Commonwealth v. Hannan

331 A.2d 503, 229 Pa. Super. 540, 1974 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2222
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 23, 1974
DocketAppeal, No. 416
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 331 A.2d 503 (Commonwealth v. Hannan) 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. Hannan, 331 A.2d 503, 229 Pa. Super. 540, 1974 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2222 (Pa. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Opinion by

Hoppman, J.,

Appellants contend that the evidence produced by the Commonwealth was insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that they were illegally in possession of dangerous and narcotic drugs.

In order to understand the legal significance of the location of the drugs seized in the raid upon the appellants’ home, and in order to provide the factual framework from which the evidence introduced at trial was purportedly linked to the appellants, it is necessary to give a somewhat detailed description of the house, its physical layout, and its occupants on the date in question and for a period immediately preceding the search.

The subject of the search was the seven-bedroom white double brick house belonging to the Hannans. The residence was located at 3703 Penn Avenue in the Lawrenceville Section of Pittsburgh. The house consisted of three floors, including a converted attic. On [542]*542the first floor, there was a .kitchen, a laundry room, a den with a powder room, a dining room, and two converted bedrooms off the dining room. On the second floor, there was a master bedroom with a powder room, a common bathroom in the hallway, and three other bedrooms of varying size. The third-floor consisted of a small apartment, including a bedroom, without a bath.

It was admitted at trial that prior to 1967 (the year in which appellants’ son suffered traumatic injury to his leg resulting in partial amputation of his foot), the entire Hannan family resided on the second floor of the residence. After 1967, the Hannans made certain alterations, converting the attic to a third-floor small apartment, including a bedroom, and converting two first-floor rooms to bedrooms. The Hannans’ son lived in one of the bedrooms and the Hannans, allegedly for reasons of remaining near their injured son, testified that they moved their living quarters to the second first-floor bedroom. The entire second floor was used for rental and visiting purposes. Uncontradicted evidence was produced at trial showing that during a period from 1967 to May, 1969, as many as six nurses and physical therapists engaged in study at the nearby St. Francis Hospital had rented rooms and had lived on the second floor. On the day in question, the following persons were either living in or staying at the Hannan home: the Hannans and their son stayed in the two bedrooms on the first floor; their daughter and a niece, Deborah Love, occupied the third-floor apartment; a nurse, home for Christmas vacation, was renting one of the bedrooms on the second floor; and two friends of the appellants’ children, Terrence Sullivan and Sandy Anderson, were staying in two of the other bedrooms of the second floor; two of Mrs. Hannan’s sisters, visiting from Florida, were staying for a few days in the room rented by the absent nurse. The master bedroom, it was alleged, was unoccupied.

[543]*543In addition to those residing or staying at the house on the date of the drug raid, a number of defense witnesses testified that they had attended a Christmas party at which some 20 teenagers and young adults had participated.

It is within this context that on December 29, 1969, Pittsburgh police, pursuant to a search warrant, searched the Hannan house. In the course of their search, police uncovered several plastic vials containing unlabelled pills and capsules later identified as narcotic and dangerous drugs of the prescriptive variety. These vials were found in the master bedroom in a purse and dresser identified as belonging to the appellant Mrs. Hannan. In the main bathroom on the second floor within a drawer in a metal cabinet, police found a bag containing a substance later identified as marijuana. In the first-floor front bedroom, occupied by the appellants’ son, police found the youth and his friend Mr. Sullivan, and after a search discovered several vials of pills and capsules having labels with prescriptions for both Harold Hannan, Jr. and Terrence Sullivan. Police also found what they believed to be a marijuana butt in the ashtray near the bed in the son’s bedroom. As a result of these seizures, police arrested the appellants, their son and Mr. Sullivan.

The four defendants were indicted on charges of violation of The Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, possession of narcotic drugs and possession of dangerous drugs without prescription. The defendants pleaded not guilty, and a trial commenced before the Honorable Leo McKay, specially presiding, and a jury on November 23, 1971. At the close of Commonwealth’s case, defense counsel demurred to various indictments. Because the butt found in the son’s bedroom was never identified as marijuana, and because the drugs found therein were all prescribed to the individual defendants, demurrers were sustained as to the charges against Harold [544]*544Hannan, Jr. and Terrence Sullivan. Demurrers were denied, however, with respect to the appellants, Mr. and Mrs. Hannan. The Commonwealth stated that the discovery of unlabelled drugs, identified as dangerous and narcotic drugs by the Crime Laboratory in a purse and dresser belonging to Mrs. Hannan would be sufficient to convict her on the charges against her.1 In addition, as to the marijuana found in the main bathroom, Commonwealth’s position as to Mr. Hannan was as follows: “Mr. Tomko (district attorney in a discussion in Judge’s chambers): My argument would be that as far as we could ascertain, the defendant, Harold Hannan, Sr., is the record owner of that home, and that certain items, to wit, the bag of marijuana, was found in a common room in that home. That would be our argument as to Harold Hannan, a room to which he did have access.”

At the conclusion of the defense case, during which Mrs. Hannan insisted that the vials found in her purse and dresser were put in plastic vials to make it unnecessary to carry large bottles of drugs and that the drugs were prescribed either for her back ailments, her son’s foot injury or leftovers from her father’s illnesses who had died two years earlier, the jury returned convictions on all charges against both Mr. and Mrs. Han-nan. The trial court, nevertheless, granted Harold on the charge of possession of percodan as a narcotic drug in Count 1. Motions were denied on the mariHannan’s motion in arrest of judgment on Count 2 and [545]*545juana conviction against Harold Hannan, and on both counts against Helen Hannan.

In reviewing the conviction of Harold Hannan, it must first be said that the arrest of judgment on the conviction attributed to drugs found in the personal belongings of bis wife is consistent with the principle in the law that when the illegal possession of contraband is charged, the evidence must establish that the accused had a conscious dominion over the contraband. Commonwealth v. Davis, 444 Pa. 11, 280 A. 2d 119 (1971). There was simply no evidence that Mr. Han-nan exercised any control or had knowledge of the existence of those vials or their contents.

As to the conviction on the marijuana charge, a delicate legal question is posed by the facts of this case. May an individual be convicted of possesesion of contraband simply because contraband is found in a location of which the accused is the record owner or named tenant? Commonwealth submits that because Mr. Hannan was the owner of the searched premises and because of his presence in the house, it should be presumed that Hannan had “access” to the various nooks and crannies of the residence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
331 A.2d 503, 229 Pa. Super. 540, 1974 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-hannan-pasuperct-1974.