Commonwealth v. Simmons

362 A.2d 402, 239 Pa. Super. 220, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2120
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 29, 1976
DocketAppeal, 728
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 362 A.2d 402 (Commonwealth v. Simmons) 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. Simmons, 362 A.2d 402, 239 Pa. Super. 220, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2120 (Pa. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Opinion by

Price, J.,

Appellant, Ezekiel Simmons, was arrested on December 20, 1973 on charges of rape, felonious restraint, aggravated assault, robbery, criminal conspiracy and various firearms violations. These charges stemméd from an incident beginning on the evening of December 19, in which a group of armed men entered a home in West Philadelphia and beat, robbed, raped and held captive its occupants until the police arrived on the following morning.

On September 11 and 12, 1974, appellant’s Pre-Trial Motions to Suppress Evidence were heard and denied. On September 23, 1974, appellant was tried before a judge without a jury and found guilty of rape, aggravated assault, and criminal conspiracy. On January 13, 1975, appellant’s post-trial motions were heard. His motion in arrest of judgment as to the aggravated assault conviction was granted and all remaining motions were denied. Appellant was then sentenced to not less than two nor more than seven years imprisonment on the rape conviction and sentence was suspended on the conviction for criminal conspiracy. This appeal followed.

I

The first point of error advanced by the appellant is the lower court’s refusal to suppress his statement to the police. This statement was allegedly obtained in violation of Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 130 1 *223 (formerly Rule 118). Appellant relies principally on Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1972) to support this contention. In Futch, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined the effect of excessive pre-arraignment delay upon statements made by an accused in the period between arrest and arraignment.

“[W]e think it appropriate to follow the federal approach and exclude all evidence obtained during ‘unnecessary delay’ except that which ... has no reasonable relationship to the delay whatsoever.” 447 Pa. at 394.

Our court examined the evolution of this doctrine in Commonwealth v. Griffin, 232 Pa. Superior Ct. 163, 170, 336 A.2d 419, 422 (1975). “Elaborating upon the Futch Rule in Commonwealth v. Williams, 455 Pa. 569, 572, 319 A.2d 419, 420 (1974), the Court established a three part rule for determining whether evidence must be suppressed because of a violation of Rule 118. The Court therein explained that: (1) The delay must be unnecessary; (2) The proffered evidence must be a result of the delay; and (3) The proffered evidence must be ‘prejudicial’.”

In the instant case, the circumstances surrounding appellant’s statement fail to satisfy at least two requirements of the three-pronged test stated in Griffin, supra, and thus fail to provide any basis on which the statement may be suppressed. First, the record does not indicate that the pre-arraignment delay in this case was unnecessary, as that term is employed in Rule 130 and the cases applying it. 2 The appellant was arrested and taken to West Detective Division along with nine or more *224 other persons, six of whom were co-defendants. During the next six hours detectives interviewed these persons, as well as police officers present at the scene, in order to determine what had taken place. The Commonwealth asserts that the delay between the appellant’s incarceration and the taking of his statement was due solely to the large number of suspects and complainants to be questioned. During these five and three-quarter hours, appellant was kept in a room on the second floor of West Detective Division, where toilet facilities were available to him. At no time during this period was the appellant interrogated. There is no evidence of abusive conduct by the police in this instance, but only a protracted period of initial questioning and administrative processing due to the unusual circumstances and the number of people involved. While such a hiatus between arrest and arraignment is highly unfortunate and far from a model for police conduct, on the present facts, it does not constitute “unnecessary delay” under Pa.R.Crim.P. 130.

The second requirement which must be met in order for evidence to be excluded under the test in Williams, supra, is that the evidence must be a result of the delay. It does not appear that this delay had any coercive purpose or that any coercive pressure was placed upon the appellant. Other than the delay itself, no claims of abuse or deprivation are made. Appellant was not interrogated repeatedly or for a long period, rather his initial interrogation began after the delay and lasted little more than an hour, at the end of which time appellant signed the statement involved herein. 3

Further, this is not a case where a suspect at first *225 denied involvement or refused to make a statement and later broke down under prolonged or repeated periods of questioning. Here, appellant was apparently willing to talk to the police as soon as his questioning began. It is thus apparent that, regardless of delay in his arraignment, appellant has shown no connection between such delay and his statement. Where no such connection exists, a statement clearly cannot be excluded under Futch, supra, or its progeny.

Finally, it is difficult to comprehend how the appellant was prejudiced by the introduction of his statement at trial. It is true that the statement places appellant at the scene of the crime, but the circumstances of his arrest and the testimony of a complaining witness also establish this fact. In addition, the statement was not a confession, but was rather almost entirely exculpatory. Appellant denied participating in a rape or even seeing a female in the house. The only incriminating part of the statement, appellant’s admission that he hit one of the boys being held in a rear bedroom with a door spring, is not relevant to appellant’s convictions or to this appeal. Even if the police conduct in this case violated Futch, supra, which we find it did not, the admission of appellant’s statement did not result in prejudice which would necessitate a new trial. Commonwealth v. Townsell, 457 Pa. 249, 320 A.2d 111 (1974).

It is claimed that the court below erred in permitting the complainant’s in-court identification of appellant because this identification was tainted by several improperly suggestive prior confrontations: at the scene, at the police station and at the pre-trial hearing. The only other identification introduced into evidence was the one made at the scene. The admissibility of this type of identification is controlled by Commonwealth v. Turner, *226 454 Pa. 520, 314 A.2d 496 (1974), where the court states:

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

Related

Commonwealth v. Jones
414 A.2d 379 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
Commonwealth v. Perdie
378 A.2d 359 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
362 A.2d 402, 239 Pa. Super. 220, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-simmons-pasuperct-1976.