Title: Com. v. Bowers
Citation: 400 Pa. Super. 377, 583 A.2d 1165
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: December 11, 1990

400 Pa. Superior Ct. 377 (1990) 583 A.2d 1165 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. John BOWERS, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued May 23, 1990. Filed December 11, 1990. *378 John R. Carroll, Philadelphia, for appellant. Karen L. Grigsby, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Com., appellee. Before WIEAND, McEWEN and HUDOCK, JJ. *379 WIEAND, Judge: John Bowers was tried by jury and was found guilty of aggravated assault and carrying a firearm on a public street. Post-trial motions were denied, and Bowers was sentenced to serve consecutive terms of imprisonment for not less than ten (10) years nor more than twenty (20) years for aggravated assault and for not less than two and one-half (2 1/2) years nor more than five (5) years on the firearms offense. On direct appeal from the judgment of sentence, Bowers asserts that the trial court erred by (1) refusing to suppress statements elicited from him by police without prior Miranda warnings; (2) denying a defense motion for mistrial based upon disclosure by a Commonwealth witness of inculpatory statements attributed to appellant, which statements had not been provided to the defense during pretrial discovery; and (3) giving erroneous and confusing instructions to the jury regarding the possible verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity and guilty but mentally ill. Finding no merit in any of these contentions, we affirm the judgment of sentence. On July 27, 1987, at or about 5:00 p.m., Laureen Marrandino and her boyfriend, Thomas Vargas, were walking along Bainbridge Street in South Philadelphia, engaged in an argument. The two stopped in front of appellant's residence at 416 Bainbridge Street, where the argument continued. When they were told by appellant's two granddaughters to be quiet, a dispute developed between Marrandino and appellant's granddaughter, Natalie. During this secondary verbal dispute, Marrandino kicked the screen door to the Bowers house, and Natalie responded by slamming shut the inner door. Vargas then grabbed Marrandino by the arm, and the two began to walk away. Appellant, however, emerged from his home carrying a shotgun and followed them. When he overtook them, he put the shotgun to Marrandino's abdomen and fired, causing her to suffer serious bodily injuries. Appellant thereafter ran into his house, and Vargas responded in rage by throwing a cinder block through appellant's window. *380 After being summoned by neighbors, police arrived and began searching for appellant. During the course of their search, they entered appellant's house, where they were unable to find either appellant or the gun which had been used to shoot Marrandino. Appellant was later found hiding on the third floor of an abandoned house located next door to his home. When he saw the police coming, appellant exclaimed that "The mother f___ing Puerto Rican threw a brick through my window. If I was ten years younger, I would have kicked his ass." Appellant also remarked that his wife was dying of cancer. Officer McDevitt helped appellant up, placed him in handcuffs, and asked him several times where the gun was. At first, appellant refused to answer, but eventually he relented and told police that the gun was in the abandoned house. It was thereafter found where appellant had stated. At trial, appellant presented in defense the testimony of a psychiatrist, who opined that appellant was suffering from grief and depression over the terminal illness of his wife and that, at the time of the shooting, his perception and cognition were adversely affected. The witness opined that because of depression appellant had been unable to perceive the wrongfulness of his shooting of Marrandino. This was so, he said, despite appellant's realization that his conduct was wrongful immediately following the shooting, when appellant hid in the abandoned house. In response, the Commonwealth presented its own expert psychiatric witness who said that, although appellant may have been depressed over his wife's illness, he was generally intelligent and mentally well and was not, at the time of the shooting, laboring under any mental defect or illness. The jury was thereafter instructed on both the insanity defense and the possibility of a verdict of guilty but mentally ill. Both alternatives were rejected by the jury, which found appellant guilty as charged. Appellant contends that the statements which he made in response to Officer McDevitt's inquiries about the location of the gun should have been suppressed because the inquiries *381 were not preceded by Miranda[1] warnings. The trial court determined post-trial, however, that appellant's suppression motion had been properly denied because appellant had not been in police custody at the time of the relevant police inquiries and, as such, Miranda warnings were unnecessary. In its appellate brief, the Commonwealth does not pursue an argument that appellant was not in police custody, but argues, rather, that appellant's statements were admissible under the holding of the United States Supreme Court in New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649, 104 S. Ct. 2626, 81 L. Ed. 2d 550 (1984), which created a public safety exception to the requirements of Miranda. In reviewing the trial court's denial of appellant's suppression motion, we must Commonwealth v. Schneider, 386 Pa.Super. 