Com. v. Logan

• Decision Date: 18 October 1988
• Citation: 519 Pa. 607,549 A.2d 531
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Ronald LOGAN, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 531

549 A.2d 531

519 Pa. 607

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Ronald LOGAN, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Dec. 7, 1987.

Decided Oct. 18, 1988.

Michael E. Floyd, for appellant.

Gaele McLaughlin Barthold, Deputy Dist. Atty., Ronald Eisenberg, Chief, Appeals Div., Donna G. Zucker, Robert A. Graci, Chief Deputy Attys. Gen., Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, ZAPPALA and PAPADAKOS, JJ.

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

PAPADAKOS, Justice.

The Appellant was convicted by a jury of murder of the first degree and possession of an instrument of crime for axing to death a stranger on a public bus containing five other passengers and was sentenced to death.

The record indicates that he delivered approximately fifteen blows to the victim's head. Testifying that "voices" directed him to act, the Appellant also claimed to have been motivated by some alleged verbal provocation on the part of the victim. An armed security guard, who was a passenger on the bus, drew his weapon and pointed it at the attacker to prevent him from fleeing. Upon being subdued by armed police who arrived quickly at the scene, he was given an abbreviated rendition of Miranda warnings but nevertheless blurted out that "I did it; I'm glad I did it; I will get ten years for it but I hope he dies." An autopsy revealed that the victim's fingers and hands had been mutilated in the defensive act of covering his head. The Appellant was read the Miranda warnings formally at police headquarters after which he confessed once again in writing to the killing. He was twenty-one years old at this time.

Following his arrest and during trial, the Appellant was confined to mental hospitals under authority of the Mental Health Procedures Act, 50 P.S. § 7305 et seq. Because of prior mental illness, he also had been institutionalized as a patient before the killing. He was medicated during all legal proceedings against him. Two court hearings concluded that he was competent to stand trial. His attorney was not permitted to withdraw from the case despite testimony that the Appellant expressed a wish to be executed and that he did not want to be defended. In the midst of these proceedings, the Appellant also threatened witnesses, the prosecutor, and the jury in open court.

He was defended unsuccessfully on the grounds of insanity under the M'Naghten rule and inability to form the specific intent required for murder of the first degree. Under Regina v. M'Naghten, 10 Cl. and Fin. 200, 8 Fug.Rep. 718 (1843), insanity is a defense if the defendant, at the time of the act, was suffering from "such a defect of reason, a disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of his act or, if he did know it, as not to know that what he was doing was wrong." This is the statutory language of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 315(b). The M'Naghten Rule is preserved specifically under § 314(d). He was found guilty of that murder and of possession of an instrument of crime. At the penalty stage, the Appellant instructed his defense counsel not to plead any mitigating circumstances. The penalty jury then found two aggravating circumstances under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(7), "grave risk of death" to others, and (d)(8), torture, but no mitigating circumstances. He was sentenced to death for murder and to a concurrent term of imprisonment of one to two years for possession of an instrument of crime.

Following our mandatory review pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(h)(1), we conclude that the facts do not justify a finding of the aggravating circumstance of torture. We affirm the sentence in all other respects under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(c)(1)(iv) which provides that "the verdict must be a sentence of death if the jury unanimously finds at least one aggravating circumstance specified in subsection (d) and no mitigating circumstances or if the jury unanimously finds one or more aggravating circumstances which outweigh any mitigating circumstances."

This appeal is based on the following allegations of error:

I. Suppression of Inculpatory Statements and Confession

Appellant's first argument is that his inculpatory statements to the police should have been suppressed because they were the product of a defective mental condition, and, therefore, his Miranda rights against self-incrimination could not have been waived by him either at the scene or at the police headquarters in a knowing, understanding, and intelligent manner. In addition, the Appellant maintains that the first Miranda warnings rendered by the police at the scene of the crime were not given immediately and were so abbreviated in content as to induce him to utter words of confession.

The Appellant was advised of his Miranda rights on two occasions during the night of the killing:

a. On the Bus.

