[J-51-2018] IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA EASTERN DISTRICT SAYLOR, C.J., BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, MUNDY, JJ. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 720 CAP : Appellee : Appeal from the Order dated : 12/8/2015 in the Court of Common : Pleas, Cumberland County, Criminal v. : Division at No. CP-21-CR-0001183- : 1996 : ANTYANE ROBINSON, : SUBMITTED: June 11, 2018 : Appellant : OPINION IN SUPPORT OF REVERSAL JUSTICE DONOHUE DECIDED: December 14, 2018 In this capital appeal, we review the dismissal, on timeliness grounds, of the third petition for relief filed by Appellant Antyane Robinson (“Robinson”) pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546 (“PCRA”).1 Robinson’s petition, raising a due process violation, is premised upon the receipt and delivery of offensive emails by former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin (“Eakin”) and possible ex 1 A PCRA petition must be filed within one year of the date a criminal defendant’s judgment of sentence becomes final for a court to have jurisdiction to decide the merits of the claims raised therein. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1); Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 141 A.3d 1277, 1284 (Pa. 2016). The PCRA provides several exceptions to the one-year time bar including circumstances wherein “the facts upon which the claim is predicated were unknown to the petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence” and the petition is filed within sixty days of the date the claim could have been presented. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(ii), (2). parte communication between Eakin and members of the Office of the Cumberland County District Attorney (the “DA”). We are also asked to decide whether the DA should be disqualified from participating in this matter based on the connection between the DA and Eakin that was exposed through Eakin’s disciplinary proceedings. For the reasons that follow, we would conclude that Robinson satisfied the newly discovered fact exception to the PCRA’s one-year time requirement and filed his petition within sixty days of the date his claim could have first been brought. We further would conclude that the particular facts and circumstances of this case require the disqualification of the DA from further proceedings. We would hold that, on remand, the President Judge of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas must refer the matter to the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) who, in the absence of a conflict, would represent the Commonwealth in this matter. The PCRA court would also be ordered to give renewed consideration to Robinson’s requests to amend his PCRA petition, for discovery and for an evidentiary hearing.2 The backdrop of this case is an email scandal that first came to light in 2014 following an investigation conducted by former Attorney General Kathleen Kane into her predecessor’s handling of an unrelated matter. This investigation uncovered emails sent from and received by members of her office on Commonwealth owned computers that contained racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and religiously and ethnically insensitive content. Their piecemeal release revealed individuals from all three ...
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