Commonwealth v. Kuhn

475 A.2d 103, 327 Pa. Super. 72, 1984 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4191
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 23, 1984
Docket672
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 475 A.2d 103 (Commonwealth v. Kuhn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme 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. Kuhn, 475 A.2d 103, 327 Pa. Super. 72, 1984 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4191 (Pa. 1984).

Opinions

BROSKY, Judge:

This appeal is from judgment of sentence imposed subsequent to conviction for burglary, theft and causing or risking a catastrophe. Appellant raises seven issues: (1) A Rule 1100 violation. (2) Failure to suppress a confession. (3) Failure to sustain a demurrer. (4) Not permitting a psychologist to testify regarding appellant’s involuntary intoxication due to chronic alcoholism. (5) The amount of restitution exceeding appellant’s ability to pay. (6) The verdict was against the law. (7) The verdict was against the weight of the evidence. We find that issues (3), (5), (6) and (7) are waived; and we find against appellant on issues (1), (2) and (4). Accordingly, judgment of sentence is affirmed.

Rule 1100

Appellant argues that he is entitled to discharge as a result of a violation of Pa.R.Crim.P. 1100.1

[76]*76Appellant was charged on January 22, 1978. Prior to the Rule 1100 run date, the prosecution' filed a petition to extend. This was granted until November 3. Trial was commenced before that date.

At the extension hearing, it was brought out that the trial could not be held due to a number of factors creating judicial delay: a backlog of cases, the resignation of the President Judge and construction in the courthouse. Judicial delay constitutes a valid reason justifying a Rule 1100 extension. Commonwealth v. Mayfield, 469 Pa. 214, 364 A.2d 1345 (1976).

Accordingly, we find that appellant does not prevail on this issue.

Suppression

Appellant contends that the court below erred in failing to suppress the statement he gave to a State Police trooper the morning after the commission of the crimes. He contends that this statement was given involuntarily since he was intoxicated at the time it was made.

We note at the outset that this issue was presented to the court below in a tardy fashion, at the day of trial. The trial court noted this lack of timeliness but nonetheless chose to address the issue. As a result, the issue is preserved for appellate review.

In Commonwealth v. Pinno, 433 Pa. 1, 248 A.2d 26 (1968), Justice Roberts considered the effect of a tardily filed suppression motion.

We believe that a proper reading of Rule 2001 compels the conclusion that the question of waiver under 2001(b) is a matter solely for the court. 2001(b) provides four alternative excuses for a failure to meet the “five days before trial” requirement. The drafters’ notes explicitly state that the last of these, if “the interests of justice require it,” gives the court discretionary power to enter[77]*77tain the application after the expiration of the time period.... When the trial judge decided the merits of appellant’s suppression claim, he in effect exercised his discretionary power to excuse appellant’s noncompliance with the five day rule.

Commonwealth v. Pinno, supra, 433 Pa. at 5-6, 248 A.2d at 29.

The rule dealt with in Pinno is not the one presently before us, but it was one of the rules consolidated to form the present rule — Pa.R.Crim.P. 323. The latter also includes the phrase if “the interests of justice” which was crucial to the rationale in Pinno. Pinno is, therefore, applicable to the case before us; and thus the trial court had within its discretion the decision to treat the tardy suppression motion. Given this discretion, “it no longer makes any sense to consider waiver.” Id.

As we have said, appellant alleges that his intoxication at the time he made the statement rendered it involuntary and consequently inadmissible. The effect of such intoxication, if established, has been set out in a number of Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases.

Recent imbibing or the existence of a hangover does not make his confession inadmissible, but only goes to the weight to be accorded to it.

Commonwealth v. Smith, 447 Pa. 457 at 460, 291 A.2d 103 at 104 (1972).

Again, intoxication is a factor to be considered, but it is not sufficient, in and of itself to render the confession involuntary.

Commonwealth v. Jones, 457 Pa. 423 at 432, 322 A.2d 119 at 125 (1974).

In order for the intoxication to render the confession involuntary, it must have had a certain precise impact on the individual.

The test is whether there is sufficient mental capacity for the defendant to know what he was saying and to have voluntarily intended to say it.

[78]*78Commonwealth v. Culberson, 467 Pa. 424 at 428, 358 A.2d 416 at 417 (1976).

The applicable burden of proof and appellate standard of review in this matter have also been detailed by case law.

The Commonwealth has the burden of proof as to voluntariness; it must be shown by a preponderance of the credible evidence. Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, 429 Pa. 141, 239 A.2d 426 (1968).

The high court has stated that:

... our responsibility upon review is to determine whether the record supports the factual findings of the court below and the legitimacy of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings. . . . In making this determination, we are to consider only the evidence of the prosecution’s witnesses and so much of the evidence for the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted.

Commonwealth v. Goodwin, 460 Pa. 516 at 522-523, 333 A.2d 892 at 895 (1975).

With these principles in mind, a review of the record reveals the following.

The State Police arrived at appellant’s house the morning after the crimes had been committed. They explained the purpose of their visit and read him his Miranda rights. Appellant did not stand on those rights but made a statement which he later signed. At the suppression hearing, Trooper Behe testified that appellant said that he had been drunk the night before and was not feeling “100%.” On the ultimate issue, the Trooper testified that, while appellant appeared somewhat unkempt and hungover, appellant was not intoxicated at the time of the interrogation. While there was testimony to the contrary—

The trial judge elected to believe the detectives’ testimony as to the appellant’s condition and capacity at the time of giving his statement and not that of appellant and his family. An appellate court does not weigh evidence or pass upon the credibility of witnesses, and there is no [79]*79basis for us to hold as a matter of law that the court’s finding of voluntariness of the confession was not adequately supported and well within the court’s discretion.

Commonwealth v. Smith, supra, 447 Pa. at 461, 291 A.2d at 104.

The denial of the motion to suppress is not, therefore, reversible.

Demurrer

Appellant claims that the court below erred in not granting his demurrer to the charge of causing or risking a catastrophe.2

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Bluebook (online)
475 A.2d 103, 327 Pa. Super. 72, 1984 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kuhn-pa-1984.