Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Charles Lawson

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with third-degree murder.





On October 26, 1992, subsequent to a bench trial, [Appellant] was found guilty of third-degree murder, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(c), aggravated assault, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)(1), and possession of an instrument of crime, 18 Pa.C.S. § 907(a). Instantly, Appellant was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder, two and one-half (2½) years for possession of an instrument of crime, concurrent to the life sentence, and five (5) to ten (10) years for aggravated assault, consecutive to possession of an instrument of crime, but concurrent to the life sentence, all to be served at a State Correctional Institution. Appellant filed a direct appeal whereupon [this Court] affirmed [the trial court]'s decision .... Appellant did not seek allocatur with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ("Supreme Court"). On September 30, 1993, Appellant's sentence became final upon the expiration of the thirty (30) day window for seeking allocatur. The life term was mandatory because Appellant had previously been convicted of third-degree murder in 1978 when he was seventeen (17) years old.

"PCRA petition any exception to the PCRA time-bar.[3] See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). Therefore, Appellant's petition remains time barred.[4] See Zeigler, supra. Accordingly, we affirm the order denying PCRA relief.



Order affirmed." Commonwealth v. Lawson (Pa. Super. Ct. 2022)