Opinion ID: 1961695
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sidebar conference concluded)

Text: Patrolman Zarecky then completed his testimony in chief concerning the watch as follows: Q. Patrolman Zarecky did you make any personal observations as to the hand or wrist of Mr. Keeler? A. Yes I did. Q. All right and in looking at his hand or wrist area would you describe to the Court and jury what if anything you saw on his wrist? A. Okay the wrist in the normal position of where a watch would be worn was of a lighter color, a whiter color and the hand around the area was of a suntan or darker skin color and it appeared in my opinion that he recently had been wearing a watch on that hand. Following the testimony of Patrolman Zarecky, including cross-examination by appellant's counsel concerning the watch, the court sua sponte asked for a sidebar conference, which was as follows: (SIDEBAR CONFERENCE) THE COURT: All right I'm somewhat concerned about the introduction into evidence of the question concerning the watch and the statements made by the defendant and the watch. It would be admissible under certain  merely by the fact it was found and the man had a watch but the statements bother me. Under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 305 dealing with disclosure by the Commonwealth that's mandatory. It says that any written confession or inculpatory statement or the substance of any oral confession or inculpatory statement is something which is required to be disclosed if there is a demand and it appears that the demand is here. Now the reason it has to be disclosed I presume is so that the defendant can file a motion to protect himself in the event that it's improperly obtained and we're going to cure that or attempt to cure it by having a hearing of suppression tomorrow morning at 9:15 as if it had been filed properly as if notice had been given and under this Rule 305 and as if it is attacked on the grounds of both that warnings were not adequately given and that through some form of compulsion or duress the statement had been obtained and on any other basis that the defendant desires to advance. Do you know of any others at this time? MR. WHERRY: No Your Honor. I haven't discussed it with him about any statement. THE COURT: We'll have Officer Zarecky present and any other witnesses that the Commonwealth wishes to call on that subject. In addition any witnesses that the defense wishes to call on that subject and we'll receive the testimony and determine whether or not adequate warnings were given and all the rest and see if the statement can stand. If the statement cannot stand then we have a real problem of what to do about it and we'll face that when we get to it. The motion for mistrial will stand and the motion to instruct the jury will stand and we'll see what we're going to do on that. Is there anything further that the defense attorney desires to have done? MR. WHERRY: No Your Honor I think the Court's covered the problem adequately. MR. KARSON: I would give my apology both to the Court and  I misinterpreted the thing and that was my fault. I bent it very strongly in favor of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth conceded that it violated Rule 305B(1)(b). The statement elicited from Patrolman Zarecky was clearly inculpatory and the Commonwealth concedes that it violated Pa.R.Crim.P. 305B(1)(b). The statement did not appear in any written reports and it would appear that the lower court accepted as true the statement of the prosecutor that he did not come into possession of the statement until the day it was elicited. We have no reason to disturb that finding. The threshold question in this assignment of error is whether the court acted properly in conducting a suppression hearing with reference to the statement concerning the watch or whether it committed error in denying appellant's motion for mistrial or to strike. Under Section E of Pa.R.Crim.P. 305, when it becomes apparent that a party has failed to comply with the provisions of the Rule, the trial court has broad discretion in choosing an appropriate remedy. Commonwealth v. Parente, 294 Pa.Super. 446, 440 A.2d 549 (1982). The court may order the offending party to permit discovery or inspection, or it may grant a continuance, or it may prohibit the use of the testimony not disclosed, or it may enter such other order as it deems just under the circumstances. Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 E (Emphasis supplied). In this case the jury already heard the inculpatory statement and, therefore, it was not feasible for the court to permit discovery or inspection or to prohibit the use of the testimony. The appellant never requested a continuance; to the contrary, appellant argues in his brief that the granting of a continuance would not have provided an adequate remedy. With reference to Patrolman Zarecky's further testimony, appellant's counsel stated at the first sidebar conference, supra at p. 1068: I think he can testify to anything he saw the only problem I have is I have a statement that probably had we known that there was a statement we probably would at least put in a motion of some nature to suppress it. At the conclusion of Patrolman Zarecky's testimony the lower court at sidebar conference indicated its concern that Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 B(1)(b) had been violated. The court then opined that the reason for the disclosure rule was to put the appellant on notice of any incriminating statement so that he would then have an opportunity, if he so wished, to file a motion to prevent its use by the Commonwealth. The court then stated that it would hold a suppression hearing the following morning out of the presence of the jury, as if the motion had been properly filed, and as if notice had been given. Appellant was given leave to attack the statement on the grounds that the proper warnings were not given to appellant or that the statement was obtained from appellant by some form of compulsion or duress or on any other basis that appellant desired to advance. [1] (Emphasis supplied). Historically, and almost universally, in a criminal prosecution, the accused had no right to discovery. In Commonwealth v. McQuiston, 56 D. & C. 533 (1946), the defendant sought to compel the district attorney to turn over to him for inspection a statement he had made to the district attorney. The court held that since no statute in Pennsylvania covered the question it would have to be decided by the common law. The court then cited Wigmore on Evidence, Vol. 3, § 1859g, for the proposition that in criminal cases: At common law, no right of inspection of documents before trial was conceded to the accused. And in 2 Wharton's Criminal Evidence 1311, 1312, the court stated that it was there set forth that: The general rule is that the accused has no right of inspection or disclosure before trial of evidence in the possession of the prosecution. The same question arose in Commonwealth v. Smith, 67 D. & C. 598 (1949), and the court, relying upon the rationale in Commonwealth v. McQuiston, supra , denied defendant's request to compel the district attorney to turn over to him his own statement and that of his wife. The court went on to say: We might add that under the Act of January 28, 1777, 1 Sm.L. 429, § 2, 46 P.S.Sec. 152, the English common law became the law of this Commonwealth and that we also have neither found nor been referred to any statute which gives to the accused the right to inspection or disclosure before trial of documents or evidence in possession of the prosecutor. Commonwealth v. Smith, supra at p. 602. Former Chief Justice Horace Stern cited both McQuiston and Smith with approval in Commonwealth v. Wable, 382 Pa. 80, 114 A.2d 334 (1955). Later, our Supreme Court in DiJoseph Petition, 394 Pa. 19, 145 A.2d 187 (1958), while saying that it was not adopting a new discovery rule, stated: However, a trial court having jurisdiction of an alleged offender possesses discretionary power to permit a defendant, in appropriate circumstances, to examine and inspect in advance of trial physical or documentary evidence in the hands of the prosecution. (Emphasis supplied). The DiJoseph Petition court reaffirmed the long-held view that an accused was not entitled to disclosure as a matter of right; the trial judge in each case and on each application for disclosure would determine what should be done in the interest of justice and the only question for consideration by an appellate court would be whether the lower court properly exercised its discretion. See Commonwealth v. Hoban et al., 54 Lackawanna Jurist 213, 218 (1952) (not reported in the state reports). The Supreme Court of the United States relaxed the hard and fast rule of non-disclosure to an accused by its pronouncement in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) that the withholding of evidence that would exculpate an accused or reduce the penalty constituted a violation of the accused's due process rights. On June 30, 1965, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, exercising its general supervisory powers over all courts in the Commonwealth, adopted Pa.R.Crim.P. 310 [2] which essentially set forth what the court had been saying in cases presented to it on appeal, namely, that absent exceptional circumstances and compelling reasons an accused has no right to inspection and disclosure of Commonwealth evidence prior to trial. Commonwealth v. Stafford, 450 Pa. 252, 299 A.2d 590 (1973), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 943, 93 S.Ct. 2775, 37 L.Ed.2d 404 (1973); Commonwealth v. Caplan, 411 Pa. 563, 192 A.2d 894 (1963). At the same time, Rule 310 gave the lower court the discretion to order the attorney for the Commonwealth to permit the defendant to inspect and copy or photograph any written confessions and written statements made by the