What happens after a PCRA petition is denied?
A denial is not the end. It starts a 30-day appeal clock, and what happens in that month often decides whether the case has any future in state or federal court.
By John A. Julian, Esq. Updated October 1, 2026.
The Rule 907 notice
Before dismissing a petition without a hearing, the PCRA court must issue a notice of intent to dismiss under Pa.R.Crim.P. 907, stating its reasons. The petitioner has 20 days to respond. This is the last chance to fix a defect the court has identified: an omitted affidavit, an unpleaded timeliness exception, a claim stated too generally. A response that supplies the missing piece can prevent the dismissal. A response that simply repeats the petition usually does not.
If the court held an evidentiary hearing, no Rule 907 notice is required; the court rules after the hearing.
The appeal
An order denying PCRA relief is a final order. The notice of appeal must be filed in the trial court within 30 days under Pa.R.A.P. 903. The appeal goes to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Missing the 30 days generally forfeits the appeal.
After the notice of appeal, the trial court typically orders a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal under Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). Issues not included in that statement are waived. The trial court then writes an opinion explaining its ruling, the record is transmitted, and the parties brief the case. The Superior Court reviews whether the PCRA court's findings are supported by the record and whether its legal conclusions are correct.
If the Superior Court affirms, the petitioner may file a petition for allowance of appeal with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania within 30 days. Review there is discretionary and granted in a small fraction of cases.
The lawyer who handled the PCRA petition in the trial court is not always the right lawyer for the appeal. An appeal from a PCRA denial is a records-and-briefs exercise in front of a panel that has never seen the case. If PCRA counsel missed something, Commonwealth v. Bradley, 261 A.3d 381 (Pa. 2021), permits new counsel to raise PCRA counsel's ineffectiveness on appeal, but only at the first opportunity.
A second petition
A second or subsequent PCRA petition faces the same one-year deadline as the first, measured from the date the judgment became final, not from the denial of the first petition. For most people that deadline passed long ago, so a second petition must plead and prove one of the three timeliness exceptions in 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1): governmental interference, newly discovered facts, or a new retroactive constitutional right. It must be filed within one year of the date the exception could first have been raised.
A second petition also cannot be filed while an appeal from the first is pending. Under Commonwealth v. Lark, 560 Pa. 487, 746 A.2d 585 (2000), the trial court lacks jurisdiction over a new petition until the appeal concludes. If new evidence surfaces mid-appeal, the timing has to be managed carefully so that neither the appeal nor the new claim is lost.
Federal habeas corpus
Once state remedies are exhausted, a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 can be filed in federal district court. The federal deadline is one year, and it runs from the date the judgment became final on direct review, paused only while a properly filed PCRA petition is pending. It is not paused during the time to seek certiorari after the PCRA appeal ends, and it is not paused by a PCRA petition the state court found untimely. By the time a PCRA appeal concludes, the remaining federal time is often measured in weeks. This is the deadline most often lost, and it is lost silently.
What to do in the first week after a denial
- Calendar the 30-day appeal deadline from the date of the order.
- Calculate how much federal habeas time remains.
- Get the PCRA court's opinion and the hearing transcript, if there was one.
- Decide, with counsel, whether the appeal has merit and whether new counsel is warranted.
Not sure how this applies to your case? The first thing we do in a case review is pull the docket and calculate the deadline. Request a case review or call (215) 568-0607.
Common questions
How long do I have to appeal a PCRA denial?
Thirty days from the date of the order, under Pa.R.A.P. 903. The notice of appeal is filed in the trial court and the appeal goes to the Superior Court.
What is a Rule 907 notice?
A notice from the PCRA court that it intends to dismiss the petition without a hearing, with its reasons. The petitioner has 20 days to respond before the dismissal becomes final.
Can I file a second PCRA petition after the first is denied?
Only if it is timely, which for most people means pleading and proving one of the three statutory exceptions, and only after any appeal from the first petition has concluded.