J-A25012-14

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P 65.37 

*Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF 

: PENNSYLVANIA 

 Appellant : 

: 

 v. : 

: 

IBRAHIM MUHAMMED, : 

: 

 Appellee : No. 2579 EDA 2013 

Appeal from the Order August 16, 2013, 

Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, 

Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0004101-2012 

CP-51-CR-0004103-2012 and CP-51-CR-0004105-2012 

BEFORE: DONOHUE, WECHT and PLATT*, JJ. 

MEMORANDUM BY DONOHUE, J.: FILED OCTOBER 03, 2014 

 The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appeals from the August 16, 2013 

order entered by the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas granting, 

in part, the pretrial motion filed by Ibrahim Muhammed (“Muhammed”) to 

permit the testimony of Richard Leo, Ph.D., J.D. (“Dr. Leo”) as an expert in 

the area of false confessions.1

 While this appeal was pending, the 

Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided the case of Commonwealth v. Alicia, 

92 A.3d 753 (Pa. 2014). The Alicia case involved the same proffered 

expert, Dr. Leo, and the entry of an order by the trial court that is identical 

to the order it entered in the case at bar, wherein it recognized Dr. Leo as an 

expert in the field of false confessions and stated: 

 

1

 In its notice of appeal, the Commonwealth certified that the suppression 

court’s order terminated or substantially handicapped the prosecution. See

Pa.R.A.P. 311(d). 
J-A25012-14

- 2 - 

1. Dr. Leo may testify, based on his knowledge, his 

own research and the research of others with 

which he is familiar, about the general concept of 

false confessions. 

2. Dr. Leo may further testify, again based on his 

knowledge, his own research and the research of 

others with which he is familiar, about: 

(a). Police training methods in the field of 

interrogations; 

(b). Police interrogation methods; and 

(c). Why certain interrogation techniques, if used 

in a particular case, may increase the risk of false 

confession. 

3. Dr. Leo may not testify as to case specific 

allegations about the interrogation in the instant 

case, and may not offer testimony based on:

(a). Statements provided to him by the defendant 

either verbally or in writing; 

(b). Documents or reports prepared by counsel or 

other experts, to the extent such documents or 

reports purport to be based on discussions with or 

information about the defendant, Jose Alicea 

[sic]; 

(c). What he believes may be factors specific to 

this interrogation that may have given rise to a 

false confession; and 

(d). Whether or not he believes the confession in 

this case was voluntary or coerced, or true or 

false. 

Id. at 758-59 (quoting Trial Court Order, 8/12/08) (emphasis in the 

original); Trial Court Order, 8/16/13 (emphasis in the original). Our 
J-A25012-14

- 3 - 

Supreme Court in Alicia held that the trial court erred by admitting Dr. Leo’s 

testimony, as “expert testimony such as the proposed testimony of Dr. Leo 

constitutes an impermissible invasion of the jury’s role as the exclusive 

arbiter of credibility.” Id. at 764. 

We are bound by our Supreme Court’s decision in Alicia.

2

 See 

Commonwealth v. Demmitt, 45 A.3d 429, 432 (Pa. Super. 2012), appeal 

denied, 67 A.3d 793 (Pa. 2013). We therefore reverse the trial court’s 

decision permitting Dr. Leo to testify as an expert in the area of false 

confessions and remand the case for further proceedings. 

 Order reversed. Case remanded for further proceedings. Jurisdiction 

relinquished. 

Judgment Entered. 

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq. 

Prothonotary 

Date: 10/3/2014 

 

2

 We note that following publication of the decision in Alicia, counsel for 

Muhammed filed with this Court notice that he conceded the appeal, stating, 

“Counsel cannot argue that the trial court did not err[] in the face of Alicia, 

and acknowledges that the present state of the law requires a reversal of the 

trial court’s order admitting the evidence.” Appellee’s Application to 

Concede Appeal, 8/29/14, at ¶4.