Commonwealth v. Henderson

• Decision Date: 25 April 2012
• Citation: 47 A.3d 797
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Calvin HENDERSON, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

47 A.3d 797

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Calvin HENDERSON, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 13, 2010.

Decided April 25, 2012.

Frankie C. Walker, II, for Calvin Henderson.

Leonard Sosnov, David Rudovsky, Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, Philadelphia, for ACLU and ACLU of Pennsylvania.

David R. Crowley, for Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Michael Wayne Streily, Francesco Lino Nepa, Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, for Commonwealth.

CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, ORIE MELVIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.^*

In this appeal arising in the suppression context, we consider Pennsylvania's unique variant of the independent source rule, deriving from Commonwealth v. Mason, 535 Pa. 560, 637 A.2d 251 (1993).

Law enforcement officers suspected that Appellant may have co-perpetrated a violent rape-kidnapping. They sought samples of his DNA for comparison with material obtained from the victim and a vehicle used in the commission of the crimes. Detective Johnson, a member of a police sexual assault unit, prepared an affidavit in support of probable cause; secured a magistrate's approval of a search warrant; ¹ and collected samples of Appellant's blood, hair, and saliva. The ensuing DNA analysis implicated Appellant, and he was charged with kidnapping, rape, and other offenses.

Appellant lodged a pretrial motion to suppress on the ground that the detective's affidavit was insufficient to establish probable cause. See generally Kohl, 532 Pa. at 166, 615 A.2d at 315 (“Generally, a search or seizure is not reasonable unless it is conducted pursuant to a search warrant issued by a magistrate upon a showing of probable cause.”). Accordingly, Appellant contended, the seizures from his body violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.²

The motion apparently raised concerns on the prosecution's part, as a decision was made to secure a second warrant. The strategy was to invoke the independent source doctrine as applied under Pennsylvania's Article I, Section 8 jurisprudence, deriving from Mason. Under this rule, evidence tainted by illegal police conduct (such as an unlawful seizure) nevertheless may be admitted into evidence if the evidence can be fairly regarded as having an origin independent of the unlawful conduct. See Mason, 535 Pa. at 565–68, 637 A.2d at 254–55;see also Commonwealth v. Melilli, 521 Pa. 405, 420, 555 A.2d 1254, 1262 (1989) (“If the prosecution can demonstrate that the [challenged] evidence was procured from an independent origin—a means other than the tainted sources—the evidence will be admissible.”).³ Pursuant to the doctrine as it subsequently evolved in Commonwealth v. Melendez, 544 Pa. 323, 676 A.2d 226 (1996), the independent source is to be “ truly independent from both the tainted evidence and the police or investigative team which engaged in the misconduct by which the tainted evidence was discovered.” Id. at 334, 676 A.2d at 231 (quoting Mason, 535 Pa. at 573, 637 A.2d at 257–58 (Cappy, J., concurring)) (emphasis in original).⁴

Another member of the police sexual assault unit, Detective Evans, was tasked with undertaking a probable-cause investigation to support a second search warrant. Detective Evans spoke with Detective Johnson, reviewed the existing case file and the victim's medical records, conducted an inquiry into Appellant's background, and interviewed one collateral witness. He then applied for and secured a second warrant, which was used to seize an additional sample of blood from Appellant.

In response, Appellant filed a second suppression motion. In it, he asserted that the evidence secured under the second warrant was not the product of an independent source. According to the motion, the “vast majority” of the information contained in Detective Evans' affidavit derived from the information previously gathered by Detective Johnson. Appellant further highlighted that Detective Evans was commissioned in direct response to the defense's first suppression motion. For these reasons, Appellant contended that the evidence “remains tainted by the original illegally seized evidence.”

Detective Evans testified at the hearing on the suppression motions. In the brief direct examination, he indicated that, although he had been a member of the sex assault squad, he did not participate in the original investigation of Appellant's crimes. He explained that he had been tasked with securing a search warrant in March 2006, and, in preparation, he reviewed the reports in the case file, including medical records and crime laboratory reports; ⁵ conducted an inquiry into Appellant's criminal record; and spoke with a collateral witness. See N.T., May 22, 2006, at 53–55. Further, the detective attested that he did not rely on the warrant obtained by Detective Johnson. See id. at 56.

