Com. v. Torres

• Decision Date: 18 January 2001
• Citation: Com. v. Torres, 764 A.2d 532, 564 Pa. 86 (Pa. 2001)
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David M. TORRES a/k/a Michael Williams, Appellant. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Elijah Williams a/k/a Bob Torres, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

764 A.2d 532

564 Pa. 86

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David M. TORRES a/k/a Michael Williams, Appellant.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Elijah Williams a/k/a Bob Torres, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued September 14, 1999.

Decided January 18, 2001.

Stephen Begler, Robert E. Stewart, Pittsburgh, for appellant, Elijah Williams.

Kevin G. Sasinoski, Public Defender, Mitchell A. Kaufman, Chief Appellate Div., for appellant, David M. Torres.

Michael W. Streily, Deputy Dist. Atty., for appellee, Com.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION

NIGRO, Justice.

In these consolidated appeals, Appellants contend that the Superior Court improperly reversed the orders of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County granting their respective motions to suppress evidence.¹ Specifically, Appellant David M. Torres a/k/a Michael Williams ("Torres") appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court reversing the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County granting his motion to suppress evidence seized, pursuant to a search warrant, from his residence at 5631 Rippey Street, Apartment C-2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Appellant Elijah Williams a/k/a Bob Torres ("Williams") appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court reversing the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County granting his motion to suppress evidence seized, pursuant to search warrants, from 5631 Rippey Street, Apartment C-5, and 6315 Fifth Avenue and Dennison Street, Apartment 305 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Because the police used the same affidavit of probable cause to support their applications for warrants to search Apartments C-2 and C-5 at the Rippey Street apartment complex, judicial economy is best served by disposing of Torres and Williams' appeals in conjunction with one another. However, Williams' appeal presents several distinct issues for this Court's consideration. Therefore, we will first consider the merits of Torres' appeal, and then address the issues presented by Williams' appeal.

Commonwealth v. Torres

As noted above, Appellant Torres claims that the Superior Court erred in reversing the order of the suppression court granting his motion to suppress the evidence that the police seized from his apartment at the Rippey Street apartment complex. For the reasons that follow, we agree and therefore reverse.

On the evening of February 18, 1996, Timothy Moore, Joel Moore and Robert James were shot to death as they sat inside a parked Ford Bronco on the 1100 block of Sperling Street in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. A police investigation into the murders ensued and three days later Detectives assigned to the Homicide Unit of the Allegheny County Police Department applied for a warrant to search Torres' Rippey Street apartment for firearms, ammunition, records of crack cocaine sales, phone records, pagers and pager numbers, residency papers, crack cocaine and paraphernalia used to package and deliver crack cocaine. In support of their application for the issuance of a search warrant, the Detectives filed the following affidavit:

Your affiants are Detectives assigned to the Homicide Unit of the Allegheny County Police Department. All of the information contained in this affidavit was learned directly by your affiants, or relayed to your affiants by other police officers involved in this investigation.

On the evening of February 18, 1996, the Wilkinsburg Police Department requested investigative assistance from the Allegheny County Police Homicide Unit. This request was in regards [sic] to a recent shooting incident that occurred in the 1100 block of Sperling Street in Wilkinsburg. It was subsequently learned that there were three (3) victims in this case, and all of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Personnel. The victims were all shot while seated in a parked 1982 Ford Bronco. The victims were Timothy A. MOORE, B/M/25, Joel MOORE, B/M/19, and Robert JAMES, B/M/33. The investigation revealed that two armed suspects approached the victim's vehicle, and that the suspects then fired numerous gunshots into the victim's [sic].

During the course of this investigation, it was learned that the three victims were involved in drug related activities. It was also learned that the victims had made a recent drug deal(s) with individuals known to frequent the Wilkinsburg/East Liberty Section of Allegheny County.

Numerous interviews have been conducted in this case. The identity of these witnesses is known to your affiants. These witnesses will be available to testify at any necessary court proceedings. It was collectively learned through these witnesses that several days prior to the shooting incident, Timothy MOORE (victim), made a crack cocaine drug deal with individuals that he knew as "BOB" and "MIKE". Bob and Mike previously indicated that they were brothers, and they were from New York. It was learned that the drug deals in question were set up through the use of telephone pagers. The telephone pager numbers for Bob and Mike were # 574-5647 and # 574-1745 respectively.

