Commonwealth v. Pitts

740 A.2d 726, 1999 Pa. Super. 247, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2905
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 27, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 740 A.2d 726 (Commonwealth v. Pitts) 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. Pitts, 740 A.2d 726, 1999 Pa. Super. 247, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2905 (Pa. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

HUDOCK, J.:

¶ 1 In this appeal the Commonwealth asserts the trial court erred in granting Appellee’s motion to suppress his verbal statements given to the police and in denying the Commonwealth’s motion in limine seeking to preclude Appellee from offering psychiatric evidence to support a claim of self-defense to a charge of attempted murder and related charges.1 We affirm.

¶ 2 The standard of review employed by an appellate court when reviewing the grant of a suppression motion has been summarized by our Supreme Court:

We begin by noting that where a motion to suppress has been filed, the burden is on the Commonwealth to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged evidence is admissible. Pa.R.Crim.P. 323(h). See Commonwealth v. Iannaccio, 505 Pa. 414, 480 A.2d 966 (1984), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 830, 106 S.Ct. 96, 88 L.Ed.2d 78 (1985). In reviewing the ruling of a suppression court, our task is to determine whether the factual findings are supported by the record. Commonwealth v. Monarch, 510 Pa. 138, 147, 507 A.2d 74, 78 (1986). If so, we are bound by those findings. Commonwealth v. James, 506 Pa. 526, 533, 486 A.2d 376, 379 (1985). Where, as here, it is the Commonwealth who is appealing the decision of the suppression court, we must consider only the evidence of the defendant’s witnesses and so much of the evidence for the prosecution as read in the context of the record as a whole remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. James, 506 Pa. at 532-33, 486 A.2d at 379; Commonwealth v. Hamlin, 503 Pa. 210, 216, 469 A.2d 137, 139 (1983).

Commonwealth v. DeWitt, 530 Pa. 299, 301-02, 608 A.2d 1030, 1031 (1992) (footnote omitted). Moreover, if the evidence when so viewed supports the factual findings of the suppression court, this Court will reverse only if there is an error in the legal conclusion drawn from those findings. Commonwealth v. Reddix, 355 Pa.Super. 514, 513 A.2d 1041, 1042 (1986).

¶ 3 Two detectives and Appellee testified at the suppression hearing about the circumstances surrounding Appellee’s statements given at the police station. Based upon their testimony, the suppression court summarized the evidence as follows:

After investigating a shooting incident that occurred in Lynnewood Gardens along Penrose Avenue, on December 9, 1997, detectives from the Cheltenham Police Department and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office secured an arrest warrant for the Appel-lee, Erik Pitts. On December 15, 1997, [Appellee] was directed by the police to come to the police station. [Appellee] testified:
I had been contacted by Detective Santarelli, and we talked on the phone, and he said he had some questions for me in reference to a shooting on December 9[th] ... He said it would be appreciated if I could come into the police office and give a statement ... And he said, it has to be today ... And he said, basically, if you don’t come in we’re going to have to send somebody out to get you.
N.T. 10/6/98, p. 60-61. Upon his arrival, the police did not advise [Appellee] of their intentions to arrest him. When the detectives were available, [Appellee] was taken into a room to talk with them.
In one breath, [Appellee] told the detectives, “that he had not even been present at the apartment complex that [730]*730night, and, further, that he had contacted an attorney and that the attorney advised him not to write anything or sign anything.” N.T. 10/6/98, p. 9. The detectives did not advise [Appellee] of his constitutional rights, and he did not waive them. As soon as [Appellee] exercised his right to counsel and his right to remain silent, he was formally placed under arrest.

Trial Court Opinion, 11/20/98, at 1-2.

¶ 4 Although ' the suppression court summarized the testimony taken at the suppression hearing, it did not make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Pa.R.Crim.P. 323(i). As this Court has noted, however:

Both this [C]ourt and our Supreme Court have expressly disapproved of this practice and have, when necessary, vacated judgment of sentence and remanded for a new suppression hearing. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Jackson, 483 Pa. 101, 394 A.2d 930 (1978); Commonwealth v. Spaulding, 275 Pa.Super. 261, 418 A.2d 712 (1980); Commonwealth v. DeSantis, 337 Pa.Super. 70, 486 A.2d 484 (1984). Where possible, however, we have looked to the trial court’s resolution of post-trial motions, as well as the record, in order to determine the propriety of suppression orders in these situations. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Guinther, 290 Pa.Super. 441, 434 A.2d 834 (1981); Commonwealth v. Haynes, 395 Pa.Super. 322, 577 A.2d 564 (1990).

Commonwealth v. Gelber, 406 Pa.Super. 382, 594 A.2d 672, 678 (1991). In the present case, the suppression court was presented with credibility questions and as this is an interlocutory appeal by the Commonwealth, there are no post-trial motions to consider. However, because the suppression court has provided the basis for its suppression ruling, which discusses certain facts, we may assume the court found those to have been established by the evidence, and we need not remand the case.

¶ 5 The court below suppressed Appel-lee’s statements after concluding that they were the result of custodial interrogation by the police where they failed to apprise him of his Miranda2 rights. In determining that the statements should be suppressed, the court reasoned as follows:

In the instant case, we found that the oral statement made by the Appellee on December 15, 1997, indicating he had not been present during the Penrose Avenue incident, was the result of police conduct intended to elicit statements. At the time, the detectives had an arrest warrant for the Appellee. Yet, rather than go to the Appellee and place him under arrest, they demanded that the Appellee come in that day and talk about the Penrose Avenue incident. When the Appellee went to the police station, he was not advised of his constitutional rights nor did he waive them. At no time did the detectives communicate to the Appellee that he was free to leave. However, the detectives’ words and actions were calculated to have the Appellee make incriminating statements that could be used against him.
During the pre-trial hearing, the evidence presented by the Commonwealth was self-contradicting. Detective Richard L. Peffall testified that he never warned the Appellee of his Miranda rights. N.T. 10/6/98, p. 9. Yet, Detective John M. Santarelli testified that, “Detective Peffall read to [Appellee] his rights.” N.T. 10/6/98, p. 43. Furthermore, there were conflicting accounts given, at the pre-trial hearing, as to the actual language and order of the words spoken by the Appellee during his oral statement.

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Bluebook (online)
740 A.2d 726, 1999 Pa. Super. 247, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2905, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-pitts-pasuperct-1999.