Com. v. Alston

• Decision Date: 25 March 1974
• Citation: 317 A.2d 241,456 Pa. 128
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Nathan ALSTON, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 241

317 A.2d 241

456 Pa. 128

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Nathan ALSTON, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

March 25, 1974.

[456 Pa. 129] Harry C. Jackson, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Arlen Specter, Dist. Atty., Richard A. Sprague, 1st Asst. Dist. Atty., Milton M. Stein, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chief, Appeals Div., Benjamin H. Levintow, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ.

OPINION

NIX, Justice.

Appellant, Nathan Alston, was indicted and charged for the murder of one, Byron Harden. After trial before a jury a verdict of murder of the second degree was entered. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were filed, argued and subsequently denied. A sentence of imprisonment of not less than five nor more than twenty years was imposed. This is direct appeal from the judgment of sentence. ¹ The sole issue before this Court revolves around the suppression court's denial of appellant's motion to suppress his oral and signed written statements given to investigating officers. Appellant now raises two challenges to the statements' admissibility: First, that they were involuntary under the totality of the circumstances. Second, that the standard Miranda warnings are inadequate, in that appellant should have been warned if he elected to remain silent the police would not be permitted to question him further. ²

Counsel for appellant at the suppression hearing proceeded on the legal theory that the Commonwealth is required to tell a suspect or an accused if he wishes to remain silent that all questioning will immediately cease. The suppression court ruled as a matter of law to the contrary. Although not contended by the appellant below, the hearing court gratuitously found that the appellant's will was Overborne by the continuous questioning. Notwithstanding this finding and without explanation the hearing court denied the motion to suppress. We now affirm the suppression court's order denying the motion to suppress but reject the finding that appellant's will had been overborne.

It is fundamental that a court having found the will of the accused to have been overborne must suppress any admission or confession that results from the interrogation. See, Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961); Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, 429 Pa. 141, 239 A.2d 426 (1968); Commonwealth v. Eiland, 450 Pa. 566, 301 A.2d 651 (1973); Commonwealth v. Riggins, 451 Pa. 519, 304 A.2d 473 (1973).

A review of the testimony in this case rejects the suppression court's finding that the custodial interrogation ran afoul of constitutional restraints.

Nathan Alston was arrested without a warrant in his home and in the presence of his parents at 8:00 A.M. on November 21, 1971. At that time he was informed, as were his parents, that he was being taken into custody for questioning involving the murder of Byron Harden the previous evening. He was immediately thereafter taken to the Homicide Unit at the Police Administration Building, arriving there at 8:35 A.M. The first interrogation session commenced at 8:50 A.M. at which time appellant was given his Miranda warnings and was informed of the nature of the crime being investigated.

The session ended at 9:50 A.M. No statement was elicited except a denial by Alston of his involvement in the entire criminal episode under investigation. The appellant was then asked to take a polygraph examination, to which he acquiesced. Between 9:55 A.M. and 11:05 A.M. the polygraph procedures were conducted. When the test was completed the investigating detective resumed his interview with the appellant which continued until 12:55 P.M. This session was stopped when the detective was informed that appellant's mother was on the telephone and wished to speak with her son. ³ The appellant until this time had continued to deny any involvement in the homicide. After speaking with his mother for approximately fifteen minutes the questioning resumed. He was questioned from 1:10 P.M. to 1:20 P.M.; at which time Alston asked to be allowed to use the men's room and permission was granted. At 1:28 P.M. he was returned to the room where a meal which had been ordered for him was waiting. At 1:50 P.M. another interrogation session was commenced which terminated at 3:40 P.M., during the course of which the appellant gradually implicated himself, first being present at the scene of the crime, then as the driver of the automobile implicating Benjamin Smith, a co-defendant, as the individual who actually did the shooting, and then finally admitting that he in fact shot the deceased. At this point he was joined by his mother. When asked by her, 'What has happened, what did you do?', the appellant responded, 'I shot that boy.' Appellant then talked to his mother and uncle from 3:50 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. This was then followed by further police questioning from 5:20 P.M. to 6:42 P.M. wherein the appellant gave a formal written statement in the presence of his mother and uncle.

The statement together with evidence adduced at trial, established that the appellant was a member of the Logan gang. On the evening of November 20, 1971, a gang from Nicetown encroached upon an area considered to be the exclusive territory of the Logan group. Appellant and two other youths entered a stolen car, located the Nicetown group and decided to 'shoot at them and scare them.' Appellant procured a shotgun, relocated the rival group and fired a shot. Two of the young men were struck by the shotgun pellets, Kirkland fortunately recovered but Harden was not so fortunate.

While there is of course no single litmus-paper test for determining constitutionally impermissible interrogation, we have long recognized that the ultimate test for voluntariness is whether the confession is the product of an essentially free and unconstrained choice by its maker. 'If it is, if he has willed to confess, it may be used against him. If it is not, if his will has been overborne and his capacity for self-determination critically impaired, the use of his confession offends due process. Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 81 S.Ct. 735, 5 L.Ed.2d 760. The line of distinction is that at which governing self-direction is lost and compulsion, of whatever nature or however infused, propels or helps to propel the confession.'

Culombe v. Connecticut, Supra 367 U.S. at 601, 81 S.Ct. at 1879 (1961); see also, Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, Supra 429 Pa. at 149, 239 A.2d at 430 (1968); Commonwealth v. Eiland, Supra 450 Pa. at 574, 301 A.2d at 654 (1973); Commonwealth v. Riggins, Supra 451 Pa. at 524, 304 A.2d at 473 (1973); Commonwealth v. Banks, Pa., 311 A.2d 567, 579 (1973). An evaluation seeking to determine whether a confession is involuntary because of psychological coercion must consider those elements impinging upon a defendant's will such as: the duration, and the methods of interrogation; the conditions of detention, the manifest attitude of the police toward the defendant, the defendant's physical and psychological state and all other conditions present which may serve to drain ones powers of resistance to suggestion and undermine his self-determination. See Culombe v. Connecticut, Supra 367 U.S. at 602, 81 S.Ct. at 1860; Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, Supra 429 Pa. at 151, 239 A.2d at 431; Commonwealth v. Eiland, Supra 450 Pa. at...