Com. v. Watkins

• Decision Date: 21 March 2000
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Maurice WATKINS, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

750 A.2d 308

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Maurice WATKINS, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 28, 1999.

Filed March 21, 2000.

John Elash, Pittsburgh, for appellant.

Michael Streily, Deputy Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before POPOVICH, JOYCE, and BROSKY, JJ.

POPOVICH, J.:

¶ 1 This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence entered on November 18, 1998, in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. Appellant was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to five to ten years of imprisonment. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. Upon review, we reverse the judgment of sentence and remand for a new trial.

¶ 2 Herein, appellant asks the following:

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT APPELLANT'S CONFESSION WAS NOT THE FRUIT OF AN ILLEGAL ARREST AND DETENTION MANDATING SUPPRESSION.

II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING APPELLANT'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS HIS CONFESSION AS BEING INVOLUNTARILY OBTAINED IN VIOLATION OF HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

III. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN REFUSING TO SUPPRESS APPELLANT'S CONFESSION WHICH WAS THE PRODUCT OF AN UNNECESSARY DELAY BETWEEN ARREST AND ARRAIGNMENT.

IV. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN PERMITTING THE COMMONWEALTH TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE OF APPELLANT'S WILLINGNESS TO TAKE A POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION.

Appellant's brief, at 4.¹

¶ 3 The record reveals the following: On May 3, 1993, Bernard "Blade" Washington was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head at approximately 2:00 p.m. Mr. Washington's body was discovered by two individuals who called the police. Homicide Detectives Dennis Logan and David Moore responded to the call and secured the location where Mr. Washington's body was found. Detectives Logan and Moore were unable to locate a weapon or any eyewitnesses. The case remained unsolved for four years.

¶ 4 On May 2, 1997, Homicide Detective Richard McDonald, acting on information provided by Detective Foley, obtained a court order to allow the transportation of appellant from the Allegheny County Jail to the homicide office of the Pittsburgh Police Department ("police station"). Detective Foley informed Detective McDonald that he was informed by a confidential informant that appellant might have firsthand knowledge concerning Mr. Washington's death. After obtaining the court order, Detective McDonald and his partner arrived at the Allegheny County Jail at 6:20 p.m. and transported appellant, who was serving time for an unrelated drug offense, to the police station.

¶ 5 Upon arriving at the homicide office at approximately 6:38 p.m., appellant was placed in an interrogation room. At 6:46 p.m., Detective McDonald informed appellant that he was a suspect in the murder of Mr. Washington and read a Pre-Investigation Warning Form to appellant that served to inform appellant of his Miranda rights. Appellant read the Pre-Investigation Warning Form and signed a form that indicated the waiver of his Miranda rights. The interrogation commenced at 6:49 p.m. Initially, appellant denied any involvement in the death of Mr. Washington. Appellant continued to deny any involvement and offered to take a polygraph test. Detective McDonald promptly replied to appellant that a polygraph test would be made available to him. At this point, appellant altered his initial denials and informed Detective McDonald that he witnessed an unknown individual kill Mr. Washington on the night in question.

¶ 6 Detective McDonald stopped the interrogation at 8:36 p.m. in order to allow appellant to take a polygraph examination. The polygraph test was set up from 8:40 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Appellant was not questioned during the actual set-up. During this hiatus in questioning, appellant was provided with chips, soda and a cigarette. The test was administered three times, in accordance with police procedure, from 9:30 p.m. to 11:10 p.m. The interrogation resumed at 11:20 p.m., and appellant was informed that he failed the polygraph test. Appellant confessed to the murder of Mr. Washington at approximately 11:40 p.m., and was arrested at approximately midnight. At 12:13 a.m., appellant declined to tape record his confession, but he signed and adopted the notes taken by Detective McDonald that contained appellant's confession. Appellant was arraigned at 3:25 a.m. and returned to the Allegheny County Jail shortly thereafter.

¶ 7 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court set forth the standard for reviewing a suppression motion as follows:

[W]e must first determine whether the factual findings are supported by the record, and then determine whether the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings are reasonable. We may consider the evidence of the witnesses offered by the prosecution, as verdict winner, and only so much of the defense evidence that remains uncontradicted when read in the context of the record as a whole. We are bound by facts supported by the record and may only reverse if the legal conclusions reached by the court below were erroneous.