defendant. (Emphasis supplied). In Commonwealth ex rel. Specter v. Shiomos, 457 Pa. 104, 320 A.2d 134 (1974), the court, although finding that there had been no showing of exceptional circumstances and compelling reasons, and thus affirming the lower court's refusal to order pretrial disclosure, unanimously expressed support for more liberal discovery procedures in the trial of criminal cases. In 1977 Rule 310 was amended by the promulgation of Pa.R.Crim.P. 305, and in one quantum leap the Supreme Court adopted the more liberalized standards of pretrial discovery found in the ABA Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Discovery and Procedure Before Trial, § 1.2 et seq. (Approved Draft 1970). The new rule corrected the deficiency of Rule 310 in its omission of the Brady v. Maryland requirement, supra, 305 B(1)(a) and in addition pretrial disclosure was also mandated in the following areas: written or oral inculpatory confessions and statements (305 B(1)(b)); defendant's prior criminal record (305 B(1)(c)); circumstances and results of any identification of defendant (305 B(1)(d)); results or reports of scientific tests (305 B(1)(e)); tangible objects (305 B(1)(f)) and transcripts and recordings of electronic surveillance (305 B(1)(g)). Rule 305 C provides for disclosure by the defendant; Rule 305 D provides for a continuing duty to disclose; Rule 305 E provides a remedy for failure to disclose; Rule 305 F provides for the issuance by the court of protective orders and Rule 305 G sets forth the nondisclosure provision applicable to work product. As indicated above, instantly the Commonwealth/appellee conceded that it should have informed appellant of the incriminating statement which was elicited from Patrolman Zarecky and that in not doing so it violated Pa.R. Crim.P. 305 B(1)(b). We cannot say that the lower court's decision to conduct a suppression hearing on the improperly elicited testimony was not a proper exercise of discretion, or, to put it another way, that it constituted an abuse of discretion. The court did exactly what appellant says he would have done had he known about the testimony concerning the watch before it was elicited. Further, our review of this entire record convinces us that the procedure adopted by the lower court did not unconstitutionally deny the appellant a fair trial. See Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of Mr. Justice Roberts in Commonwealth v. Smith, 417 Pa. 321, 342, 208 A.2d 219, 230 (1965). Finding neither an abuse of discretion nor prejudice to appellant, the second allegation of error is dismissed. Finally, appellant claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a verdict of guilty for attempted rape. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, as we must, Commonwealth v. Green, 493 Pa. 409, 426 A.2d 614 (1981); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 468 Pa. 575, 364 A.2d 665 (1976), the facts are as follows: On July 16, 1979, Barbara L. Cooper, a young married woman, was wheeling her baby carriage along a secondary road near a field in the Borough of Greenville. She was en route to her sister's house from her father's house. Her baby was fourteen months of age. It was in the early evening hours. She passed within ten feet of a person who was drawn to her attention because he was wearing a shirt very similar to one she had recently purchased for her brother-in-law. At this time, she observed his general appearance. Within minutes a shirt was thrown over her head. Thinking it was a joke, she said, What's going on? or words to that effect. The assailant replied, I'm going to rape you. He then pushed her to the ground, punched her, and kicked her in the stomach. During the struggle, her glasses were broken. She screamed and grabbed her assailant on the neck and dug in her fingernails. He immediately jumped up and put the shirt over his face up to his eyes. During all of this the victim was on the ground screaming and yelling. It was broad daylight. The victim noticed the appellant's clothing consisted of blue jeans and tennis shoes. The stroller with the baby inside was in the middle of the road. The victim was ten to fifteen feet away in the field. She immediately ran screaming to her child and then to her sister's home. She was met prior to reaching it by her relatives. The police were on the scene within several minutes, and a police officer saw the appellant within a block or two of the incident. As the appellant saw the officer as they approached each other upon a bridge, the appellant turned to walk away from the officer but the officer stopped him. The appellant had scratch marks on his neck similar to those described by the victim, and his attire matched the victim's description. Clearly, on these facts alone, there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict of guilty of attempted rape. For all of the foregoing reasons, the order and judgments of sentence are affirmed.