The defendant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and related offenses for his role in a 2013 building collapse that killed and injured multiple people at a Salvation Army thrift store in Philadelphia. He filed a PCRA petition alleging trial counsel was ineffective based on counsel’s alleged conflicts of interest and failure to object during the prosecutor’s closing argument. The PCRA court dismissed the petition without a hearing. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed. The Court ruled that the PCRA pleadings did not establish that trial counsel had an “actual conflict” of interest based on his prior representation of two witnesses or, in the alternative, that trial counsel had a potential conflict that resulted in actual prejudice. The Court also concluded that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to the challenged comments because the prosecutor’s comments were neither improper nor denied the defendant a fair trial.
