Title: Com. v. Williams

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

380 Pa. Superior Ct. 227 (1988) 551 A.2d 313 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Robert WILLIAMS, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Submitted July 11, 1988. Filed December 14, 1988. *228 Elaine Demasse, Assistant Public Defender, Philadelphia, for appellant. Donna G. Zucker, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Com., appellee. Before TAMILIA, MONTGOMERY and HOFFMAN, JJ. HOFFMAN, Judge: This appeal is from the judgment of sentence for receiving stolen property. Appellant contends that the suppression court erred in denying his motion to suppress physical evidence. We agree and, accordingly, vacate the judgment of sentence and remand for a new trial. Appellant was arrested and charged with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, and criminal and defiant trespass. Prior to trial, appellant moved to suppress a video cassette *229 recorder ("VCR") and tapes that he had placed on a bench in a bar, and that had been seized by a police officer. The motion was denied, and appellant proceeded to trial before a judge sitting without a jury. On December 28, 1987, appellant was found guilty of receiving stolen property, and was acquitted on the remaining charges. Post-verdict motions were timely filed and denied, and appellant was later sentenced to a two-year term of probation. This timely appeal followed. The scope of our review of the denial of a motion to suppress is well-established. Commonwealth v. Anderl, 329 Pa.Super. 69, 74-75, 477 A.2d 1356, 1358-59 (1984). At the conclusion of the suppression hearing below, the court made the following findings of fact: N.T. December 28, 1987 at 19-20.[1] Based upon these findings, the suppression court concluded, as a matter of law, that "the Officer had probable cause to arrest [appellant]" and "the VCR is admissible evidence in that [appellant] had effectively abandoned it and this was not the result of unlawful police conduct." Trial Court Opinion at 3. Appellant asserts that his fourth amendment rights were violated when Officer Mock seized the VCR and tapes without having probable cause to believe that the items were connected with criminal activity. The Commonwealth, however, argues that the trial court properly denied the motion to suppress because appellant had abandoned the VCR and tapes prior to Officer Mock's seizure. "The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States `protects people from unreasonable government intrusions into their legitimate expectations of privacy.'" Commonwealth v. Shaw, 476 Pa. 543, 550, 383 A.2d 496, 499 (1978). See also Commonwealth v. Flewellen, 475 Pa. 442, 446, 380 A.2d 1217, 1219 (1977); Commonwealth v. Rispo, 338 Pa. Super. 225, 230, 487 A.2d 937, 939 (1985). The Commonwealth bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that a search or seizure did not violate the fourth amendment. Commonwealth v. Silo, 480 Pa. 15, 21, 389 A.2d 62, 65 (1978). "With few exceptions, the Fourth Amendment requires that law officers obtain a warrant *231 issued by a neutral magistrate before they intrude into a place of privacy." Commonwealth v. Rispo, supra; Commonwealth v. Morrison, 275 Pa.Super. 454, 457, 418 A.2d 1378, 1379 (1980) (en banc). See also Commonwealth v. Holzer, 480 Pa. 93, 102, 389 A.2d 101, 106 (1978). One such exception to the warrant requirement exists when the property seized has been abandoned. Commonwealth v. Vecchione, 327 Pa.Super. 548, 557, 476 A.2d 403, 407-08 (1984). "[I]t is well-settled that no one has standing to complain of a search of seizure of property that he has voluntarily abandoned." Commonwealth v. Shoatz, 469 Pa. 545, 553, 366 A.2d 1216, 1220 (1976). In Shoatz, our Supreme Court outlined the test for determining whether an abandonment has occurred: *232 469 Pa. at 553, 366 A.2d at 1219-20 (1976) (quoting United States v. Colbert, 474 F.2d 174, 176 (5th Cir. 1973)) (emphasis supplied). See also Commonwealth v. Anderl, 329 Pa.Super. 69, 82-83, 477 A.2d 1356, 1362-63 (1984); 1 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure, § 2.6(b), at 467 (1987) ("The fundamental question is whether the relinquishment occurred under circumstances which indicate [the defendant] retained no justified expectation of privacy in the object."). Here, a review of the suppression testimony convinces us that the Commonwealth did not meet its burden of showing that appellant clearly intended to relinquish his reasonable expectation of privacy in the VCR and tapes. Officer Mock was the only witness to testify at the suppression hearing. Officer Mock stated that on the date in question, he was on routine patrol in a marked police car in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. N.T. December 28, 1987 at 2-3. With specific regard to his seizure of the VCR and tapes, the Officer then testified as follows: Id. at 3-6. The difficulty with this case is that there was no testimony regarding the circumstances in the bar at the