Com. v. Williams, R., 1960 MDA 2015

On July 17, 2011, Williams and an accomplice entered a residence armed, ordered five men to remove shoes and pants, and robbed them; victims later reported to police.
A jury convicted Williams of two counts of robbery and two counts of simple assault after a two-day trial; aggregate sentence 15½ to 40 years plus restitution.
Williams’ direct appeal and petition for allowance of appeal were denied.
Williams filed a timely pro se PCRA petition in 2015; counsel was appointed, a hearing held, and the PCRA court denied relief.
Appellate counsel filed a Turner/Finley no-merit brief and petition to withdraw, raising two ineffective-assistance claims: (1) trial counsel failed to move to suppress a photo lineup as unduly suggestive; (2) direct-appeal counsel failed to appeal the denial of a Batson challenge.
The Superior Court granted counsel’s withdrawal and affirmed the PCRA denial, concluding both claims lacked merit.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress a photographic lineup as unduly suggestive	Williams: photo array was suggestive (only two with cornrows; varied skin tones) and counsel should have moved to suppress	Commonwealth: array did not make Williams’ picture stand out; witnesses described two Black males of differing height/complexion	Denied — suppression claim lacked arguable merit, so counsel not ineffective for not pursuing it
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for not appealing denial of Batson challenge	Williams: prosecutor struck the only African‑American juror, raising inference of discriminatory intent	Commonwealth: offered race-neutral reasons (occupation sympathy, lack of eye contact, neighborhood and surname association); trial court credited those reasons	Denied — trial court’s credibility finding was not clearly erroneous; Batson challenge would not have succeeded, so counsel not ineffective

Commonwealth v. Williams, 980 A.2d 510 (Pa. 2009) (Batson framework and deferential review of trial court credibility)
Commonwealth v. Roney, 79 A.3d 595 (Pa. 2013) (deference to trial court on discriminatory intent findings)
Commonwealth v. Keaton, 82 A.3d 419 (Pa. 2013) (counsel not ineffective for failing to pursue meritless claims)
Commonwealth v. Fisher, 769 A.2d 1116 (Pa. 2001) (photographic lineups not unduly suggestive if suspect does not stand out)
Commonwealth v. DeJesus, 860 A.2d 102 (Pa. 2004) (totality of circumstances governs reliability of out-of-court identifications)