Com. v. Jenkins

• Decision Date: 31 December 1982
• Citation: 500 Pa. 144,454 A.2d 1004
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Francis JENKINS, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 1004

454 A.2d 1004

500 Pa. 144

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Francis JENKINS, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Dec. 6, 1982.

Decided Dec. 31, 1982.

[500 Pa. 145] Eric B. Henson, Deputy Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellant.

Charlotte Nichols, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before O'BRIEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, NIX, LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT and HUTCHINSON, JJ.

OPINION

NIX, Justice.

This is an interlocutory appeal ¹ by the Commonwealth challenging a pretrial order suppressing an inculpatory custodial statement given by appellee, Francis Jenkins, relating to the circumstances surrounding the death of Ms. Betty Homer. The suppression court concluded that the actions of the Commonwealth constituted "an improper prosecutorial design to circumvent the rule of Commonwealth v. Davenport, [471 Pa. 278, 370 A.2d 301 (1977) ], [and as a result] must ... be held ineffective to preserve the evidentiary utility of defendant's incriminating admissions against suppression." (Record--16a). We disagree for the reasons that follow.

The Philadelphia Police were directed to a residence in response to a radio call and found upon their arrival the bruised dead body of the victim in a bedroom in the home. During the course of the ensuing investigation, appellee, who was the only other person in the home at the time of the arrival of the police, was arrested. After being warned of his rights, appellee initially maintained that he found Ms. Homer dead upon returning to the house. Approximately four and one-half hours after his arrest appellee admitted striking the victim and causing her to fall and strike her head. When it became apparent that it would be impossible to find an available judicial officer to arraign appellee, he was released from custody at 9:20 a.m. five hours after his arrest. Appellee was re-arrested the following day and arraigned within two and one-half hours.

During the suppression proceedings the Commonwealth attempted to convince the court that the police at the direction of the district attorney's representative had made the decision to release appellee because of the prosecution's uncertainty as to the strength of the case against him at that point. The record of that hearing clearly supports the court's rejection of that view. The suppression court was most astute in concluding that appellee was released primarily to avoid the consequences of our "six hour" rule in view of the difficulty being encountered in arranging for appellee's arraignment within the prescribed time limits.

The error in the suppression court's analysis flowed from the mistaken concept that our rule announced in Davenport established a rigid standard impervious of the purposes it was designed to serve. If such a premise were to be correct then the Commonwealth's complaint that the rule "works to exclude probative, reliable evidence despite the absence of police abuse" would have substantial merit. However, it is clear that the premise is false and the criticism unjustified.

Our concern with unnecessary delay in arraigning criminal defendants after their arrest was first addressed in Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1972) and its progeny. ² See also, Pa.R.Crim.P. 122 and 130 (formerly Rule 116 and 118). In these decisions we developed a rule of exclusion that rendered inadmissible incriminating evidence extracted from an accused during periods of unnecessary delay. See e.g., Commonwealth v. Smith, 487 Pa. 626, 410 A.2d 787 (1980); Commonwealth v. McGeachy, 487 Pa. 25, 407 A.2d 1300 (1979); Commonwealth v. Morton, 475 Pa. 374, 380 A.2d 769 (1977); Commonwealth v. Bey, 462 Pa. 533, 341 A.2d 907 (1975); Commonwealth v. Barilak, 460 Pa. 449, 333 A.2d 859 (1975); Commonwealth v. Cherry, 457 Pa. 201, 321 A.2d 611 (1974); Commonwealth v. Williams, 455 Pa. 569, 319 A.2d 419 (1974); Commonwealth v. Tingle, 451 Pa. 241, 301 A.2d 701 (1973). The evil which prompted this development was a recognition of the coercive environment that can be established by interminable custodial questioning.

In order to enforce the prompt arraignment requirement this Court held in Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1972), that evidence obtained during an unnecessary delay between arrest and preliminary arraignment is inadmissible at trial. This rule was adopted ... to guard against the coercive influence of custodial interrogation, ....

Commonwealth v. Davenport, supra, 471 Pa. at 284, 370 A.2d at 305.

Cf. Commonwealth v. Cherry, supra, 457 Pa. at 205, 321 A.2d at 613, ("... Futch [was] specifically designed to put a stop to the practice of arresting an individual and holding him during a lengthy period while continuing the investigation before arraigning him.") See also, Commonwealth v. Coley, 466 Pa. 53, 66, 351 A.2d 617, 622 (1976). While the Futch formulation was not designed to terminate police interrogation, it was intended to interrupt it after a reasonable period of time to allow the suspect to be advised of his custodial rights by an impartial judicial officer, as opposed to police officials, and in appropriate cases to establish the conditions of his release pending trial.

