Com v. Stewart

• Decision Date: 13 September 1999
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Brett STEWART, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 712

740 A.2d 712

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Brett STEWART, Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 20, 1999.

Filed September 13, 1999.

Reargument Denied November 19, 1999.

Michael Erlich, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for Corn., appellant.

Kathleen E. Martin, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, JOYCE and OLSZEWSKI, JJ.

OLSZEWSKI, J.:

¶ 1 The Commonwealth appeals from an order granting appellee's motion to suppress physical evidence.¹ After a careful review of the relevant case law and the record, we reverse.

¶ 2 The evidence at the suppression hearing revealed the following facts. At approximately 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, 1996, Javon Jones and Bobby Mahalati were en route to an after-hours club when they encountered appellee, Brett Stewart, and his co-defendant, Shawney Perry, in Center City Philadelphia. Perry was driving a white Lexus, which had stopped at a green light and was blocking a lane of traffic, while he and his passenger, Stewart, talked with women who were in another car. After Jones pulled his vehicle alongside the Lexus just as the light turned red, Stewart turned to him and said, "What the f* * * you looking at?"

¶ 3 Jones and Mahalati ignored Stewart's remark; and when the light turned green, they drove around the defendants' vehicle and to the entrance of the nightclub. As Jones's car was stopped in front of the club, Perry pulled up along the passenger side of the vehicle, which was where Mahalati sat. Perry said, "What the f* * * you looking at?" and "What do you want to do? Do you want to f* * * [with] us?" Mahalati responded, "All right. Whatever, p* * * *." At that point, Perry and Stewart drove to the end of the block and turned left on the corner. They positioned their car on the street so as to leave barely enough room for traffic. When Jones turned the corner, he and Mahalati saw that Perry and Stewart were holding guns. While Jones attempted to speed away, Mahalati heard the sound of gunfire and then suddenly lost feeling in his legs after he was shot in the back.

¶ 4 After driving around the block, Jones approached Officer Tyrone Forrest, who observed a bullet hole on the side of the vehicle and blood on the seat. After speaking with Jones, Officer Forrest broadcast an alert over the police radio at 2:59 a.m., stating that a man had been shot in the back and that his assailants were two black males who had fled southbound on 8^th Street in a two-door white Lexus. Officer John Barker was patrolling the area when he received the bulletin over the police radio; one minute later, he observed Perry and Stewart driving their two-door white Lexus south on 8^th Street. Officer Barker followed the car and requested backup support. Sergeant Glenn Katz responded to Officer Barker's request, and both officers stopped the Lexus and directed Perry and Stewart out of the car. Perry and Stewart were patted down as a safety precaution, but no weapons were found on their persons.

¶ 5 The officers directed Jones to the site where the defendants were apprehended in order to make an identification. Upon seeing Perry and Stewart, Jones immediately shouted "that's them and they have two guns," after which the defendants were taken into custody. Jones further noted that at least one of the guns appeared to be a 9-mm "automatic." This information was relayed to Lieutenant Thomas McDevitt, who determined that it was imperative for public safety reasons to recover the missing firearms as quickly as possible. Consequently, he asked Officer Barker to search the defendants' vehicle. Officer Barker shined a flashlight inside the vehicle and noticed that the floor mat in front of the driver's seat was askew. Officer Baker lifted the mat and discovered a loaded 9-mm Helwan. He also discovered a loaded .22 caliber Beretta under the floor mat on the passenger side. No other search was conducted.

¶ 6 Defendants were held for trial for attempted murder, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, and other related charges. On March 9, 1998, defendants received a joint suppression hearing, during which they claimed that the police had conducted an unreasonable search and seizure by removing their guns from the vehicle. After hearing the evidence, the suppression court determined that the police had lawfully stopped the defendants' vehicle for investigation and that the identification of Perry and Stewart as the gunmen was not unduly suggestive. The court, however, suppressed the firearms seized from the vehicle, finding that the police should not have searched the car for weapons because they did not have a search warrant. The Commonwealth immediately appealed.

