Commonwealth v. MacEk

279 A.2d 772, 218 Pa. Super. 124, 1971 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1626
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 15, 1971
DocketAppeal, 143
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 279 A.2d 772 (Commonwealth v. MacEk) 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. MacEk, 279 A.2d 772, 218 Pa. Super. 124, 1971 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1626 (Pa. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinions

Opinion by

Cercone, J.,

Goldie Mae Macek1 was indicted on two counts: the first count charging possession of marijuana in violation of The Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (Act of September 26, 1961, P. L. 1664, §1, 35 P.S. §780-1 et seq.) and the second count charging prostitution and assignation. After trial, the jury found her guilty of possession of marijuana but not guilty of prostitution and assignation.

The prostitution charge was based on the testimony of Police Officer Hanlon that defendant had offered him sexual relations for the price of $10.00 (ten dollars) after which solicitation he arrested her. After her arrest on that charge, a search was made of the purse she was carrying. That search revealed not only articles reasonably related to the charge of prostitution, but also one marijuana cigarette and two marijuana butts, the cigarette and the butts containing one tenth of a gram of marijuana. The said cigarette and butts were introduced as evidence against defendant in [127]*127support of the charge of unlawful possession of marijuana.

No objection to the mode of securing the marijuana was made either by a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence or by objection to its introduction at the time of trial. However, after the guilty verdict, defendant made a motion in arrest of judgment claiming that since the jury did not find her guilty of prostitution, as claimed by the arresting police officer, a fortiori there was no probable cause for her arrest on that charge and consequently the search of her purse was not incidental to a lawful arrest. The lower court refused the motion and this appeal has been taken from that refusal.

We concede defendant’s premise that if her arrest had been without probable cause, the search following that arrest would be unlawful. As stated in Charles v. United States, 278 F. 2d 386, 388 (9th Cir. 1960): “Searches of both the person arrested and the place where the arrest is made derive their legality in the absence of a search warrant from the existence of a lawful arrest. Without probable cause to arrest, subsequent searches either of the person or property violate the Fourth Amendment. That a search is incident to a valid arrest saves it from proscription.” However, we cannot agree with defendant’s contention that because the jury did not find her guilty of the charge on which she was arrested, that that arrest was without probable cause. A jury, in order to convict, has to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; on the other hand, an officer, in order to arrest, need only determine that there is probable cause for the arrest. The fact that the officer in this case made his arrest on the basis of his personal observation of and conversation with the defendant does not alter this rule. Though the matter was presented to the jury on the issue of [128]*128credibility — that is, whether the defendant or the police officer was telling the truth — we cannot say as a matter of conclusive fact that the jury by its verdict established that the defendant had been arrested without probable cause. The only fact established by the verdict is that for some reason the jury had a reasonable doubt as to defendant’s guilt. We cannot speculate as to the reason for that reasonable doubt.

Defendant relies solely on the verdict of acquittal to establish lack of probable cause for her arrest. She makes no claim that her arrest for prostitution was a ruse or an entrapment or a subterfuge or that it was the result of improper motive.2 Furthermore, to make such a claim at this late stage of the proceedings would be futile. Defendant was required to raise the issue of the legality of her arrest by a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence revealed by the search incident to that arrest.3 She should also have pursued her objection to the introduction of the evidence at the time of trial. For example, in Hill v. United States, 418 F. 2d 449 (D.C. Cir. 1968), the defendant was arrested, “for making major repairs of his automobile in a public thoroughfare” in violation of the District of Columbia’s traffic and motor vehicle regulations. A search incident to that arrest revealed a bill of sale for an. automobile, which bill of sale connected defendant with [129]*129a robbery. Tbe defendant there made a motion to suppress the evidence on the ground that his arrest for the traffic infraction was a sham, a mere pretext to detain him on the robbery charge and gather evidence to support an earlier identification of the defendant. The pretrial motion was granted because the evidence revealed that the procedure followed to arrest the defendant was “extraordinary” and that the search was “rooted in a sham”.

Defendant claims that it would have been a futile act for her to have filed a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence because the officer’s testimony would have been believed. Such assertion is spurious, having no basis in fact to support it; nor does it afford a valid excuse for failure to abide by the rules of criminal procedure. Compliance with those rules cannot be excused by any surmise that the results will be unsuccessful. To agree with defendant’s reasoning would create chaos in the administration of our rules of criminal procedure.

For the same reason we cannot agree with defense counsel’s contention that defendant should not be penalized for counsel’s failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence. The applicable rules of criminal procedure governing the suppression of evidence are clear, and if defense counsel chooses to employ the strategy of not raising the issue of unlawful arrest until after a jury’s verdict, defendant must be held bound by that strategy. To hold otherwise would be to render our rules of criminal procedure meaningless and a nullity.

The trial record, insofar as it pertains to the circumstances existing at the time of the officer’s arrest of the defendant, can be considered in passing upon the propriety of that arrest. In Masiello v. United States, 304 F. 2d 399 (1962), defendant contended in the pre[130]*130trial hearing on his motion to suppress the evidence that the officers did not announce their purpose to execute a search warrant before brealdng into his apartment. The officers did not testify at the pretrial hearing. The motion, however, was not granted and defendant renewed his objections at the time of trial to the introduction of the evidence secured from his apartment. At the trial the officers testified that they did announce their purpose to execute a search warrant prior to brealdng down the apartment door. The court held that although the motion to suppress should have been granted since there was no contradiction of defendant’s claim of unlawful entry, yet “the entire record, which includes evidence adduced at both the pretrial hearing and the trial, may be considered in deciding whether the error was prejudicial. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S. Ct. 280, 69 L. Ed. 543 (1925).”

A study of the trial record in this case reveals no evidence that defendant’s arrest resulted from improper motive of or entrapment by the police officer or that her arrest was a sham or subterfuge upon which to predicate a search for drugs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
279 A.2d 772, 218 Pa. Super. 124, 1971 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-macek-pasuperct-1971.