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Commonwealth v. Van Horn

Defendant failed to establish that absence of his relatives' testimony was so prejudicial as to require a new trial; trial attorney had good strategic reasons for not calling relatives as witnesses.

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� 1 This is an appeal from the order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County denying Appellant’s first petition filed under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S.A. �� 9541-9546. Appellant contends that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to call numerous witnesses to testify at trial and objecting to remarks made by the Commonwealth during closing argument. We affirm.

� 2 The relevant facts and procedural history are as follows: On February 13, 1997, Appellant, represented by Assistant Public Defender Mark Minotti, was convicted by a jury of rape, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of minors. The charges stemmed from Appellant’s assault of his daughter’s son over a period of at least two years.

On March 27, 1997, Appellant was sentenced to an aggregate of eighteen to thirty-six years in prison. Appellant filed post-sentence motions, which were denied, and, still represented by Attorney Minotti, Appellant filed a direct appeal to this Court. On direct appeal, Appellant alleged (1) the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, (2) the evidence was insufficient, (3) the trial court erred in determining the victim was competent to testify, and (4) Appellant’s sentence violated the Double Jeopardy Clause. We found Appellant’s issues to be meritless, and, on June 11, 1998, we affirmed Appellant’s judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Van Horn, 723 A.2d 237 (Pa.Super. 1998) (unpublished memorandum). Appellant filed a petition for allowance of appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the petition was denied on April 6, 1999. Commonwealth v. Van Horn, 558 Pa. 631, 737 A.2d 1225 (1999).

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