Com. v. Minnich, C.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 9, 2020
Docket238 EDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Minnich, C. (Com. v. Minnich, C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Minnich, C., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-A01015-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : CHRISTOPHER MINNICH : : Appellant : No. 238 EDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 17, 2018 In the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-09-CR-0008443-2017

BEFORE: NICHOLS, J., MURRAY, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.: Filed: April 9, 2020

Appellant Christopher Minnich appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed following his bench trial conviction for possession of a controlled

substance with intent to deliver (PWID) and related offenses. Appellant

argues that the trial court erred by denying his pre-trial motion to suppress.

We affirm.

We summarize the facts set forth at the suppression hearing. Bristol

Township Police Officer Dennis Leighton testified that he had been a police

officer since 2002, and was assigned to the narcotics division in 2014. N.T.

Suppression Hr’g, 4/17/18, at 8. Officer Leighton stated that he previously

served six years on an FBI violence task force focused on narcotics

investigations. Id. at 7-8. He also indicated that he had conducted ____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-A01015-20

investigations in “well over [one hundred]” cases involving hand-to-hand drug

transactions. Id. at 9.

At approximately 8:08 p.m. on May 31, 2016, Officer Leighton, who was

off duty, took his wife to Dairy Delite, an ice cream stand located on Bristol

Pike in Bucks County. Id. at 10-11. Officer Leighton was driving his personal

vehicle and wearing plain clothes. Id. at 11. Officer Leighton pulled into a

parking spot at Dairy Delite and he saw a female driver pull her vehicle pull

into the spot next to him. Id. at 13. At that time, Officer Leighton made eye

contact with Appellant, who was seated in the front passenger seat of the

other vehicle. Id. at 13, 33. After Appellant exited the vehicle, Officer

Leighton observed Appellant walk towards Under the Pier, a restaurant located

across the street from Dairy Delite. Id. at 14.

Officer Leighton explained that Appellant “was walking at a pretty brisk

pace across the parking lot. And at no time did his direction waiver. It was

pretty much in a straight line towards the Under the Pier [restaurant].” Id.

at 15. Officer Leighton stated that Appellant “was looking over his shoulders

left and right” but ultimately “walked directly to the person that was standing

in that parking lot.” Id. at 16.

Officer Leighton continued to watch Appellant as the officer and his wife

walked towards the line for ice cream. Appellant, who was still in the Dairy

Delight’s parking lot, appeared to be “looking around the parking lot” of Under

the Pier. Id. at 14. Officer Leighton then saw another male in the Under the

Pier parking lot “pacing back and forth[,] looking back at” Appellant. Id. At

-2- J-A01015-20

that point, Appellant walked “past the area of the Dairy Delite where you would

go to purchase your ice cream,” and “continued to cross the jughandle and

then met with the male that was standing in [the] parking lot of Under the

Pier.” Id.

Officer Leighton indicated that he was initially “suspicious of the

behavior” because Appellant walked “across an open business to another open

business that has its own separate parking lot and [is] separated by a street

and a jughandle, and then there’s another male who is just meandering in

that parking lot waiting for [Appellant] to arrive.” Id. at 36. Officer Leighton

called the dispatch operator for the Bristol Township Police and requested that

a uniformed police officer investigate what he believed was a possible drug

transaction. Id. at 27, 51.

While he was on the phone with dispatch, Officer Leighton continued to

observe Appellant and the other male. Id. at 14, 27. After a brief interaction,

the two men got into a green car in the Under the Pier parking lot. Id. at 15.

Appellant sat in the front passenger seat and the other male sat in the driver’s

seat. Id. at 15. Officer Leighton stated that while the two men were in the

vehicle, he saw Appellant turn his upper body toward the other male, who was

seated on the driver’s side. Id. at 25. He also saw Appellant move his right

shoulder forward. Id. Officer Leighton explained that, based on his

experience, “the actions that occurred the time that they were inside of the

vehicle, [were] extremely consistent with observations that [Officer Leighton

has] made [during] actual controlled purchases where informants have

-3- J-A01015-20

returned with narcotics.” Id. After approximately two minutes, both men

exited the vehicle. Id. at 24. The male entered the Under the Pier restaurant,

and Appellant walked back towards the Dairy Delite parking lot.1 Id. at 26.

By this point, Officer Leighton explained that was suspicious of Appellant

based on

the mannerisms and the behavior that I was observing that I have seen numerous times prior to that [day]. The interactions, the brief amount of time, the separation between the parking lots, the two vehicles, all of that helped formulate my opinion as to what I believed was occurring there at that moment, because I observed those same behaviors with other people who I have not known or met before in other parts of Bristol Township where I ultimately made narcotics arrests.

Id. at 40.

Further, Officer Leighton explained that “[i]f I had arrived there and just

observed the two of them just being in the car,” then it could be consistent

with two people exchanging a legal object. Id. at 41. However, “based upon

everything else, on my training and experience, what I believed I had

observed was a drug transaction.” Id.

After returning from the Under the Pier parking lot, Appellant walked

over to his female companion, who was standing in the ice cream line directly

in front of Officer Leighton and his wife. Id. At that time, while standing

about five feet behind Appellant, Officer Leighton asked, “did you just drop off

____________________________________________

1 At the suppression hearing, Appellant testified that he went to Under the Pier “to talk[] with a friend.” Id. at 80. However, the trial court credited Officer Leighton’s version of events.

-4- J-A01015-20

or did you pick up?” Id. at 27. Appellant asked if Officer Leighton was talking

to him. Id. at 28. Officer Leighton responded by repeating his question. Id.

at 29. Officer Leighton saw Appellant “make a hard swallow, he had a

confused look on his face” and “was able to physically observe the arteries in

his neck beg[i]n to pulse very pronounced.” Id. Appellant also “got a little

irate, a little upset” and accused Officer Leighton “of embarrassing him while

he was standing in line.” Id. Officer Leighton testified that up until this point,

he had not identified himself as a police officer. Id. at 45.

After this brief exchange with Appellant, Officer Leighton told Appellant

that he “observed him walk across the parking lot, meet with a guy in a

completely different parking lot, enter his car, and then come back there” and

that he “believed that [he] had just witnessed a drug transaction.” Id. at 29.

Officer Leighton then identified himself as a police officer and told Appellant

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Commonwealth v. Donaldson
786 A.2d 279 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. Pakacki
901 A.2d 983 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Collins
950 A.2d 1041 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Commonwealth v. Carter
105 A.3d 765 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Stilo
138 A.3d 33 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Commonwealth v. Parker
161 A.3d 357 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Young
162 A.3d 524 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Adams, E., Aplt.
205 A.3d 1195 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. E.M.
735 A.2d 654 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Commonwealth v. Walton
63 A.3d 253 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Bryant
67 A.3d 716 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Lyles
97 A.3d 298 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Minnich, C., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-minnich-c-pasuperct-2020.