On cross-examination, Detective Evans confirmed that he had reviewed the materials assembled by Detective Johnson and had spoken with him. See id. at 58–60, 64–65. He also acknowledged that he had reviewed the first warrant and affidavit of probable cause, see id. at 57, 61, but he again denied having relied upon the first warrant. See id. at 57. The detective conceded that he did not interview the victim, the main eyewitness, or several other witnesses, see id. at 63–64, and that the first nine paragraphs of his affidavit “came from” Detective Johnson's investigation. Id. at 60.⁶ Although he did not agree that his efforts represented a mere expansion on Detective Johnson's work, see id. at 63, Detective Evans did say that many aspects of his affidavit derived “[f]rom the people that had done the investigation before” him. Id. at 67. Further, the detective confirmed that he at least knew that a motion to suppress was “on the way” at the time he received the assignment to perform a probable-cause investigation. Id. at 58.⁷

The suppression court denied Appellant's motions. In relevant part, it ruled that, while Detective Johnson's affidavit was insufficient to support a probable-cause determination, Detective Evans' was adequate and unconnected with the first investigation. According to the court, Detective Evans' affidavit “was a totally separate account of the facts evidence [sic] obtained in the investigation into the kidnapping and rape[,]” and “[n]o causal nexus existed between the blood test results obtained as a result of the first warrant and Detective Evans' Affidavit of Probable Cause dated March 23, 2006.” Commonwealth v. Henderson, CC 200511250, slip op. at 4 (C.P. Allegheny, June 20, 2006). Thus, the suppression court determined that the independent source doctrine was satisfied.

Upon trial, Appellant was convicted of the charged offenses. An appeal ensued, in which the Superior Court affirmed in a memorandum opinion. In its analysis, the intermediate court relied on Commonwealth v. Smith, 808 A.2d 215 (Pa.Super.2002), in which another panel previously accepted, for purposes of the independent source rule, that there may be some degree of overlap between the “independent” police investigation and a prior, tainted one. See id. at 221, 223. The court relied on Detective Evans' development of additional evidence with an “independent origin” as establishing that his affidavit was “free of the taint of the first search warrant.” Commonwealth v. Henderson, No. 903 WDA 2007, slip op. at 11–12, 963 A.2d 566 (Pa.Super. Sept. 3, 2008).

We allowed a further discretionary appeal to consider whether the independent source doctrine validates a serial search warrant obtained from a second investigation conducted by a police officer from the same department. See Commonwealth v. Henderson, 601 Pa. 564, 975 A.2d 1077 (2009) ( per curiam ). The specific probable-cause determinations relative to the two warrants are not presently at issue; here, we accept that—although Detective Johnson's affidavit was inadequate—the affidavit of Detective Evans was sufficient to establish probable cause.⁸

Presently, Appellant maintains that the independent source doctrine cannot pertain, because the suppression record does not establish that Detective Evans' investigation was “truly independent” of Detective Johnson's. To the contrary, Appellant and his amici, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, regard the former as “wholly dependent” on the latter. Brief for Appellant at 11. In this respect, Appellant stresses that the detectives were members of the same sex assault unit; they conferred about the case; Detective Evans worked from the preexisting case file; and a substantial portion of Detective Evans' affidavit overlaps with Detective Johnson's. Accord Brief for Amicus Pa. Ass'n of Criminal Def. Lawyers at 15 (“A truly independent investigation does not occur when officers from the same police department as the officer who illegally secured the evidence in question secure a new warrant by reviewing the illegal warrant and the reports of the first officer and add a few new facts to the new warrant.”).

Appellant also questions the suppression court's finding of the absence of any link between the incriminating DNA test results from the initial blood sample and the second government investigation, given that the prosecution was in possession of the highly incriminatory results at the time such inquiry commenced. Relatedly, he raises fairness concerns associated with the use of the independent source doctrine to sanction serial police investigations motivated by challenges to incriminating evidence obtained pursuant to facially deficient first warrants. To address such concerns, Appellant favors a rule dictating that a second investigation motivated by flaws in a preceding one cannot serve as an independent source, as well as a rebuttable presumption of such motivation arising from...