Com. v. Smith

• Decision Date: 23 September 2002
• Citation: 808 A.2d 215
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Rene C. SMITH, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

808 A.2d 215

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Rene C. SMITH, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued June 19, 2002.

Filed September 23, 2002.

James P. Miller, Smethport, for appellant.

John H. Pavlock, Asst. Dist. Atty., Smethport, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before: JOHNSON, JOYCE and HESTER, JJ.

OPINION BY JOYCE, J.:

¶ 1 Rene C. Smith, Appellant, appeals from the judgement of sentence imposed on July 1, 1999 in the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County. We affirm. The relevant facts and procedural history are as follows.

¶ 2 On September 19, 1996, Appellant was operating her vehicle on Route 219 in Lafayette Township when she crossed the centerline and collided with a vehicle driven by Danny Eschrich. Various county personnel, including the Deputy Coroner, Michael Cahill (hereinafter "Cahill"), responded to the scene. It was immediately determined that Mr. Eschrich (hereinafter "victim") was dead. Appellant was transported to the hospital, and her blood was drawn for treatment purposes. The responding State Trooper, Officer Allen, obtained a copy of the blood test results, which included the result of a blood alcohol content (BAC) test revealing a level of.19%. Appellant was charged with Homicide by Vehicle While Driving Under the Influence, Homicide by Vehicle, Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol (two counts), Driving on Roadways Laned for Traffic, and Careless Driving.¹

¶ 3 On February 9, 1998, Appellant filed an omnibus pretrial motion seeking the suppression of the BAC test result. The motion was granted and the evidence suppressed based on the fact that Officer Allen had obtained an invalid search warrant for Appellant's medical records prior to seizing them. However, the Commonwealth yet again obtained the BAC test results, alleging that it obtained the same evidence from an independent source subsequent to the initial suppression. Consequently, on May 26, 1998, Appellant filed a second omnibus pretrial motion, again seeking the suppression of Appellant's BAC test results. This motion was denied.

¶ 4 Various other pretrial motions were filed and denied. Appellant then proceeded to a jury trial and was found guilty of all of the charges. She was sentenced on July 1, 1999 to an aggregate term of incarceration of three to seven years. Both Appellant and the Commonwealth filed post-trial motions. Following the resolution of the motions on September 9, 1999, this timely appeal was filed. The trial court ordered Appellant to file a statement of matters complained of on appeal, with which Appellant complied.²

¶ 5 Appellant presents the following eight issues for our consideration:

1. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have suppressed the result of a blood alcohol test, obtained by then McKean County Detective Kyle Lindsay, pursuant to a search warrant?

a. Was the search warrant properly issued under the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions and the requirements of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure?

b. Did Detective Lindsay obtain the evidence of the result of [Appellant's] blood alcohol test independent from the prior investigation wherein the same evidence was suppressed?

2. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have suppressed all evidence, and fruits thereof, seized by Deputy Coroner Cahill?

3. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have excluded the testimony of Sherry DuPont, and the testimony of Deputy Coroner Cahill that he found two drinking chips from the Riddell House in [Appellant's] purse?

4. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have excluded the results of [Appellant's] blood alcohol test because of the qualifications of the technologist who performed the test?

5. May a lay coroner offer an opinion as to the cause of death?

6. Was the opinion of Deputy Coroner Cahill sufficient to meet the Commonwealth's burden of proof, concerning the causation of death?

7. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have excluded the relation back testimony of Dr. Blanding?

8. Should the McKean County Court of Common Pleas have excluded the Commonwealth's demonstrative evidence—testimony about an experiment and a video, used in rebuttal?

Appellant's Brief, at 5.

¶ 6 Appellant's first argument alleges that the trial court erred in not suppressing the result of Appellant's BAC test, which was obtained by Detective Lindsay via a search warrant.

When we review the ruling of a suppression court, we must first ascertain whether its factual findings are supported by the record and whether the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those facts are reasonable. Where the defendant challenges an adverse ruling of the suppression court, we will consider only the evidence for the prosecution and whatever evidence for the defense that remains uncontradicted in context of the whole record. If there is support on the record, we are bound by the facts as found by the suppression court, and we may reverse that court only if the legal conclusions drawn from these facts are in error.