¶ 7 When a defendant files a motion to suppress, the Commonwealth bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the evidence is admissible. Pa.R.Crim.P. 323(h); Commonwealth v. Labron, 543 Pa. 86, 669 A.2d 917, 920 (1995), rev'd, 518 U.S. 938, 116 S.Ct. 2485, 135 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1996), reaff'd, 547 Pa. 344, 690 A.2d 228 (1997). When reviewing an order granting a suppression motion, we are guided by the following standard:

"[W]e consider only the evidence of the defendant's witnesses and so much of the Commonwealth evidence that, read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted." Commonwealth v. Evans, 661 A.2d 881, 883 (Pa.Super. 1995) [, affd. 546 Pa. 417, 685 A.2d 535 (1996) ]. We are bound by only those factual findings made by the suppression court which are supported by the record, and thereafter must determine whether the legal conclusions and inferences drawn from those facts are legitimate. Commonwealth v. Walker, 540 Pa. 80, 94, 656 A.2d 90, 98. As a result, we may reverse only if the legal conclusions drawn from the factual findings are erroneous. Commonwealth v. Rosario, 652 A.2d 354, 365 (Pa.Super. 1994).

Commonwealth v. Lechner, 454 Pa.Super. 456, 685 A.2d 1014, 1015-16 (1996).

¶ 8 The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution require that searches be conducted pursuant to a warrant issued by a neutral and detached magistrate. Labron, 543 Pa. at 93, 669 A.2d at 920. A search conducted without a warrant is generally deemed unreasonable for constitutional purposes. Id.; Commonwealth v. Holzer, 480 Pa. 93, 102, 389 A.2d 101, 106 (1978). But an important exception to the warrant requirement exists: a search of a person's personal property, including an automobile, may be conducted without a warrant when there exists probable cause to search and exigent circumstances necessitating a search. Commonwealth v. Roland, 535 Pa. 595, 596, 637 A.2d 269, 270 (1994) (involving a search of a house); Commonwealth v. Baker, 518 Pa. 145, 541 A.2d 1381 (1988) (involving a search of an automobile); Commonwealth v. Curry, 343 Pa.Super. 400, 494 A.2d 1146, 1148-49 (1995) (involving a search of an apartment); Commonwealth v. Burgwin, 292 Pa.Super. 273, 437 A.2d 41, 42 (1981) (involving a search of an automobile).

¶ 9 The United States Supreme Court has recognized an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement, which has been described as follows: "a search warrant [is] unnecessary where there is probable cause to search an automobile stopped on the highway; the car is movable, the occupants are alerted, and the car's contents may never be found again if a warrant must be obtained. Hence an immediate search is constitutionally permissible." Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 51, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970). Our Supreme Court has consistently rejected the application of the automobile exception in this Commonwealth and has held that constitutional protections extend to searches and seizures of a person's automobile. Commonwealth v. Holzer, 480 Pa. 93, 103, 389 A.2d 101, 106 (1978); Labron, 543 Pa. at 95, 669 A.2d at 921. Our Supreme Court, however, has recognized the special circumstances involved in searching an automobile:

[I]n considering the reasonableness of a given search or seizure of an automobile, the need for a warrant is often excused by exigent circumstances. The reasons are two-fold. First, a vehicle is highly mobile and the likelihood is therefore great that it and its contents may never be found if police were prohibited from immobilizing it until a warrant can be secured. Second, one's expectation of privacy with respect to an automobile is significantly less than that relating to one's home or office.

Holzer, 480 Pa. at 103, 389 A.2d at 106 (citations omitted) (emphasis in original).

¶ 10 In an attempt to demonstrate that a search warrant was not required in this case because exigent circumstances existed, the Commonwealth presented the testimony of five witnesses, including Lieutenant McDevitt and Officer Baker. Lieutenant McDevitt testified that he was concerned for the public safety when he directed Officer Baker to search the defendants' car. He explained to the suppression court that, unless the guns were located in the car, the police department would have had to organize an immediate search of the entire route that the defendants had traveled while fleeing through the city in order to recover the weapons. He noted that police resources were low at that time and, based upon his twenty-three years of experience in police enforcement, attempting to obtain a search warrant at approximately 3:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning would have taken several hours. Lieutenant McDevitt summarized the reasons for his actions as follows:

I know how fragile a 9 millimeter can be, compared to some other weapons. I was concerned it might be laying on the street. You had clubs getting out. If we didn't find it, someone else could have got hurt. A police officer could have got hurt. By the time it would have taken us to get a tow [truck] at that time of night it would have taken several hours. It could have been several hours before a search warrant was obtained.

By that time, I...