Commonwealth v. De Marco

578 A.2d 942, 396 Pa. Super. 357, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1764
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 26, 1990
DocketNos. 1297 and 1298
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 578 A.2d 942 (Commonwealth v. De Marco) 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. De Marco, 578 A.2d 942, 396 Pa. Super. 357, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1764 (Pa. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

KELLY, Judge:

In this case we are called upon to determine whether the trial court improperly suppressed an answering machine tape upon which incriminating information was recorded, based upon a conclusion that it was subject to statutory exclusion as the fruits of an unlawful interception under the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act. We are also asked to determine if the failure to include a certification of impairment in the notice of appeal is a fatal defect, or whether such an omission may be cured by submission of a separate certification statement.

[360]*360We find that the separate certification statement filed by the Commonwealth fulfilled the certification requirement. We also find that the trial court erred in suppressing the answering machine tape. Consequently, we reverse the suppression order.

Facts and Procedural History

The facts and procedural history are not in dispute. They may be briefly summarized as follows.

Following a two month investigation, the Philadelphia police applied for, and were granted, a warrant to search appellee’s home at 9582-A James Street in Philadelphia. The probable cause affidavit demonstrated probable cause to believe that a substantial bookmaking operation was being conducted on the premises. The search warrant specifically authorized the police to seize telephones, recorders and tapes, among various other items specifically listed. The search produced significant incriminating evidence, including an answering machine tape on which inculpatory statements regarding the gambling operation were recorded. Appellees were arrested and charged with pool-selling and bookmaking offenses.

Prior to trial in the Philadelphia Municipal Court, appellees moved to suppress the answering machine tape because it was made in alleged violation of the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act and was therefore subject to suppression. Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Morton Erase agreed, and ordered the tape suppressed.

The Commonwealth filed timely notice of appeal of the suppression order to the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Appellees, however, filed a motion to quash based upon the absence of the required certification of impairment. Some months later, the Commonwealth filed a supplemental statement certifying impairment. A short time after that, the common pleas court granted the motion to quash specifically dismissing the supplemental certification as untimely. The common pleas court also noted that it agreed with the [361]*361municipal court suppression order on the merits. This timely appeal followed.

Certification

In Commonwealth v. Dugger, 506 Pa. 537, 486 A.2d 382 (1985), our Supreme Court held that when the Commonwealth certified that the suppression of evidence substantially handicaps the prosecution, “that certification is not contestable,” and “in and of itself precipitates and authorizes the appeal.” 486 A.2d at 386. See also Commonwealth v. Smith, 518 Pa. 524, 544 A.2d 943 (1988) (plurality). In Dugger, our Supreme Court explained: [362]*362486 A.2d at 385-86, quoting Commonwealth v. Bosurgi, 411 Pa. 56, 63, 190 A.2d 304, 308 (1963). (Emphasis added).

[361]*361From the point of view of the Commonwealth, two possible situations may arise: (a) the order of suppression will result in a termination and conclusion of the prosecution or (b) while the order of suppression will not result in a termination or conclusion of the prosecution, it will result in a prosecution wherein the Commonwealth is substantially handicapped because it cannot present all its available evidence. In the first situation, the element of finality inherent in the order of the suppression is apparent and sufficient to render the order appeal-able. In the second situation, although the element of finality in the order is not so apparent it is nevertheless present.
Without a right of appeal in the Commonwealth in the second situation, the Commonwealth is completely deprived of any opportunity to secure an appellate court evaluation of the validity of the order of suppression which forces the Commonwealth to trial without all of its evidence. The evidence suppressed may well mark the difference between success and failure in the prosecution; to deny the Commonwealth its only opportunity of securing an appellate review to determine whether the evidence was properly suppressed is highly unfair to the Commonwealth and the interests of society which it represents.

[362]*362When our Supreme Court spoke to the Commonwealth going to trial “without all of its evidence” (emphasis in original) it referred to the situation where any relevant evidence is suppressed, and not merely where all relevant evidence is suppressed. Our Supreme Court explained the reason for avoiding any fine balancing of the degrees of handicap resulting from various suppression orders as follows:

To require that a suppression record be cluttered with questions of ultimate relevance is senseless. A suppression record ought not, and properly handled does not, disclose the ultimate relevance of a piece of evidence or why a prosecution could not go forth if that evidence is suppressed.
The relevancy of a piece of evidence can rarely be seen outside the context of the case, even then, not always clearly. Most often considerable thought and argument must be supplied before a piece of evidence is clearly discerned as relevant. All relevant evidence may not be necessary to a prosecution, but one piece of suppressed evidence may make all other evidence irrelevant. It is an argument all its own and certainly must be an argument dehors the record of a suppression court.

486 A.2d at 386.

Moreover, under our system of law the slenderest of reeds may sustain a reasonable doubt. Consequently, whenever possible, the prosecution in discharging its responsibility to the community advisably presents multiple proofs of the various elements of an offense to ensure that a strained doubt as to an individual proof does not become the reed by which an acquittal is sustained. When a jury weighs all the evidence in its balance, the absence of a single item of relevant evidence may be the subtle difference which tips the balance. For defendants there are post-verdict appeals to question whether evidence was improperly kept from the scales; for the Commonwealth there [363]*363are none. Thus it is, that interests of justice generally favor interlocutory review of Commonwealth appeals from suppression orders. See Commonwealth v. Dugger, supra, 486 A.2d at 386; id., 486 A.2d at 387 (Hutchinson, J., concurring). Of course, the general prohibitions and sanctions against frivolous and dilatory appeals apply to these as well as all other appeals. Id.

Commonwealth certification of substantial hardship has been characterized as a prerequisite to appellate review. Commonwealth v. Dugger, supra, 486 A.2d at 387.

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Bluebook (online)
578 A.2d 942, 396 Pa. Super. 357, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-de-marco-pasuperct-1990.