Com. v. Ruey

• Decision Date: 06 March 2006
• Citation: 892 A.2d 802
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Speer RUEY, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

892 A.2d 802

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Speer RUEY, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued September 14, 2005.

Decided March 6, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ralph L.S. Montana, for Speer Ruey.

Jeffrey D. Burkett, Clarion, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, JJ.

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

Justice NEWMAN.

Speer Ruey (Appellant) appeals from an Order of the Superior Court reversing an Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County (suppression court), which suppressed the introduction into evidence of medical records pertaining to his treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the Order of the Superior Court, albeit on different grounds, and remand the case for trial.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Shortly before eight o'clock on the evening of March 26, 1999, Appellant was involved in a four-vehicle collision that resulted in one fatality as well as injuries to himself and at least three others. While driving a 1988 Nissan Pathfinder in the northbound lane of State Route 28 outside Brockway Borough in Jefferson County, Appellant crossed into the path of oncoming southbound traffic. His vehicle sideswiped two automobiles before colliding head-on with a 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier owned and driven by Debra Seeley (Seeley). As a result of that collision, Seeley was seriously injured and Clarence Main, a passenger riding in her car, was killed. Appellant's Pathfinder flipped onto its roof, and he was seriously injured as well. Appellant and Seeley were evacuated by helicopter to UPMC.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Mark A. Bryan (Trooper Bryan) was the investigating officer at the scene of the accident. He determined, through the resting position of the vehicles and other accident reconstruction measures, that Appellant had caused the accident by crossing into the opposite lane of traffic. Trooper Bryan did not speak directly to Appellant or Seeley due to the emergent nature of their injuries, but he did interview the emergency medical services (E.M.S.) personnel at the scene. One E.M.S. person informed him that Appellant appeared to have been drunk, while another related that Appellant smelled of alcohol. Trooper Bryan inspected Appellant's Pathfinder, in which he found two bottles of wine, one of them empty and the other partially full, and near which he discovered a half-empty bottle of vodka.

Trooper Bryan called barracks personnel and asked that UPMC be contacted with a request to draw blood from Appellant. He later learned that UPMC emergency room staff, in response to the request, reported that "they were busy and they would do that [a blood-alcohol content (BAC) test] anyhow." (Notes of Testimony (N.T.), 9/24/01, at 17). Ultimately, UPMC did, in fact, perform a BAC test on Appellant.

On March 31, 1999, Trooper Bryan applied for a warrant to search for and seize "[a]ny and all [m]edical [r]ecords associated with the treatment of Speer RUEY, [address]. [D.O.B.] ... received on or after 03/26/99 at [UPMC]." (Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 25a). A district justice¹ issued the warrant on April 3, 1999. On August 6, 1999, the Commonwealth charged Appellant with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI),² homicide by vehicle while DUI,³ aggravated assault by vehicle with DUI,⁴ homicide by vehicle,⁵ involuntary manslaughter,⁶ aggravated assault,⁷ simple assault,⁸ and recklessly endangering another person.⁹

On May 2, 2000, Appellant filed a pretrial Motion to Suppress all evidence that the police seized pursuant to the authority of the search warrant that Trooper Bryan obtained on April 3, 1999. Appellant contended, inter alia, that the search warrant application lacked probable cause because Trooper Bryan failed to indicate in his Affidavit of Probable Cause (Bryan Affidavit) either that the information he received from the E.M.S. personnel was reliable or that he believed them to be credible witnesses.

On November 24, 2000, before the suppression court ruled on Appellant's Motion to Suppress, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Keith Allen (Trooper Allen) applied for a second search warrant seeking the same medical records of Appellant from UPMC. In his Affidavit of Probable Cause (Allen Affidavit), Trooper Allen alleged that, during interviews he conducted in November of 2000, the E.M.S. personnel who had responded to the accident informed him that Appellant had smelled of alcohol, wept, asked about his dog, and used vulgar language. Trooper Allen further stated that Trooper Bryan told him that he had found three alcohol bottles one near and two inside Appellant's Pathfinder. Trooper Allen also averred that Appellant was flown to UPMC for treatment and that he had probable cause to believe that UPMC medical records would indicate evidence of criminal activity on the part of Appellant. (N.T., Commonwealth Ex. No. 1 at 2-3). Subsequent to the application of Trooper Allen, a second search warrant ultimately was issued. By Order entered November 29, 2000, the suppression court formally declared the first warrant invalid.

