Commonwealth v. Avondet

654 A.2d 587, 439 Pa. Super. 421, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 445
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 14, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 654 A.2d 587 (Commonwealth v. Avondet) 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
Commonwealth v. Avondet, 654 A.2d 587, 439 Pa. Super. 421, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 445 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

HESTER, Judge:

This is a Commonwealth appeal1 from the May 17, 1994 order suppressing certain statements made by appellee at the time of his arrest. We reverse and remand.

Initially, we examine the relevant standard of review:

[W]hen reviewing the Commonwealth’s appeal from the decision of a suppression court, we must consider only the evidence of the defendant’s witnesses and so much of the evidence for the prosecution as read in the context of the record as a whole remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. Elliot, 416 Pa.Super. 499, 611 A.2d 727 (1992). When the evidence supports the trial court’s findings of fact, we are bound by such findings, and this Court may reverse only when the legal conclusions drawn from these facts are erroneous. Id.

Commonwealth v. Baer, — Pa.Super. -, -, 654 A.2d 1058 (1994).

The uncontradicted evidence of the sole witness at the March 4, 1994 suppression hearing, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Robert Snook, was as follows. On November 17, 1993, police received a call that J.S. had been raped by appellee, Charles Avondet, who is her step-grandfather. Officer Snook and another officer interviewed the victim at the hospital, and as a result, Officer Snook obtained both an arrest warrant and a search warrant. They executed the warrant immediately, arriving at appellee’s residence at 4:15 a.m. Officer Snook described what occurred at that point:

.... We had knocked on the door and he came out. We identified ourselves. He seemed rather shocked. Told him why we were there and the first thing out of his mouth was, well, I didn’t rape her. You know, she voluntarily come back and had sex with me. He says, I can’t believe this.

Notes of Testimony, 3/4/94, at 7. At that point, appellee became ill, started to breathe rapidly, and fell over. The police carried him to a chair in the kitchen and decided not to arrest him. Officer Snook called appellee’s daughter, and she came over to assist him. Once appellee recovered, police read him his Miranda rights, and appellee then made a second statement, in conformity with his first statement, in which he indicated that he and the victim had had consensual intercourse.

Thus, the sequence of events is clear. As soon as the police informed appellee that he was being arrested for rape, he became highly agitated and ill and insisted that the sex had been consensual. Officer Snook never [589]*589deviated from this description of events and in fact, repeated it:

Q Now, with respect to the initial statements that the defendant, Mr. Avondet, made when you first arrived, you said he acted shocked or seemed shocked. Can you be more specific as to how, what led you to the conclusion that he was acting shocked?
A It was just a surprise look on his face and like no, no, no, no. He says I didn’t rape her. He said, you know, we had sex, yeah, but ...
Q All right so the initial statements are just basically blurt-out type statement?
A Yes.
Q You’re not asking him questions at that point?
A No.
Q Okay. Now, after he falls and you get his, call his daughter and ask her to come over and you said he was talking to you about it. Did you at any point give his Miranda rights?
A Yes. It was 0425 hours and he did sign the common state police rights and waiver.
Q In terms of when he signed the Miranda, did you actually read him the Miranda rights?
A Yes.
Q In terms of when that occurred in relation to the overall time frame, like what time you got there, then he falls, then they make the call to the daughter, where did the Miranda rights advice come in and that whole scenario?
A I’m not positive. It was just before he fell or after he fell and we got him back up on the chair but it was right into that time frame there.
Q You said you had kept him on the floor for a while I guess that’s why I’m asking in terms of time. I think you testified you got there at what, 4:15?
A What I’m saying — No, I’m guessing from 4:15 — How I picked that time, I looked at the report and the rights were at 4:25.
Q Okay.
A I would have to look at my log at the station to tell you the exact time that the vehicle arrived. I’m guessing 4:15 to 4:20.
Q All right. So approximately five to ten minutes before the time that you read Miranda rights?
A Yes.
Q The time that you read him Miranda rights did you ask him if he at that point wanted to make any statement to you?
A Yes.

In addition, Officer Snook reaffirmed this sequence of events on cross-examination. The officer stated that “when I got there the first thing I identified myself. Explained to him why I was there. I told him about the allegation of rape and that we did have an arrest warrant for him.” Id. at 18. The officer then was asked, “He made the statement right at that point?” Id. Officer Snook replied affirmatively, stating, ‘Wes. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I was in the door yet when he stated talking about it.” Id.

It is axiomatic that a defendant’s spontaneous statements not made in response to police conduct or questioning are not subject to suppression. Commonwealth v. Odrick, 410 Pa.Super. 245, 599 A.2d 974 (1991). In Odrick, the defendant confessed to a friend that he had stabbed his own sister and his sister’s friend. The friend telephoned police, who immediately upon their arrival asked what had happened. The defendant confessed to the double killing. Police handcuffed the defendant but did not question him farther. On the way to the police station, the defendant again blurted out that he had killed the two women.

The defendant argued that the statements he gave to police while he was handcuffed and in custody should have been suppressed since he had not been administered Miranda warnings. We disagreed, holding that the “statements made by appellant after he was handcuffed were not a result of custodial interrogation but instead were ‘blurt outs’ and thus were admissible despite the fact Miranda warnings were not given.” Id., 410 Pa.Super. at 249, 599 A.2d at 974.

[590]*590Our decision in Odrick was premised upon Commonwealth v. Yarris, 519 Pa. 571, 549 A.2d 513 (1988). In Yarris, the defendant was in prison awaiting trial on pending charges when he volunteered to prison officials that he knew who had committed an unrelated crime, the rape and murder of a woman.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 A.2d 587, 439 Pa. Super. 421, 1995 Pa. Super. LEXIS 445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-avondet-pasuperct-1995.