Opinion ID: 2301860
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statement Made En Route to Police Station

Text: When Sergeant Kohler was transporting appellant to the police station, appellant said, That girl and her mother bruise when I touch them at all. If I bite her mother or hit [victim] at all, they bruise right up. N.T. Suppression Hearing, 4/2/09, at 22. Appellant argues this statement should have been suppressed because he had not been given a Miranda warning. The Commonwealth responds that Kohler did not solicit this statement; thus, suppression is unwarranted. The trial court found this statement should not be suppressed because it was a spontaneous utterance, not made in response to any police conduct or questioning. Miranda does not preclude the admission of spontaneous utterances. See Commonwealth v. Baez, 554 Pa. 66, 720 A.2d 711, 720 (1998) ([V]olunteered or spontaneous utterances are admissible even though the declarant was not `Mirandized.') (citations omitted). The record supports the trial court's finding that appellant spontaneously volunteered this statement. Indeed, appellant fails to identify any police conduct that elicited this statement. Accordingly, the trial court properly did not suppress this statement.