Commonwealth v. Schlotthauer

61 Pa. D. & C.2d 170, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 113
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Somerset County
DecidedNovember 7, 1972
Docketno. 191 of 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 61 Pa. D. & C.2d 170 (Commonwealth v. Schlotthauer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Somerset County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Schlotthauer, 61 Pa. D. & C.2d 170, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 113 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

COFFROTH, P. J.,

— This is an appeal by defendant from his summary conviction for speeding on the turnpike. He was operating a tractor-trader rig in a 55 mile per hour zone, properly posted for speed and radar. State police officers Matassa and Leonard set up a two car radar surveillance. Matassa was the meter reader and Leonard was in the chase car about 50 feet ahead. Matassa called Leonard and reported a rig passing at 66 miles per hour; the meter is operative for about 500 feet to the rear and had been properly tested for accuracy. Leonard saw defendant’s rig pass as he received the call; it was the only rig in the area and there was no question of identity. Leon[171]*171ard chased, stopped defendant, informed him of the offense and issued a citation.

Defendant testified that he did not know how fast he was going because his speedometer and tachometer were not functioning properly; the malfunction was corroborated.

Defendant moves to dismiss the prosecution and reverse the conviction because-.

1. The justice of the peace did not furnish a copy of the transcript to defendant or his counsel after defendant gave notice of appeal; and

2. The chase officer was not empowered to initiate the prosecution by means of citation because he did not personally read the radar meter and did not therefore “observe” the offense.

Defendant was found guilty by the justice of the peace after a hearing and consideration of the merits of the case. The purpose of an appeal to the court from such a summary conviction is to obtain a rehearing and reconsideration by the court of the merits, so as to determine guilt or innocence. But, if we grant the motion to dismiss, that will not only prevent this court from any consideration of defendant’s guilt or innocence but will also free defendant from any legal responsibility for the charge against him regardless of guilt or innocence. This is so because, after dismissal, the charge cannot be refiled. The law allows 15 days after commission of an alleged vehicle code violation, for filing the charge: Act of April 29, 1959, P. L. 58, as amended, 75 PS §1201(a). This prosecution was filed in time but, if it is dismissed, it is now too late to file another.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss raises the whole spectre of “legal technicalities,” which might easily be treated briefly and summarily. But today courts face a crisis of public confidence. More than any other [172]*172single factor, public opposition to the disposition of cases on “legal technicalities” is at the root of the erosion of public confidence in the courts. Unfortunately, such criticism is often justified. We, therefore, take this occasion to analyze the problem because, as we see it, it is the duty of judges who are the object of this criticism to meet it squarely, resisting it where not valid, acknowledging and rectifying it where justified. At bottom, the power and influence of courts must rest upon public confidence, because judicial power like all governmental power in a democracy is derived from the consent of the governed.

The basic purpose of law is the protection of society. Even the civil law which concerns itself with private disputes is designed to encourage and advance civilized living together. The courts “are not playthings for every private stratagem. Indeed, we provide a place and facilities for the resolution of private controversy only because of the paramount public concern for justice and for the peaceful resolution of conflict, and only when those larger interests are served”: Renaldo v. Vivian, 26 Somerset 340, 355. The criminal law is designed to protect society even more directly than the civil law, by specifically defining, making unlawful and providing sanctions upon conduct regarded as anti-social. See 10 P. L. Encyc.* Crimina] Law 343, §2. This is true not only as to crimes which are evil in character (malum in se); it is also true of the regulatory offenses (malum prohibitum) which are not evil in themselves but enforcement of which is essential to orderliness and safety in human co-existence, such as the rules of the road in The Vehicle Code.

The cohesion, orderliness, progress and general quality of any society depends upon the just application of law. Important as are the legislative and executive branches of government in the making of law, it [173]*173is the judge who daily applies law to concrete situations as arbiter between citizen and citizen and between citizen and government. Judges, therefore, more than any other public servant, must take responsibility for laying the ground for public respect of law. “What the population believes about the application of the laws counts much more than what the laws provide”: 58 A.B.A. Journal, September, 1972, page 954.

These basics have been eloquently expressed by the late Arthur T. Vanderbilt, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of New Jersey, one of America’s most effective and dedicated apostles of law reform, in his “The Challenge of Law Reform” (Princeton University Press 1955), pages 4-5, as follows:

“It is in the courts and not in the legislature that our citizens primarily feel the keen, cutting edge of the law. If they have respect for the work of the courts, their respect for law will survive the shortcomings of every other branch of government; but if they lose their respect for the work of the courts, their respect for law and order will vanish with it* to the great detriment of society, for it surely does not have to be argued that respect for law is all important for the survival of popular government. A decision based on technicalities or surprise, or a trial or a decision unduly delayed, or even a case of judicial bad manners can kill respect for law more disastrously than any disagreement on some abstruse question of substantive law.”

Our Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Frazier, 420 Pa. 209, 214 (1966), inveighed against legal technicalities, as follows:

“The practical result is that technical rules must not be adopted which will seriously impair or destroy the underlying and basic principle of the criminal law, i.e., the protection of society.” (Italics supplied.)

That court has also said that its Rules of Criminal [174]*174Procedure “are intended to provide for the just determination of every criminal proceeding” (Pa. R. Crim. P. 2), and that in applying its Rules of Civil Procedure the “court at every stage of any such action or proceeding may disregard any error or defect of procedure which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties”: Pa. R. C. P. 126. In Peoples Natural Gas Company Appeal, 399 Pa. 226, 234, the late Mr. Justice Musmanno, in his colorful language, spoke for the court on the subject:

“The day when an innocently aggrieved party could be denied a hearing in the courts because of a tech- ] nical mischance is happily in the past. The attainment of justice is over the highway of realities and not through the alley of technicalities” (Italics supplied.)

In criminal cases the Commonwealth is a party equally with the defendant; both are entitled to a fair trial and a just determination; neither should be denied a hearing on the merits because of a “technical mischance.” See Commonwealth v. Lynn, 26 Somerset 207, 210, and Commonwealth v. Gockley, 411 Pa. 437, 449.

This writer has several times complained of the evil of technical decision. In Commonwealth v. Ansell, 26 Somerset 248, 254, we said:

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Bluebook (online)
61 Pa. D. & C.2d 170, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-schlotthauer-pactcomplsomers-1972.