Commonwealth v. Youngkin

11 Pa. D. & C.4th 79, 1989 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 5
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Columbia County
DecidedJuly 17, 1989
Docketno. 191 of 1988
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Pa. D. & C.4th 79 (Commonwealth v. Youngkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Columbia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Youngkin, 11 Pa. D. & C.4th 79, 1989 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 5 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

MYERS, P.J.,

Defendant is a physician whose office is located in Berwick, Columbia County. He has been charged under 35 Pa.C.S. §780-113(a)3, which is a violation of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. Specifically, defendant is charged with providing controlled substances for patients’ use beyond the scope of reasonable professional medical treatment. Defendant has filed an omnibus pretrial motion raising several issues. Testimony was taken on defendant’s motion on March 1, 1989. After submission of briefs addressing the legal issues, defendant’s motion is ready for disposition.

Defendant’s omnibus motion raises four issues. They are as follows:

I. Motion to suppress

II. Motion to dismiss the criminal information

III. Motion for change of venue/venire

IV. Motion for individual voir dire

I

Defendant’s motion for suppression raises issues of law rather novel to the Commonwealth. Defendant is seeking to suppress items seized relative to a search of his professional office pursuant to an administrative inspection warrant. Defendant ar[81]*81gues that the search was analogous to a criminal investigation rather than to ensure compliance with administrative procedures.

There is little case law in the Commonwealth regarding this issue. However, several federal jurisdictions have addressed the matter.

In United States v. Lawson, 502 F.Supp. 158 (D.C. Maryland 1980), a search and seizure of records was effectuated pursuant to an administrative warrant. It was- determined that a criminal investigation was being pursued, and that the search was conducted to further that criminal investigation. The court noted that there was no civil or administrative purpose for the information sought at the time the officers applied for the warrants in Lawson.

Regarding the issue of probable cause, the Lawson court stated that “[a] lower standard of probable cause is constitutionally permissible in the administrative inspection context because the intrusion into an individual’s privacy is less than that in the criminal context, and is outweighed by the public’s interest in the regulatory program. But once the purpose behind the search shifts from administrative compliance to a quest for evidence to be used in a criminal prosecution the government may constitutionally enter the premises only upon securing a warrant supported by full probable cause.” Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 508, 512, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 1949, 1951, 56 L.Ed. 2d 486 (1978). (citations omitted; emphasis supplied)

The Lawson court went on to hold that the search in question was not supported by a higher standard of probable cause, but rather a lower standard. The searches were accordingly declared to be in viola[82]*82tion of defendant’s'Fourth Amendment rights and any evidence seized as a result of the search was, excluded.

In United States v. Russo, 517 F.Supp. 83 (E.D. Mich. 1981), an administrative search warrant was issued pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 880. The warrant was executed in defendant physician’s office. Among the items seized were controlled substances, documents and patient file folders.

At the preliminary hearing there was testimony that the seizure of the records was not relevant to the administrative audit authorized by the statute. The Russo court suppressed the seized evidence, stating that the officers had probable cause to believe a criminal violation had occurred. It was developed that seizure of the records was not relevant to an accounting procedure and in fact the officers actually desired access to the records to gather evidence for a possible criminal prosecution. The items were suppressed because the officers had a duty to obtain a search warrant upon a traditional showing of probable cause and failed to satisfy that duty.

Conversely in United States v. Nechy, 827 F.2d 1161 (7th Cir. 1987), the court denied a motion to suppress where a search pursuant to a 21 U.S.C. §880 administrative warrant yielded evidence of criminal activity. The court found that when the warrant was obtained there was no showing that the execution of the warrant would lead to evidence of a criminal violation. The incriminating nature of the evidence was not discovered until the items were taken back to DEA headquarters and inspected there.

In Lawson, Russo, and Nechy, the threshold determination appears to require at least the exist[83]*83ence of a criminal investigation prior to the obtaining of the warrant by the investigating authorities in order that the evidence obtained be suppressible. However, Russo seems to extend the concept further to where mere knowledge or probable cause of criminal activity, without the existence of a criminal investigation, requires that the items seized be suppressed.

In the present case, testimony was clear that a criminal investigation of defendant was undertaken no later than June 19, 1987 (N.T. 16) and possibly in November 1986 (N.T. 1). The Bureau of Narcotic Investigations officer and a member of the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration searched defendant’s office on July 29, 1987 pursuant to an administrative inspection warrant.

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Related

Michigan v. Tyler
436 U.S. 499 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. Michael Nechy
827 F.2d 1161 (Seventh Circuit, 1987)
Commonwealth v. Hathaway
500 A.2d 443 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
United States v. Lawson
502 F. Supp. 158 (D. Maryland, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Casper
392 A.2d 287 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1978)
United States v. Russo
517 F. Supp. 83 (E.D. Michigan, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Pa. D. & C.4th 79, 1989 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-youngkin-pactcomplcolumb-1989.