Commonwealth v. Luv, 557 Pa. 570, 575, 735 A.2d 87, 90 (1999) (citations omitted). We begin by addressing appellant's initial contention that his confession should be suppressed since it was the fruit of an illegal arrest.² Appellant argues that the functional equivalent of arrest occurred when Detective McDonald transported him from the jail to the police station and that this arrest lacked sufficient probable cause. We find this argument without merit.

¶ 8 There are three levels of interactions between citizens and law enforcement officers recognized under Fourth Amendment jurisprudence:

The first of these is a "mere encounter" (or request for information) which need not be supported by any level of suspicion, but carries no official compulsion to stop or to respond. The second, an "investigative detention" must be supported by a reasonable suspicion; it subjects a suspect to a stop and a period of detention, but does not involve such coercive conditions as to constitute the functional equivalent of an arrest. Finally, an arrest or "custodial detention" must be supported by probable cause.

Commonwealth v. Schatzel, 724 A.2d 362, 365 (Pa.Super.1998),appeal denied, 559 Pa. 703, 740 A.2d 232 (1999) (citing Commonwealth v. Ellis, 541 Pa. 285, 294, 662 A.2d 1043, 1047 (1995)). "Police detentions become custodial when, under the totality of the circumstances, the conditions and/or duration of the detention become so coercive as to constitute the functional equivalent of arrest." Commonwealth v. Mannion, 725 A.2d 196, 200 (Pa.Super.1999) (citations omitted). The following factors are used to determine, under the totality of circumstances, whether a detention has become so coercive as to constitute the functional equivalent of arrest: "the basis for the detention; its length; its location; whether the suspect was transported against his or her will, how far, and why; whether restraints were used; whether the law enforcement officer showed, threatened or used force; and the investigative methods employed to confirm or dispel suspicions." Id. (citing Commonwealth v. Busch, 713 A.2d 97, 101 (Pa.Super.1998)).

¶ 9 First and foremost, the present case does not involve an interaction between a free citizen and a law enforcement officer. Appellant was a prisoner serving time in jail during his encounter with the police. Appellant was in custody well before he was transported by Detective McDonald and his partner to the police station. The only change in status that occurred with appellant was the location of his custody. The concepts espoused in Schatzel, supra, and Mannion, supra, apply only to citizens who bear the risk of having his or her freedom curtailed to some degree by a law enforcement officer. When transported by Detective McDonald and his partner, appellant was already experiencing the curtailment of his freedom in the form of incarceration. Therefore, appellant is not entitled to the same considerations that apply to citizens under the Fourth Amendment. However, it is not our intent to diminish the rights afforded prisoners during custodial interrogation. See Mathis v. United States, 391 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1503, 20 L.Ed.2d 381 (1968)

(an inmate who is questioned by government agents in connection with a case for which he or she is not in custody is still entitled to Miranda warnings).

¶ 10 In addition to appellant not being afforded the same rights as citizens under the Fourth Amendment, we view the transportation of appellant to the police station for questioning, pursuant to a court order, as an administrative process. This procedure is merely a manner in which police can have access to a prisoner. The case of Commonwealth v. Karash, 513 Pa. 6, 518 A.2d 537 (1986), which involved a challenge to the legitimacy of the practice of transporting individuals in pretrial detention to police stations for custodial interrogation, illustrates our treatment of the process in which appellant was transported from the jail to the police station.

¶ 11 The defendant in Karash, supra, argued that the transportation of individuals in pretrial detention from a holding facility to a police station for custodial interrogation should not be permitted without a "prior counseled adversarial hearing." Karash, 518 A.2d at 538. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court focused on the custodial interrogation of the defendant in Karash, supra, and whether the defendant's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination was upheld. Our Supreme Court stated the following:

We therefore conclude that the fact that an administrative procedure was employed to facilitate appellant's availability for custodial questioning does not in and of itself affect the character of the custodial questioning nor does it impact upon the rights to which the appellant was entitled during the custodial interrogation.

Id., 518 A.2d at 540. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court continued to identify this...