202, 206, 562 A.2d 868, 870 (1989), quoting Commonwealth v. Chamberlain, 332 Pa.Super. 108, 112, 480 A.2d 1209, 1211 (1984). See also: Commonwealth v. Kichline, 468 Pa. 265, 280-281, 361 A.2d 282, 290 (1976); Commonwealth v. Stark, 363 Pa.Super. 356, 365, 526 A.2d 383, 388 (1987). We will also affirm the decision of the suppression court "if it can be sustained for any reason whatsoever, even if the lower court offered an erroneous reason to support its action." Commonwealth v. Reidenbaugh, 282 Pa.Super. 300, 309-310, 422 A.2d 1126, 1131 (1980). See: Commonwealth v. Shaw, 494 Pa. 364, 368 &amp; n. 1, 431 A.2d 897, 899 &amp; n. 1 *382 (1981); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 320 Pa.Super. 488, 493-494, 467 A.2d 638, 641 (1983). At the suppression hearing, Officer McDevitt described the sequence of events which occurred after appellant had been discovered behind a large drum in the abandoned house. He said: N.T. 10/3/88 at pp. 16-21. From this testimony, it cannot plausibly be argued that appellant was not in custody at the time he was asked about the location of the gun. A suspect is subjected to custodial police interrogation when "he is physically deprived of his freedom in any significant way or is placed in a situation in which he reasonably believes that his freedom of action or movement is restricted by such interrogation." Commonwealth v. Chacko, 500 Pa. 571, 577, 459 A.2d 311, 314 (1983). See also: Commonwealth v. Gonzalez, 519 Pa. 116, 124, 546 A.2d 26, 29 (1988); Commonwealth v. Toanone, 381 Pa.Super. 336, 347, 553 A.2d 998, 1003 (1989). Here, upon discovering appellant's hiding place, the police approached him with guns drawn, ordered him to raise his hands above his head, placed him in handcuffs and took him to a patrol wagon. Under these circumstances, appellant was clearly in police custody. Normally the fact that a suspect is in custody will require that Miranda warnings be given to the suspect prior to any police questioning. However, in New York v. Quarles, supra, the United States Supreme Court held that in certain situations the requirements of Miranda will be excused where police ask questions to ensure the public safety and not to elicit incriminating responses. The facts before the Supreme Court in Quarles were that a report had been made to police that a suspected rapist, who reportedly was armed, had fled into a supermarket. Upon apprehending the suspect in the market, the police found that he was wearing a shoulder holster, but did not have a gun in his possession. A police officer asked the suspect where the gun was, and the suspect responded that "the gun is over *387 there." Both the suspect's statement and the gun were suppressed because of the officer's failure to recite Miranda warnings to the suspect prior to inquiring about the location of the gun. On appeal, the United States Supreme Court determined that the police officer's inquiry about the location of the gun was justified by overriding considerations of public safety. Therefore, the suppression order was reversed. The rationale underlying the creation of the public safety exception to Miranda was explained at length by the Supreme Court as follows: New York v. Quarles, supra, 467 U.S. at 655-659, 104 S. Ct. at 2631-2633, 81 L. Ed. 2d at 557-559 (citations and footnotes omitted). See also: Commonwealth v. Logan, 519 Pa. 607, 620-621 &amp; n. 3, 549 A.2d 531, 538 &amp; n. 3 (1988). Instantly, appellant asserts that the public safety exception created in Quarles is inapplicable because, at the time Officer McDevitt asked about the location of the gun, *390 appellant had already been handcuffed and no longer posed a danger. Appellant also asserts that there was no danger to the public because the police could easily have sealed off both his house and the abandoned house next door while they searched for the gun. We are unpersuaded by appellant's arguments. The suspect in Quarles had also been handcuffed at the time of the police inquiry and, presumably, the police in Quarles could have evacuated the supermarket while searching for the suspect's gun. In the instant case, the police were aware that appellant had just shot a young woman; and when they arrived at the scene of the shooting, they observed the presence of appellant's two granddaughters and their friend in appellant's house. When the police could not find appellant in his own house, they proceeded to search the abandoned house next door. There they found appellant, but did not find his gun. Under these circumstances, the police, in the interest of public safety, could properly act promptly to ascertain the location of the gun without first informing appellant of his Miranda rights. Until found, that gun presented a threat not only to appellant's grandchildren, but also to any other children who unwittingly might have come upon the gun after venturing into the abandoned house. Therefore, appellant's responses to police inquiries regarding the gun's location were not subject to suppression and were properly admitted into evidence at trial. During cross-examination of Officer McDevitt, the defense introduced into evidence a police incident report which had been prepared by McDevitt shortly after the shooting. This report stated in part that the victim "was shot in [the] chest by [appellant] after a cinder block was throne [sic] thru his window by Thomas Vargas. . . ." On redirect examination, Officer McDevitt said that the information in his report had come from appellant. This