Commonwealth v. Johns

11 Pa. D. & C.3d 728, 1979 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 304
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Carbon County·Decided February 22, 1979·No. no. 60 CR 1979·Published

Opinion

LAVELLE, P.J.,

In what appears to be a case of first impression in this Commonwealth, the district attorney has petitioned the court for an order requiring respondent to [729] give voice identification exemplars where there has as yet been no arrest and where, admittedly, probable cause does not exist for the issuance of an arrest warrant.

The within petition arises from two incidents which occurred on August 6, 1978, and on November 8,1978, at the Pocono Hershey Resort in Kidder Township, Carbon County, Pa.* On those occasions two women guests at the resort were raped in the early hours of the morning and in each case the assailant gained entrance to the room through a sliding glass door opening onto a balcony. Neither victim was able to visually identify her assailant because the offenses were committed in total darkness; however, in both cases the assailant spoke to his victim and the victim subsequently advised police that she thought his voice was sufficiently distinctive that she would be able to identify it if she heard it again.

At the time of both occurrences, alight green car was observed at the premises. During the early morning hours of November 25, 1978, a security guard observed the same vehicle parked at the resort, and his suspicions aroused, he recorded the vehicle’s license number. He noted at that time that the vehicle was unoccupied. Shortly thereafter, an off-duty Philadelphia policeman, who was staying at the resort, reported an individual attempting to enter a room by means of the sliding glass door. A security guard was dispatched, but the suspect had fled by the time he arrived. The guard also determined that the fight green car had also departed from the premises. The vehicle was stopped shortly [730] thereafter within a mile or two of the resort, and it was found to be registered in the name of respondent. Respondent was subsequently identified by the off-duty policeman as the individual he observed attempting to enter the room. Allegedly respondent has two previous convictions for sexual offenses of an unspecified nature.

DISCUSSION

Our research has discovered no Pennsylvania case in which voice exemplars or, for that matter, any other pre-trial discovery procedures have been ordered prior to arrest and absent probable cause for an arrest. The Commonwealth concedes that no provision is made for such exemplars in the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure nor is there any statutory provision for same, although a number of other states have adopted statutes authorizing orders for appearance for identification based on less than probable cause. In addition, section 170.2(6) of the 1975 draft of the American Law Institute’s Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure advocates the use of such procedures where certain facts are shown to exist, among which are reasonable grounds to suspect that the subject of the order committed a serious offense and the results of the identification procedure sought will be a material aid in determining the identity of the offender and such evidence cannot otherwise be obtained.

Respondent, in resisting the within petition, invokes his Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and self-incrimination respectively, and additionally asserts that this court is without jurisdiction to entertain such a petition in that no provision for such [731] an order is afforded in the Rules of Criminal Procedure.

We have no difficulty in rejecting the constitutional arguments advanced by respondent. Following the United States Supreme Court decisions in United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 764, 35 L.Ed. 2d 67 (1973), and United States v. Mara, 410 U.S. 19, 93 S.Ct. 774, 35 L.Ed. 2d 99 (1973), it is now well established that compelling an individual to furnish a voice exemplar (1) does not violate the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination since such an exemplar is used solely to measure the physical properties of the witness’ voice and not for the testimonial or communicative content of what is said during such exemplar and (2) does not violate the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures, since it merely requires production of a physical characteristic which is constantly exposed to the public in any event. Subsequent Federal decisions have grafted on to the Dionisio and Mara doctrine a requirement that the prosecutor make a preliminary showing, by affidavit, that the exemplar sought is relevant and necessary to the pending investigation: In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Schofield), 486 F. 2d 85 (3d Cir. 1973). In the cases cited, the courts sustained the propriety of compelling exemplars in appropriate circumstances.

It is noteworthy, however, that these decisions, as well as virtually all of the reported decisions in which such exemplars or other pre-arrest discovery has been ordered, involved investigating grand juries over which the courts have general and broad supervisory jurisdiction. Moreover, a grand jury has broad investigative powers to determine whether a crime has been committed and who has [732] committed it, and the examination of witnesses before such a grand jury need not be preceded by an indictment formally preferred, since the very object of the examination is to ascertain who shall be indicted. See United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. at 15, 16, 35 L.Ed. 2d at 80 (1973).

While there appear to be no constitutional obstacles to the relief sought by the Commonwealth, it is evident that there is a conspicuous absence of a jurisdictional basis to support the relief sought, and it is this objection which is fatal to the Commonwealth’s petition. We are not here concerned with a grand jury proceeding and we have no inherent power to grant discovery or enforce administrative subpoenas. Any relief which may be granted must be founded either upon statute or the Rules of Criminal Procedure. Our research has found no such provision, nor has any been advanced by the Commonwealth in either its petition or its brief in support thereof.

The Commonwealth relies principally upon Wise v. Murphy, 275 A. 2d 205 (D.C. Ct. App. 1971), in which the District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions, sitting as a magistrate, had judicial power to issue process, short of commanding formal arrest, requiring a person identified from photographs as the possible perpetrator of a rape to participate in a lineup. However, that court, as a court established by Act of Congress, has “All Writs” power pursuant to the provisions of the Act of June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 944, as amended, 28 U.S.C.A. §1651(a). Additionally, the court had a statutory power to issue different types of remedies to effectuate jurisdiction against persons accused of crime committed within the District of Columbia [733] pursuant to expressed provisions of the District of Columbia Code of 1967, §11-981.

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

Commonwealth v. Johns, 11 Pa. D. & C.3d 728, 1979 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 304 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1979).

11 Pa. D. & C.3d 728 (Commonwealth v. Johns) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

United States v. Dionisio
410 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1973)
United States v. Mara
410 U.S. 19 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Wise v. Murphy
275 A.2d 205 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1971)
Biehunik v. Felicetta
441 F.2d 228 (Second Circuit, 1971)