Commonwealth v. Harmon
| Decision Date | 09 October 1970 |
| Citation | 440 Pa. 195,269 A.2d 744 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Barry HARMON. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Arlen Specter, Dist. Atty., James D. Crawford, Asst Dist. Atty., Michael J. Rotko, Deputy Dist. Atty Philadelphia, for appellant.
Richard I. Torpey, Philadelphia, for appellee.
Before BELL, C.J., and JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O'BRIEN ROBERTS and POMEROY, JJ.
This is an appeal by the Commonwealth from an order entered below sustaining a motion to suppress a recorded incriminating statement obtained from the defendant, Barry Harmon, during police custody.
After the motion to suppress was filed, an evidentiary hearing was conducted.
The Commonwealth's witnesses testified as follows as to Harmon's arrest and the circumstances under which the suppressed statement was obtained:
On the night of August 22, 1968, Walton Posey was fatally shot in a bar in Philadelphia. About 6:30 a.m. on August 23rd, police officers went to the residence of the defendant, Harmon, awakened the family, took Harmon into custody and transferred him to the Homicide Division in the Police Administration Building. From about 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. Harmon, eightteen years of age, was questioned by Detective Sergeant Funk of the Police Homicide Division concerning the Posey killing, but said nothing of an incriminating nature. Before this questioning began, the Detective Sergeant read to Harmon from a printed card a warning of the constitutional rights required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), including his right to have counsel present during the questioning and his right to have such assistance supplied if he couldn't afford it. Harmon indicated that he understood these rights and didn't request the assistance of an attorney.
Beginning about 8:30 a.m. Harmon was questioned by Detectives McGill and Brown. At about 9 a.m. Harmon was given, with his consent, a polygraph test by Detective Cullen. At the conclusion of this test, the questioning by Detectives McGill and Brown resumed. About 12:30 p.m. Harmon was given a 'coke', his first sustenance of the day, and then the questioning was taken up by a Detective Patterson with McGill and Brown watching the interrogation from an adjoining room through a one-way glass-covered aperture. Shortly thereafter, in answer to Patterson's questions, Harmon admitted that on the night of August 22, 1968, while armed with a shotgun, he entered the bar where Posey was killed and fired a shot. Following this, a second polygraph test was taken. About 3:15 p.m. Harmon was again given a warning of his 'Miranda' rights, and the statement which the court below suppressed was taken. The statement, in question and answer form, was recorded on a typewriter and when completed was read and signed by Harmon at about 4:35 p.m.
However, testimony offered on behalf of Harmon at the hearing established the following, which the lower court found to be true and incorporated into its findings of fact:
When Harmon was taken into police custody at his home during the early morning of August 23rd, both he and his mother requested of the arresting officers that she be permitted to accompany him to police headquarters, but these requests were refused. Harmon's mother then arranged for private transportation and arrived at the Homicide Division in the Police Administration Building about the same time as her son. She immediately asked to see him, but the request was refused. Similar requests were repeated many, many times during the day, but the most favorable response she received was that she could see her son soon. This 'soon' finally turned out to be 6 p.m.
While being questioned by the police, Harmon himself made repeated inquiries as to whether...
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