prompted a defense motion for mistrial on the grounds that such a statement by appellant, detailing the chronology of events, had not been disclosed to the defense via pre-trial discovery. The motion was denied by the trial court. On appeal, *391 appellant continues to argue that the Commonwealth failed to disclose the existence of a statement by him that he had shot the victim in retaliation for a brick being thrown through his window. He further contends that he was prejudiced by the statement because all other evidence in the case was that the shooting had occurred prior to the brick's being thrown through his window. He argues that proper disclosure of his statement would have altered defense strategy at trial. This argument is circuitous; it is also unavailing. It does not establish a basis for granting a new trial. Officer McDevitt did not testify that his report had been based on any particular statement by appellant. It appears to have been premised upon appellant's spontaneous remark that "The mother f___ing Puerto Rican threw a brick through my window." This statement, in fact, had been disclosed by the Commonwealth during pre-trial discovery. The Commonwealth suggests, and we agree, that it was from this statement that McDevitt concluded that appellant had shot the victim in retaliation for the brick being thrown through his window. McDevitt further stated on redirect examination that "The only version I heard was what Mr. Bowers said to me, that he had thrown a brick through his window that is why I wrote it that way." Because the substance of appellant's spontaneous remark had been disclosed to the defense in pre-trial discovery the incident report had also been disclosed it seems clear that the Commonwealth did not intentionally or unfairly surprise the defense at trial. A second reason for rejecting appellant's argument is that it was the defense which chose to introduce the incident report and, by doing so, opened the door to a subsequent inquiry by the Commonwealth regarding the source of the information contained therein. Thirdly, both Vargas and another eyewitness testified at trial that the shooting had preceded the brick's being thrown through appellant's window, and the prosecuting attorney argued this sequence of events to the jury in both opening and closing statements. *392 Therefore, it is not likely that McDevitt's testimony on redirect examination had any significant impact upon the outcome of the trial. Appellant admitted the shooting, but claimed to have been legally insane at the time. In our view, whether the brick was thrown through his window before or after the shooting did not adversely impact appellant's insanity defense. As such, there was no basis for the court to declare a mistrial, and the defense motion was properly denied. "In reviewing jury instructions to determine whether reversible error has been committed by a trial court, we consider the charge as a whole. Error will not be predicated on isolated excerpts. Rather, it is the general effect of the charge that controls." Commonwealth v. Myers, 376 Pa.Super. 41, 50, 545 A.2d 309, 314 (1988). See also: Commonwealth v. Ohle, 503 Pa. 566, 582, 470 A.2d 61, 70 (1983), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1083, 106 S. Ct. 854, 88 L. Ed. 2d 894 (1986); Commonwealth v. Riggins, 374 Pa.Super. 243, 253, 542 A.2d 1004, 1009 (1988). "Even if the court erred when it instructed the jury, we will reverse only if the error prejudiced the appellant." Commonwealth v. Klinger, 369 Pa.Super. 526, 540, 535 A.2d 1060, 1066 (1987). See also: Commonwealth v. Riggins, supra. Moreover, "[t]he trial court has broad discretion in phrasing its instructions, and may choose its own wording so long as the law is clearly, adequately, and accurately presented to the jury for its consideration." Commonwealth v. Prosdocimo, 525 Pa. 147, ___, 578 A.2d 1273, 1274 (1990). See also: Commonwealth v. LaMassa, 367 Pa.Super. 54, 58, 532 A.2d 450, 452 (1987); Commonwealth v. Cimorose, 330 Pa.Super. 1, 10, 478 A.2d 1318, 1323 (1984). Instantly, the trial court extensively instructed the jury on the defense of legal insanity and on a verdict of guilty but mentally ill. The court's instruction on these concepts, in relevant part, was as follows: After careful review, we conclude that the court's instructions accurately reflected the statutory definition of legal insanity, 18 Pa.C.S. § 315, and the law pertaining to a verdict of guilty but mentally ill, 18 Pa.C.S. § 314. The trial court went to great lengths to explain these concepts in clear and concise language and to inform the jury concerning the subtle distinctions which separated a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and a verdict of guilty but mentally ill. In Commonwealth v. Trill, 374 Pa.Super. 549, 543 A.2d 1106 (1988), the Superior Court rejected an argument that the statutory definitions of "mental illness" and "legal insanity" were so vague and confusing as to violate due process. Judge Beck, while writing in concurrence, said the following, which we here adopt. Id., 374 Pa.Superior Ct. at 600-601, 543 A.2d at 1131. The trial court's instructions in the instant case fully and accurately apprised the jury of the difference between a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and guilty but mentally ill. There was no error. The judgment of sentence is affirmed. McEWEN, J., did not participate in the consideration of or decision of this appeal. [1] Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966).