Com. v. Cunningham
| Decision Date | 28 February 1977 |
| Citation | 370 A.2d 1172,471 Pa. 577 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William Mark CUNNINGHAM, Jr., Appellant (two cases). |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Marion E. MacIntyre, Deputy Dist. Atty., Gaylor E. Dissinges, Harrisburg, for appellee.
Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY and NIX, JJ.
On May 15, 1974, appellant was convicted of first degree murder and burglary in connection with the killing of a young housewife in suburban Harrisburg in May of 1972. Post-trial motions were filed and denied and the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Appellant raises three major issues on appeal to this Court: 1) whether the suppression judge erred as a matter of law in ruling that the June 13, 1973 signed confession of appellant was admissible at trial despite allegations that it was obtained as a result of coercion; 2) whether the June 13, 1973 confession, if not the result of coercion, was tainted by prior allegedly illegally-obtained statements, more precisely statements given to police on May 24, 1973 and June 7, 1973; and 3) whether the trial judge erred in prohibiting defendant from introducing testimony concerning the use of the polygraph examination which was offered to show that coercive tactics were used in securing the statement of June 7, 1973.
The testimony established that the victim was a 27-year-old housewife who was found stabbed to death at the entrance of the garage to her home. She had not been sexually molested and nothing was reported missing from the house. Despite an intensive police investigation it was not until approximately a year later that the first break-through came towards a solution of the case. On April 25, 1973, in the course of investigating individuals with a prior history of 'violence, sexual motivation or surreptitious entry,' police were at Susquehanna Township High School, located in the immediate vicinity of the scene of the crime, talking with friends and classmates of one Ronald Hoffman, one of the individuals with such a record of criminal activity. One of Hoffman's associates who was interviewed was the appellant, William Cunningham, a 17-year-old Special Education student in the 11th grade.
On April 25, 1973, and again on May 24, 1973, appellant spoke with state policemen and discussed Hoffman's possible involvement in the crime. On June 7, 1973, with the knowledge and consent of his parents, appellant agreed to submit to a polygraph examination to enable the police officials to assess the truth of the allegations made by appellant against Hoffman. Following that examination, which was preceded by proper Miranda warnings and the signing by appellant of a polygraph waiver form, appellant first implicated himself by admitting that he was present at the home of the victim on the day in question, that he observed Ronald Hoffman stab the victim, but that his function was merely that of a lookout while Hoffman burglarized the home.
The next day appellant was arraigned on burglary charges and on June 9th Ronald Hoffman was arrested and charged with murder. On June 13, 1973, at 2:00 P.M., appellant was interviewed in the District Attorney's office for the expressed purpose of preparing the testimony that would be used against Hoffman at his preliminary hearing scheduled for June 15th. The defendant was advised of his constitutional rights and told that he could be charged with murder. During the interview, after being confronted with certain inconsistencies in his prior statements, the appellant broke down and admitted that Hoffman had not been involved in the commission of the crime but that he, Cunningham, was the sole perpetrator. The interview was concluded at 4:15 P.M., after the District Attorney had suggested that the appellant's parents be called. Although appellant objected, his parents were then brought to the District Attorney's office. They employed an attorney who appeared and conferred with the appellant. At 6:30 P.M., a formal stenographically-transcribed confession was given in the presence of the appellant's attorney and it is this statement which was presented at trial and whose admissibility is now being questioned.
Prior to trial, defense counsel filed timely motions to suppress the statements of May 24, June 7 and June 13, 1973, on various grounds. The motions were heard and denied after a three-day suppression hearing.
It is axiomatic that a confession to be valid must be given free of any physical or psychological coercion which might interfere with one's will to resist. Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961); Commonwealth v. Cockfield, 465 Pa. 415, 350 A.2d 833 (1976); Commonwealth v. Goodwin, 460 Pa. 516, 333 A.2d 892 (1975). Further, where the custodial interrogation involves the waiver of constitutional rights guaranteed under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, the record must clearly demonstrate that the accused was fully apprised of his rights and knowingly made the decision to waive them. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); Commonwealth v. Purvis, 458 Pa. 359, 326 A.2d 369 (1974); Commonwealth v. Simms, 455 Pa. 599, 317 A.2d 265 (1974); Commonwealth v. Riggins, 451 Pa. 519, 304 A.2d 473 (1973).
Appellant asserts that the signed statement which was introduced against him was involuntarily given and thus should have been suppressed. This statement was obtained during a counseled interview which took place during the evening hours of June 13, 1973. As has been previously noted, appellant first admitted complicity in the murder on June 7, 1973. In this statement he described his participation in the incident as a lookout and denied responsibility for the actual stabbing of the victim. After these admissions, he was charged only with the crime of burglary. As a result of the information supplied by appellant, Ronald Hoffman was arrested and charged with murder. It is also evident that the Commonwealth's case against Hoffman was dependent solely upon the testimony of appellant.
On June 13th, appellant was taken to the District Attorney's office at 2:00 P.M. for the purpose of preparing him to testify as a Commonwealth witness against Hoffman at the latter's preliminary hearing. It was during this discussion that appellant volunteered the information that he killed the victim and that Ronald Hoffman was not involved in the crime. Up to the time of this admission Hoffman, and not appellant, was the target defendant as to the slaying of Ms. Karen Dockray. When the police became aware of this change of posture in the case they insisted that appellant contact his parents.
When notified of the situation, the parents of appellant obtained counsel who met and conferred with appellant. Thereafter, a counseled interview took place during which the statement, which is now challenged, was prepared and signed.
At the outset of our consideration of appellant's challenge to this statement it must be noted that since counsel was present and appellant was provided a full opportunity to confer with him, it is obvious that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has been satisfied. The record also establishes that prior to the commencement of the counseled interview appellant had been apprised of his Fifth Amendment rights by police officials and his privately retained attorney. The facts of this case do not provide the slightest justification for a challenge to the waiver of the Fifth Amendment right as being a knowing one. 1 Finally, there is not a scintilla of evidence upon which to predicate a challenge to the voluntariness. At no point has appellant identified the presence of a single coercive influence during the interrogation in question. To the contrary, the presence of counsel at that time resulted from the police insistence that appellant contact his parents. Most significant is the fact that counsel was present and was available to detect and describe even the most subtle coercive or suggestive influences if they in fact had existed. No such testimony was offered. The significance of the presence of counsel during custodial interrogation was referred to at several places in the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966):
That counsel is present when statements are taken from an individual during interrogation obviously enhances the integrity of the fact-finding processes in court. The presence of an attorney, and the warnings delivered to the individual, enable the defendant under otherwise compelling circumstances to tell his story without fear, effectively, and in a way that eliminates the evils in the interrogation process.
At another point of the decision, the United States Supreme Court observed:
Id. at 470, 86 S.Ct. at 1626 (citation omitted).
We therefore conclude that the statement elicited during the June 13th counseled interview was knowingly made and free of any coercive influence.
In view of our finding that the June 13th statement was free of any illegal or coercive influences affecting its admissibility at trial, the only conceivable...
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