In the Interest of: J.N.W., a Minor

197 A.3d 274
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 3, 2018
Docket1759 MDA 2017
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 197 A.3d 274 (In the Interest of: J.N.W., a Minor) 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
In the Interest of: J.N.W., a Minor, 197 A.3d 274 (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

OPINION BY STABILE, J.:

The Commonwealth appeals from the October 10, 2017 order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, Juvenile Division, granting the motion to suppress filed by Appellee, J.N.W., in relation to charges of endangering welfare of children ("EWOC") and drug delivery resulting in death ("DDRD"). 1 The Commonwealth argues that J.N.W. was not subjected to custodial interrogations at the time she provided statements to police and a deputy coroner, obviating the need for Miranda 2 warnings. After careful review, we affirm.

At issue in this case are four statements given by J.N.W. in the days following events that occurred on May 18 and 19, 2016. In its December 22, 2017 opinion, the suppression court issued its findings of fact, several of which reflected stipulations of the parties. Opinion, 12/22/17, at 1-6, ¶¶ 1-48. Our review confirms that the court's factual findings are supported by the record with one clarification, as will be explained below. Although the underlying facts will be explored in more detail herein, we initially provide the following factual *277 background based on our review of the suppression hearing transcripts and the DVD interview of J.N.W. conducted on May 23, 2016.

J.N.W. was nine days short of her eighteenth birthday on May 19, 2016, when her best friend, eighteen-year-old Nicholas Lintz ("Lintz"), died of a heroin overdose. In the hours before his death, Lintz and J.N.W. had snorted the heroin in the apartment where J.N.W. lived with her mother ("Janis") and with J.N.W.'s three-year-old son ("E.W."). Janis was in North Carolina at the time. E.W. was in the apartment with J.N.W. and Lintz. 3

At 4:41 a.m. on May 19, J.N.W. called 911 because Lintz was not breathing. Three officers from the Exeter Police Department responded to the call. One of the officers, Officer Karen Grycon, comforted J.N.W. at a distance of approximately ten to fifteen feet from where the other officers and paramedics worked on Lintz, who was on the floor in the apartment's bathroom when they arrived. J.N.W. initially denied drug use but then admitted that she and Lintz had snorted heroin she obtained through a friend and that Lintz had also consumed alcohol. She stated she flushed the packaging and what was left of the heroin down the toilet. She did not disclose the identity of the friend who supplied the heroin. Officer Grycon explained to J.N.W. that she would have to go to the hospital to be evaluated because she was a juvenile who had ingested heroin. Officer Grycon told J.N.W. to call E.W.'s father to come stay with the child while J.N.W. went to the hospital. J.N.W. was taken to Reading Hospital by EMS. See Notes of Testimony ("N.T."), 7/22/17, at 6-14, 40.

Lintz was transported to Reading Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:47 a.m. A deputy coroner received a call from the hospital about a possible overdose death. He conducted an examination, took photographs and drew materials for toxicology testing. He called the Exeter Police Department and was told no one from the department would be going to the hospital. At approximately 8:00 a.m., a nurse asked the coroner if he wished to speak with Lintz's "girlfriend." He went to J.N.W.'s room, identified himself, and told her wanted to find out what had happened before Lintz was taken to the hospital. She admitted to heroin use but declined to identify the source. The coroner reported on his conversation to the police and indicated he would write up a report that included J.N.W.'s statements.

J.N.W.'s grandfather picked her up from the hospital. J.N.W. then went to school. When three officers arrived at the school, J.N.W. was meeting with a counselor. The principal allowed the officers to interview J.N.W. in the principal's office where they met for 15 to 20 minutes behind closed doors. The officers obtained information about how she and Lintz obtained the heroin, although J.N.W. did not disclose the name of the source. The officers also retrieved her cell phone, as authorized by Janis in a telephone conversation.

The police subsequently obtained a search warrant for J.N.W.'s apartment and seized cell phones, iPads, laptops, and drug paraphernalia. In one of several telephone conversations between Janis and Exeter Police Detective Godshall, Janis agreed she would bring J.N.W. to the police station upon her return to Pennsylvania.

On May 23, Janis and J.N.W. went to the Exeter Police Department where they met with Detectives Godshall and Gresh *278 for a taped interview that last approximately one hour and twenty minutes. During that interview, J.N.W. recounted in detail the events of the evening of May 18 and early morning hours of May 19. She discussed calling her "connect" and meeting with her to purchase four bags of heroin for $45, but did not identify the "connect" because she did not want to "rat" on her. She related the warning from the "connect" that the heroin was strong and that someone had overdosed on half a bag.

On June 14, 2017, J.N.W. filed a motion to suppress statements. The suppression court held hearings on June 22 and July 18, 2017. At the conclusion of proceedings on July 18, the suppression court set a schedule for the filing of memoranda. On October 10, 2017, the suppression court issued its order granting the motion to suppress. The Commonwealth filed a timely appeal. Both the Commonwealth and the suppression court complied with Pa.R.A.P 1925.

In this appeal, the Commonwealth presents one issue for our consideration:

A. Did the suppression court err by concluding that J.N.W. was subjected to custodial interrogations where she was neither in custody nor asked questions likely to elicit incriminating responses?

Commonwealth Brief at 4.

In Commonwealth v. Korn , 139 A.3d 249 (Pa. Super. 2016), this Court explained:

Our standard of review in addressing a challenge to the suppression court's granting of a suppression motion is well settled.
When the Commonwealth appeals from a suppression order, we follow a clearly defined standard of review and consider only the evidence from the defendant's witnesses together with the evidence of the prosecution that, when read in the context of the entire record, remains uncontradicted. The suppression court's findings of fact bind an appellate court if the record supports those findings. The suppression court's conclusions of law, however, are not binding on an appellate court, whose duty is to determine if the suppression court properly applied the law to the facts.
Commonwealth v. Miller , 56 A.3d 1276

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Bluebook (online)
197 A.3d 274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-jnw-a-minor-pasuperct-2018.