If there is sufficient evidence of record to support the suppression court's ruling and that court has not misapplied the law, we will not substitute our credibility determination for that of the suppression court judge.

Commonwealth v. Palmer, 751 A.2d 223, 225-226 (Pa.Super.2000) (citations omitted).

¶ 7 Presently, the uncontradicted facts begin with State Police Officer Allen's initial receipt of Appellant's medical records. Since Trooper Allen did not have a valid search warrant, Appellant successfully moved for the suppression of the records. Subsequently, Detective Lindsay of the McKean County District Attorney's Office began conducting his own investigation. N.T., Suppression Hearing, 7/9/98 at 4. His pursuits led him to call the 911 center in McKean County, from whom he learned the identity of Donald Fowler, the Fire Chief of Lafayette Township. Id. at 6. When contacted by Detective Lindsay, Mr. Fowler indicated that he recalled the accident and noticed the smell of alcohol emanating from Appellant's person when he observed her inside and outside of her vehicle. Id. at 9. Mr. Fowler also advised Detective Lindsay that the Bradford City Fire and Ambulance Association responded to the collision and transported Appellant to the hospital. Id. at 9-10. Thereafter, detective Lindsay contacted the Bradford City Fire and Ambulance Association and learned that James Coder was on the ambulance crew the evening of the collision.³ Detective Lindsay spoke with Mr. Coder, who stated that he recalled the accident and also smelled an odor of alcohol on Appellant both when she was inside and outside of her vehicle. Id. at 10. Mr. Fowler indicated that he had never spoken to a law enforcement official about his observations. Id. at 12. Detective Lindsay admitted that he had "skimmed" the District Attorney's file regarding Appellant, and that Officer Allen's report was contained therein. Id. at 4-5. The report was used to aid Detective Lindsay in his investigation to the extent that he obtained the date and location of the accident, the names of those involved, and other general information. Id. at 5-6. He also testified that he could have gotten much of the same information from other public sources such as a published newspaper article regarding the accident. Id. at 17.

¶ 8 Based on Mr. Fowler's and Mr. Coder's statements that they had smelled alcohol on Appellant's person, Detective Lindsay filled out an affidavit of probable cause for a search warrant of Appellant's medical records, which was issued by a district justice. He presented the search warrant to Bradford Regional Medical Center and received the records, which again included the results of Appellant's BAC test. Appellant once more moved for the suppression of the test results; however, the suppression court concluded that the warrant was valid and that the Commonwealth had obtained the information for the warrant through independent sources apart from the original taint.

¶ 9 The independent source doctrine, also sometimes referred to as the inevitable discovery doctrine, was discussed by our Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Melendez, 544 Pa. 323, 676 A.2d 226 (1996). In Melendez, police were conducting an undercover surveillance of a house. An application for a search warrant was being drafted when the police observed the defendant leave the house, get into an automobile, and drive away. Police stopped the defendant, removed her from the vehicle, searched her purse and discovered a gun, a large amount of cash and a drug tally sales sheet. After transporting the defendant to her house, police used her keys to gain access to the premises. Upon entering, police observed the defendant's co-defendant holding a bag of cocaine. The police secured the scene and waited an hour for the arrival of the search warrant. Upon executing the search warrant, police discovered drugs, cash and other evidence of narcotic trafficking.

¶ 10 On appeal, the defendant alleged that the initial stop and search was illegal, requiring the suppression of the evidence obtained as a result. She also contended that the subsequent warrantless entry of the home was illegal, also requiring suppression of the evidence seized from therein. Regarding the search of the home, the trial court determined that the evidence discovered would have been admissible under the several legal theories including the inevitable discovery rule. In considering this, the Supreme Court held:

[A]pplication of the "independent source doctrine" is proper only in the very limited circumstances where the "independent source" is truly independent from both the tainted evidence and the police or investigative team which engaged in the misconduct by which the evidence was discovered.

Melendez, supra, 676 A.2d at 231 (emphasis in original). Applying this standard, the Supreme Court held that the conduct of the police in conducting an illegal search and

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