Commonwealth v. Washington

51 A.3d 895, 2012 Pa. Super. 177, 2012 WL 3643832, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2483
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 27, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 51 A.3d 895 (Commonwealth v. Washington) 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. Washington, 51 A.3d 895, 2012 Pa. Super. 177, 2012 WL 3643832, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2483 (Pa. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION BY

OTT, J.:

Benjamin Washington appeals from the judgment of sentence entered against him following his conviction on multiple counts of possession with intent to deliver (heroin and cocaine) and possession of controlled substances (heroin and cocaine) and a misdemeanor charge of possession of a small amount of marijuana.1 Washington was sentenced to three to fifteen years’ incarceration. On appeal he claims: (1) the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence obtained without reasonable suspicion and (2) that his sentence is illegal due to the failure to provide him notice with intent to invoke a mandatory minimum sentence. After a thorough review of the submissions by the parties, official record, and relevant law, we agree that the evidence was obtained without the requisite reasonable suspicion. Therefore, the trial court erred in failing to suppress the evidence. We reverse the order of the suppression court and vacate the judgment of sentence.

[897]*897 When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we examine “the evidence of the Commonwealth and so much of the evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted when read in context of the record as a whole.” Commonwealth v. Jones, 605 Pa. 188, 988 A.2d 649, 654 (2010). We then determine “whether the suppression court’s factual findings are supported by the record and whether the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are correct.” Id. Our review of the application of the law to the facts is plenary. Id.

At the suppression hearing, the trial court denied the motion and made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law from the bench:

Police officers arrived. Before they arrived, the defendant flees the scene unprovoked, and as the officer is following him in a parallel fashion, the defendant throws over the fence what appears to be a plastic baggie consistent with items that one would use to store narcotics. The officer observed this, and then the officer also observed the defendant as he walked toward the police officer after the officer had identified himself as a police officer and instructed the defendant to stop, and as the defendant continued to approach the police officer, ignoring the officer’s commands, he discarded a box which contained Ice Breakers, and the defendant got 15 feet of the officer, who had to draw his gun, and the defendant was finally detained and arrested.
I find that there is sufficient probable cause to support a claim that the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics. I think the standard, and I may be wrong, is probable cause, not reasonable suspicion. It’s clear you have reasonable suspicion because of the fact that you have unprovoked flight in a high-crime area, and the officers didn’t have the opportunity to identify themselves or produce badges with respect to this defendant until the first opportunity, and they did what they needed to do.

N.T. Suppression Hearing, 6/7/2010, at 27-28.2

The suppression judge amplified his reasoning in its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, stating:

[Washington] first rests this claim on the alleged lack of either reasonable suspicion or probable cause by the officers in detaining and searching his person. In most instances, in order to establish a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, police must have specific reasonable inferences which they are entitled to draw from the facts in light of their experience. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868 [20 L.Ed.2d 889] (1968). However, in a high crime area, unprovoked flight is sufficient to create reasonable suspicion so as to justify Terry stop by police officers. Commonwealth v. Brown, 2006 Pa.Super. 177, 904 A.2d 925 (2006). Moreover, the stopping and pat down of a defendant under such circumstances is not considered a violation of the 4th Amendment, nor is the evidence seized subject to suppression. Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 120 S.Ct. 673, 145 L.Ed.2d 570 (2000). Here, [Washington] voluntarily ran from the unmarked police officers in an area that was testified to be a high-crime area by the same officers during trial. In fact, the officers were at the residence on Breker Street because of a [898]*898report of shots being fired at the same location a few days beforehand. Therefore, a reasonable suspicion was created.

Trial Court Opinion, 7/20/11, at 3.

Washington claims that as a matter of law, the facts testified to by the detectives did not provide an adequate statement of either reasonable suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity to justify the initial police chase. As result of the improper chase, the evidence was obtained by forced abandonment.

Commonwealth v. Brown, 904 A.2d 925 (Pa.Super.2006), upon which the trial court relied, sets forth the applicable standards of law for this matter. In Brown, a panel, of our Court stated,

Consistent with Jefferson and D.M. II, it is clear that unprovoked flight in a high crime area establish a reasonable suspicion to believe that criminal activity is afoot to allow for a Terry stop. To determine whether the police have reasonable suspicion, the totality of the circumstances must be examined.

Brown, 904 A.2d at 930.

Jefferson and D.M. II3 are prior cases in which the facts clearly show the defendant fled from individuals who were recognizable as police. In Jefferson, the defendant and another man, who were in an area known for drug sales and violence, fled when they saw a marked police vehicle approach. In D.M. II, the defendant, who matched a description broadcast over police radio of a man with a gun, was asked by the police to come over to the police car. Instead, D.M. fled.

In Brown, the police car involved was an unmarked vehicle. Brown was observed loitering in a high crime area, and had been “sneaking” around in apparent response to a marked patrol car passing by. The police officer in the unmarked car got out of his car and ordered Brown to stop. The officer was wearing a black tee shirt that had the word “police” written in three or four inch high letters across the front. Although the officer could not recall if he verbally identified himself as a police officer, his clothing clearly identified him as such. Nonetheless, Brown fled.

In Illinois v. Wardlow, supra, the United States Supreme Court speaks of “unprovoked flight upon noticing the police” in a high crime area. Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 124, 120 S.Ct. 673. Additional language in Wardlow also supports the conclusion that the suspect must know he is running from law enforcement before a reasonable suspicion can attach. “Our cases had recognized that nervous, evasive behavior is a pertinent factor in determining reasonable suspicion.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
51 A.3d 895, 2012 Pa. Super. 177, 2012 WL 3643832, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-washington-pasuperct-2012.