On January 22, 2001, the Commonwealth filed a Brief in Opposition to [Appellant's] Motion to Suppress, asserting the validity of the second search warrant, which, it argued, cured the defects of the first warrant. The Commonwealth relied principally on the independent source doctrine, which operates as an exception to the exclusionary rule so as to permit the introduction at trial of evidence seized during an illegal search if the prosecution can demonstrate that the allegedly tainted evidence ultimately would have been procured through means independent of the illegality. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Melendez, 544 Pa. 323, 676 A.2d 226, 230 (1996); Commonwealth v. Yvonne Mason, 535 Pa. 560, 637 A.2d 251, 254 (1993).

The suppression court held a hearing on September 24, 2001, to determine the admissibility of the medical records pursuant to the second warrant. At the hearing, Trooper Bryan testified that Trooper Allen was present at the accident site and that "[p]rimarily, he assisted at the scene, and eventually he helped with the reconstruction to take measurements." (N.T. at 19). Trooper Bryan further testified that "[s]everal times [Trooper Allen] conferred with me for information he needed for the new search warrant, and just other preliminary stuff." (Id. at 20). According to his testimony, Trooper Bryan provided Trooper Allen with a full and complete copy of his original investigatory file.

Trooper Allen testified that he went to the accident scene initially to deliver supplies but that, once there, he spoke with another on-scene officer to learn what had happened. Trooper Allen did not conduct interviews at this time and only assisted with accident reconstruction. Subsequently, a prosecutor asked him to prepare a new search warrant. According to his testimony, in preparing the application, Trooper Allen:

spoke with Trooper Bryan; glanced through the report and went over the investigation ...; [] drafted up a preliminary copy of the affidavit and the search warrant, which was reviewed by [the prosecutor]. [Trooper Allen then] reviewed it for spelling corrections and other additional requirements that needed to be fixed in the warrant.

(Id. at 24). Trooper Allen also re-interviewed E.M.S. personnel that Trooper Bryan had questioned and another individual whom Trooper Allen had identified from the report of Trooper Bryan. Trooper Allen further testified that "[e]verything [he] learned after talking to the people was the same" concerning what Trooper Bryan had learned and that he "looked at what Trooper Bryan did and looked to make sure it was correct." (Id. at 33). The Allen Affidavit contained "the re-interviews... plus what [the witnesses] said at the preliminary investigation." (Id. at 32-33).

Following the hearing, by Order entered November 14, 2001, the suppression court granted Appellant's Motion to Suppress the medical records that the police obtained from UPMC notwithstanding the issuance of the second warrant. After finding that the Commonwealth had obtained the medical records "pursuant to a warrant that was later deemed invalid" (suppression ct. Op. at 1 (unnumbered)) the suppression court assumed without explanation that the exclusionary rule barred the introduction of those records into evidence. The suppression court then concluded that the independent source exception to the exclusionary rule was inapplicable based on its determination that "the actions of Trooper Allen in concurring with [Trooper Bryan] and essentially re-enacting his investigation [were] not an independent alternative source from which the evidence could have been obtained." (Id. at 5).

The Commonwealth timely appealed, and the matter originally came before a three-judge panel of the Superior Court. On February 11, 2003, the panel filed a Memorandum Opinion affirming the Order of the suppression court with Judge Cavanaugh dissenting. On April 17, 2003, the Superior Court granted the Commonwealth's Application for Reargument en Banc. The Superior Court sitting en banc issued a published Opinion dated July 8, 2004, reversing the Order of, and remanding the case to, the suppression court. Commonwealth v. Ruey, 854 A.2d 560 (Pa.Super.2004) (en banc).

Although the Superior Court noted that "the dispositive flaw in [the Bryan Affidavit] was technical in nature," id. at 566, it followed the example set by the suppression court by summarily concluding that, unless an exception applied, the exclusionary rule precluded the introduction into evidence of the medical records of Appellant. Unlike the suppression court, however, the Superior Court determined that the independent source exception was applicable and thus served as the basis for the introduction into evidence of the medical records of Appellant. Notwithstanding Trooper...