Commonwealth v. Cockfield
Decision Date | 29 January 1976 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Charles COCKFIELD, Appellant (three cases). |
Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued Nov. 27, 1974 (J--537).
Robert B. Mozenter, Donald G. Joel, Philadelphia for appellant.
F Emmett Fitzpatrick, Dist. Atty., Richard A. Sprague, 1st Asst. Dist. Atty., Steven H. Goldblatt, Asst. Dist. Atty Chief, Appeals Div., for appellee.
Before JONES, C.J., and O'BRIEN, POMEROY and MANDERINO, JJ.
In 1964, appellant Charles Cockfield was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree and arson. Appellant was granted a new trial because of the admission at trial of illegally obtained evidence. Commonwealth v. Cockfield, 431 Pa. 639, 246 A.2d 381 (1968). Upon retrial in 1969, appellant was again convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree. Post-verdict motions were denied and this appeal followed.
Appellant was convicted of the murder of his friend, Ida Quattlebaum, and her two children, all of whom were burned to death in a fire that destroyed their house in 1960. Following his arrest, appellant confessed to having poured gasoline on the porch of Ida Quattlebaum's house, but he denied having ignited the gasoline.
Appellant now argues that his confession should have been suppressed contending that an examination of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the taking of the confession shows that it was not voluntarily given. We do not agree. To be valid, a confession must be given free of any physical or psychological coercion which might interfere with one's will to resist. Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961); Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, 429 Pa. 141, 239 A.2d 426 (1968). Appellant does not claim that he was physically abused in any way, but argues that other factors rendered the confession involuntary. Viewing the evidence presented by the Commonwealth and as much of the evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted, Culombe v. Connecticut, supra; Commonwealth ex rel. Butler v. Rundle, supra, we find that the prosecution has sustained its burden of showing that appellant's confession was voluntarily given.
The facts in the case have been accurately stated by the court en banc as follows:
It may very well be that had the appellant not conferred with counsel his confession would be considered involuntary under the totality of the circumstances test. The appellant, however, after conferring with counsel who had an opportunity to read the confession, reaffirmed, on the advice of counsel, his willingness to make the statement by signing the statement in the presence of counsel. Psychologically coercive influences may have affected the appellant prior to his consultation with counsel, but it cannot be said that the signing of the statement after consultation with counsel was a product of those factors. Counsel...
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