We have previously set forth the dangers of an unnecessary delay as follows:

... The danger of any such unnecessary ... restriction of liberty diminishes significantly when a citizen is brought swiftly before a neutral judicial authority, there to be informed of the charges and provided with an immediate and reasonable opportunity to regain his liberty by the posting of a reasonable bail. Thus, the delay between arrest and arraignment must be closely examined. The only delay permissible is that reasonably required for the administrative processing of the accused citizen. Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417, 418 (1972). Delay beyond that is unreasonable and constitutes a denial of a citizen's right to know the nature of the charges against him and to receive an immediate and reasonable opportunity to regain his freedom by the posting of bail. Commonwealth v. Dixon, 454 Pa. 444, 446-47, 311 A.2d 613, 614 (1973). See also Commonwealth v. Wayman, 454 Pa. 79, 309 A.2d 784 (1973); Commonwealth v. Dutton, 453 Pa. 547, 307 A.2d 238 (1973); Commonwealth v. Tingle, 451 Pa. 241, 301 A.2d 701 (1973).

Commonwealth v. McGeachy, supra, 487 Pa. at 28, 407 A.2d at 1301.

From the outset we stressed that it was not intended to be a mechanical rule to enforce compliance with our procedural rules by insisting upon a reasonable relationship between the delay and the evidence sought to be excluded. Commonwealth v. Futch, supra; accord, Commonwealth v. Smith, supra; Commonwealth v. Bey, supra; Commonwealth v. Rowe, 459 Pa. 163, 327 A.2d 358 (1974); Commonwealth v. Williams, supra; Commonwealth v. Dixon, supra; Commonwealth v. Wayman, supra; Commonwealth v. Dutton, supra; Commonwealth v. Tingle, supra. Our concern with the coercive aspect of the delay was reflected also in our determinations as what constituted an "unreasonable delay." Commonwealth v. McGeachy, supra; Commonwealth v. Bowen, supra; Commonwealth v. Morton, supra; Commonwealth v. Barilak, supra; Commonwealth v. Sanders, 458 Pa. 281, 327 A.2d 43 (1974); Commonwealth v. Cherry, supra; Commonwealth v. Williams, supra; Commonwealth v. Dixon, supra; Commonwealth v. Tingle, supra. The Futch rule was deliberately made flexible to provide the opportunity for a court to exclude only that evidence which was clearly tainted by the coercive atmosphere of the custodial interrogation. While this flexibility was salutary in providing our trial courts the leeway to separate evidence tainted by that coercive influence from that which resulted from volunteered self compelled utterances, Commonwealth v. Rowe, supra; cf. Commonwealth v. Penn, supra; Commonwealth v. Smith, supra; Commonwealth v. Van Cliff, supra, experience proved it to be difficult for law enforcement officials to administer. ³

As a result this Court adopted the more definitive articulation set forth in Commonwealth v. Davenport, supra.

This rule will assure more certain and even-handed application of the prompt arraignment requirement, and will provide greater guidance to trial courts, the bar and law enforcement authorities. Such a rule will simplify the task of determining the admissibility of statements taken before arraignment and thereby further judicial economy. It will also lessen the burden on prosecution and defense resources. In many cases this rule should eliminate the need for pre-trial litigation of the admissibility of statements by the defendant and thus help reduce pre-trial delay. Moreover, a rule based on the length of delay between arrest and arraignment will better serve to deter violations of the prompt arraignment requirement and to ensure that the protections afforded at preliminary arraignment are made available without unnecessary delay.

471 Pa. at 287-288, 370 A.2d at 306.

Nevertheless our objective remains the same. At no time did we wish to cut off freely volunteered confessions of guilt, nor did we wish to impede legitimate law enforcement efforts. The primary purpose sought to be obtained was to discourage the obtaining of incriminatory information through coercive means. As observed in Davenport:

The prohibition ... against any unnecessary delay between an arrest by an accusatorial authority and a preliminary arraignment minimizes the possibility of any unnecessary abridgement of a citizen's liberty. Such an abridgement would, of course, be unconstitutional. The danger of any such unnecessary and unconstitutional restriction of liberty diminishes significantly when a citizen is brought swiftly before a neutral judicial authority....

Id., 471 Pa. at 283-84, 370 A.2d at 305-05, quoting from Commonwealth v. Dixon, 454 Pa. 444, 446, 311 A.2d 613, 614 (1973).

The argument that the Davenport formulation was intended to be an inflexible standard ignores that in Davenport...