Having been drawn to the carnage by a panic-stricken passenger, two police officers sped to the bus and entered with guns drawn. They observed the Appellant and the victim's body on the floor, they yelled "freeze" to the Appellant who quickly hid behind a seat. After approaching the Appellant who had stood up in a surrender posture, one officer directed him to lie on the floor and immediately straddled the Appellant between his legs. The second officer had left the bus hurriedly to talk to witnesses. Just prior to being handcuffed inside, the prisoner mumbled words to the straddling officer that he wanted to be shot, executed, and beaten. Handcuffs were applied, and at that point the officer quoted from several, but not all, of the Miranda rights:

Q. Now, when you called rescue, after you got back to the bus, did you give the defendant any information from any cards you had in your possession?

A. Also, yes, I did. Not from a card in my possession even though at all times I do possess a card with the Miranda warnings.

However, I didn't read the litany from the card. The defendant was on the floor at this time for my safety and Lieutenant Wilson's safety. Articles were taken from his possession.

Q. What were those articles?

A. A claw hammer was taken from Mr. Logan's outer coat pocket and a rubber mallet was taken from inside his coat pocket.

As the defendant was laying there from my memory I gave him a short explanation of his rights.

Q. Okay. Can you tell us as close as you possibly can what you told him?

A. I told him that he was under arrest. I told him he had a right to remain silent. Anything he can use--anything he says can be used against him in a court of law and that an attorney would be provided for him. I was cut short or maybe that's not the proper term, cut short.

But--

Q. Were you able to finish the litany of rights?

A. No sir, I was not.

Q. Why were you not able to finish?

A. Mr. Logan was saying words to me that I just didn't understand what he was saying. It didn't seem that--I'm not saying--I'm just not--He just wasn't responding properly to what I was saying. (N.T., 2/5/82, pp. 42-43.)

Appellant was patted down. As noted in the testimony, a hammer and mallet were taken from his coat. Testimony at trial demonstrated also that Appellant seemed to be stating in somewhat garbled terms that he was "tired" of being provoked and that in prison he "was going to run the place."¹ As the Appellant was being led away through the bus, he blurted out that, "I did it; I'm glad I did it; I will get ten years for it but I hope he dies."

The arresting officer on the bus testified that in the clutch of those circumstances, he did not quote Miranda warnings immediately because he was engaged in the strenuous task of securing the Appellant in order to prevent harm to his own person, other officers, as well as to the prisoner himself. Other officers who had contact with the Appellant at the scene testified that they saw no evidence of the influence of drugs on the Appellant although he did appear to be excited. The officer who straddled and handcuffed the Appellant on the bus also stated on the record at trial that he had not engaged in any interrogation and had not asked the Appellant if the quoted Miranda warnings were being understood.

b. At Police Headquarters

Uncontested police testimony shows that the Appellant was taken to the interview room of the Police Administration Building where he was read Miranda rights from the Standard Police Interrogation Card. Appellant orally indicated at that time that he understood each warning and even asked for clarifications. He then gave a confession which was written out by the interviewing officer who reduced it to typewritten form. Appellant read his typed confession aloud into a tape recorder and signed each page. Prior to giving this confession, he was advised again of the Miranda rights. The Appellant apprised the interviewing officer of the fact that he could read and write English because he had gone to the eleventh grade in school. He also denied any recent use of drugs except for a "reefer" which he had smoked several days before the crime. There was no evidence that the Appellant had been coerced or induced by the police into making the confession.

Appellant instantly claims that his mental illness, existing at the time he confessed, precluded any ability on his part to waive his rights in a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent manner. His inculpatory statements, he now claims, were involuntary a fortiori, and should have been suppressed. We disagree based on the recorded facts as well as the applicable law of this Commonwealth.

Our cases have held invariably that defendants with proven psychological defects are capable indeed of waiving their constitutional rights and giving voluntary confessions. See, Commonwealth v. Tucker, 461 Pa. 191, 335 A.2d 704 (1975); Commonwealth v. Fogan, 449 Pa. 552, 296 A.2d 755 (1972); Commonwealth v. Abrams, 443 Pa. 295, 278 A.2d 902 (1971); Commonwealth v. Darden, 441 Pa. 41, 271 A.2d 257 (1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 1004, 91 S.Ct. 1243, 28...