. 2015) (presumption counsel was effective)
Commonwealth v. Loner, 836 A.2d 125 (Pa. Super. 2003) (counsel not ineffective for failing to pursue meritless claim)
Commonwealth v. Johnson, 139 A.3d 1257 (Pa. 2016) (courts may address any prong of ineffectiveness first)
Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 720 A.2d 693 (Pa. 1998) (same procedural note on prong analysis)
Commonwealth v. Willis, 68 A.3d 997 (Pa. Super. 2013) (a defendant is bound by sworn statements at plea colloquy)