It was learned during the investigation that "Bob" had a home telephone number of # 661-4862. This telephone number is listed to a David Michael TORRES of 5631 Rippey Street, Apt. C-2, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. This apartment is located in the East Liberty Section of Pittsburgh. The age of Torres is consistent with the approx. age of "Bob" (as given by various witnesses).

The investigation revealed that on the evening in question, the victims agreed to meet with BOB and MIKE in Wilkinsburg to settle a drug related debt. It was reported that Tim MOORE had previously paid Bob and/or Mike approx. $2,300 for crack cocaine, but that Moore was not given any drugs in return for the money. The victims were to meet Bob and Mike at approx. 8:30 PM (2-18-96) in a parking lot of a Texaco Gas Station in Wilkinsburg. The purpose of the meeting was to resolve the dispute over the aforementioned crack cocaine deal. Witnesses indicated that the victim's [sic] departed from the New Stanton area of Westmoreland County for Wilkinsburg at approx. 8:00 PM. It should be noted that the planned meeting place for the drug deal was in close proximity to the shooting scene.

During the investigation, your affiants learned through witnesses that the suspects, (BOB/MIKE) lived in the area of Rippey Street in the East Liberty Section of Pittsburgh. [I]t was also learned that Bob and Mike lived with a relative known as "X". The investigation revealed that David MICHAEL TORRES resides at 5631 Rippey Street, Apt. C-2 and that two relatives lived at that same address. These relatives are Robert TORRES, AKA "BOB" Torres, and Xavier TORRES. Robert Torres lives in apartment # C-5, while Xavier resides in apartment B-3.

During a recent surveillance of the apartment building in question, a vehicle was found to be parked in front of the structure. This vehicle had a New York license plates [sic] affixed to it. The description of this car was consistent with the description of the suspect car that was fleeing the shooting scene.

Based on the above facts and circumstances, your affiants respectfully request a Search Warrant for the above listed residence.

The application and affidavit were signed by an issuing authority on February 21, 1996, and the police executed the warrant that same day. The police search of Torres' apartment produced two guns, an undetermined amount of U.S. currency, a box of cartridges, a television, two phones, two remote controls, paraphernalia and various papers bearing the names of Robert Torres and David Torres. Torres was subsequently arrested and charged with three counts of homicide. Torres' counsel filed an Omnibus Pre Trial Motion seeking, inter alia, suppression of the evidence seized from Torres' Rippey Street apartment. Following a hearing, the suppression court granted Torres' motion to suppress the evidence seized from his Rippey Street apartment, concluding that the affidavit filed in support of the application for the warrant was insufficient to establish probable cause for the search. The Commonwealth filed an interlocutory appeal to the Superior Court pursuant to Rule 311(d) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure², and the Superior Court issued a published opinion and order reversing the suppression of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Torres, 714 A.2d 416 (Pa.Super.1998). Torres' instant appeal followed.

In reviewing the ruling of the suppression court, we note that the Superior Court was limited to determining whether the record supported that court's factual findings and whether the legal conclusions that the suppression court drew from those facts were correct. See Commonwealth v. E.M., 558 Pa. 16, 735 A.2d 654, 657 (1999) (citing Commonwealth v. Cortez, 507 Pa. 529, 532, 491 A.2d 111, 112 (1985)); Commonwealth v. Waltson, 555 Pa. 223, 724 A.2d 289, 291 (1998). In addition, the Superior Court was constrained to consider only the evidence presented by the defense and so much of the evidence for the prosecution which remained uncontradicted when read in the context of the record as a whole. Commonwealth v. Robinson, 518 Pa. 156, 541 A.2d 1387, 1389 (1988).

In his brief to this Court, Torres argues that the Superior Court ignored the above-cited standard of review, and failed to give proper deference to the suppression court's determination that the affidavit was insufficient to establish probable cause to search his apartment. More specifically, Torres argues that the Superior Court erred by determining that the police corroboration described in the affidavit imparted sufficient reliability to the information given by the anonymous sources³ to support a finding that the affidavit established probable cause to search under the "totality of the circumstances" test set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Illinois v. Gates...