time *234 appellant left the VCR and tapes. If the record revealed that appellant left the VCR and tapes in a crowded bar, or that he left them in a position where other people then present would have had easy access to them, or that he left the premises or left his possessions unattended for an extended period of time, we could conclude that any expectation of privacy that appellant retained in the items was unreasonable. Conversely, if the record revealed that the bar was deserted, and that appellant left the items unattended for a few minutes while he was in another room, we could conclude that appellant did retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in his possessions. Here, however, the officer did not say how large the bar was, whether it was crowded or deserted, or whether other patrons or employees had easy access to the items. Moreover, the officer did not testify regarding how much time elapsed between his entry into the bar and his seizure of the items, or the extent of his search for appellant. Instead, the officer merely stated that he saw the evidence "almost immediately" after entering the bar, that he "looked for" appellant in the bar but could not find him, and that he then seized the evidence. On this record, we cannot conclude that the Commonwealth proved by a preponderance of the evidence that appellant clearly intended to relinquish his expectation of privacy in the VCR and tapes. See Commonwealth v. Shoatz, supra. We derive further support for our conclusion from the fact that there is no evidence on this record to suggest that appellant left the VCR and tapes in response to Officer Mock's investigation. Officer Mock did not state that appellant looked at him or was aware of his presence as he rode by in the police cruiser, nor did he suggest that appellant entered the bar in an attempt to elude him. Indeed, the only actual confrontation between the officer and appellant occurred after the officer had seized the items and put them in the police cruiser. The case is thus distinguishable from the typical case in which abandonment has been found because the defendant attempted to disassociate himself from incriminating evidence by throwing it away upon the lawful approach of police. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. *235 Hall, 475 Pa. 482, 380 A.2d 1238 (1977); Commonwealth v. Bulling, 331 Pa.Super. 84, 480 A.2d 254 (1984); Commonwealth v. Derrick, 322 Pa.Super. 517, 469 A.2d 1111 (1983). See also 1 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure, § 2.6(b), at 466 & nn. 39-43. In the instant case, the most that can be said is that appellant left his property unattended for an undetermined period of time. In summary, we hold that the trial court erred in concluding that appellant abandoned his reasonable expectation of privacy in the VCR and tapes.[2] Because this evidence was seized in violation of appellant's constitutional rights, it should have been suppressed by the trial court. See Commonwealth v. Johnson, 474 Pa. 512, 520, 379 A.2d 72, 75 (1977); Commonwealth v. Rispo, supra. For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the judgment of sentence and remand for a new trial. VACATED AND REMANDED. JURISDICTION IS RELINQUISHED. [1] We note that the suppression court's fact findings are supported by the record, and appellant does not contest these findings. [2] We note that the Commonwealth does not dispute appellant's claim that the seizure here cannot be upheld based on the officer having probable cause to believe that the VCR and tapes were connected with criminal activity. We may, of course, affirm the suppression order on a ground other than that relied upon by the court below. Thus, if it appeared from the record that Officer Mock had probable cause to believe that the evidence was connected with criminal activity, we could affirm the suppression court on that ground. Here, however, we have reviewed the suppression testimony and we agree with appellant that the officer did not have probable cause to seize the items. At the time the seizure occurred, Officer Mock did not have any information that a crime had been committed. Moreover, as we have noted in the text above, there is no record evidence to suggest that appellant was attempting to flee from the officer, or that he left the VCR and tapes in response to the officer's investigation. Even assuming that the officer was warranted in concluding that appellant's conduct was suspicious, we cannot hold that these circumstances are sufficient to provide probable cause to believe that the evidence was connected with criminal activity. Compare Commonwealth v. Mackie, 456 Pa. 372, 320 A.2d 842 (1974) (probable cause to arrest); Commonwealth v. Pincavitch, 206 Pa.Super. 539, 214 A.2d 280 (1965) (same). Cf. Campbell v. United States, 273 A.2d 252, 255 (D.C.App. 1971) ("Our often criticized society has not yet deteriorated to the point where we can say that a man who carries openly, on the street, a large household appliance is probably a thief.").