Opinion ID: 2334891
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Answering Machine Microcassette Tape

Text: Appellant alleges that the trial court erred in ordering him to turn over an answering machine tape to the Commonwealth. During appellant's trial for the murders of Ivellison Gonzalez and Luis A. Bermudez, appellant instructed his mother and sister to bring to court the answering machine tape from the Padillas' answering machine. [7] Appellant's mother gave the tape to his defense counsel in open court, and counsel revealed to the court that the tape had been taken from the Padillas' answering machine. [8] It appears from the trial court opinion that, at some point subsequent to the Gonzalez/Bermudez trial but just before the start of appellant's November 1992 trial in this case, appellant voluntarily allowed the Commonwealth to listen to the microcassette. Then, in November of 1992, the trial court in this matter, upon oral motion of the Commonwealth, ordered appellant to turn over the tape to the Commonwealth. [9] Appellant alleges that, at the time of the Commonwealth's November 1992 oral motion for the turnover of the tape, neither the Commonwealth nor the defense attached any significance to the tape. The trial record reveals no objection to the introduction of the audio tape or the transcripts of that tape prepared by the Commonwealth following sound enhancement. In appellant's post-trial motion, however, he claimed that, in November of 1992, he objected when the court granted the Commonwealth's oral motion and ordered him to turn the microcassette over to the Commonwealth. Appellant further contended that he timely objected to the order. There is nothing in the record to confirm the existence of such an order or a timely objection by appellant. But the Commonwealth does not dispute that such a ruling and objection in fact occurred, nor does it argue waiver. Moreover, the trial court addressed the claim on the merits in its opinion. Under the circumstances, we will deem the claim to be preserved. In his post-trial motion, appellant argued that the tape was the private property of the Padilla family that had been in the possession of appellant's sister until she gave it to defense counsel in June of 1992 for safekeeping. Appellant further alleged that neither he nor the Commonwealth knew that the tape had any significance until after the court ordered it turned over to the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth had it amplified. At that point, the Commonwealth learned that the tape contained a recording of a voice identified as appellant's stating, They're dead. According to appellant, prior to the amplification, the Commonwealth had no reason to suspect that the tape had any evidentiary value. Appellant further argued that the tape was not subject to mandatory discovery under Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 (notice of alibi, insanity or mental infirmity defenses and disclosure of reciprocal witnesses) or to further discretionary discovery under Rule 573. Appellant also claimed that the order directing him to turn the tape over violated his privilege against self-incrimination and amounted to a warrantless seizure. Finally, appellant claimed that, because the Commonwealth failed to establish why the tape might have evidentiary value at the point it requested disclosure, the court improperly permitted it to embark on a fishing expedition. In its opinion, the trial court addressed only appellant's arguments that the Commonwealth was on a fishing expedition and that the court's order violated procedural rules regarding discovery. The court rejected both arguments, finding that the court had granted the Commonwealth nothing that appellant had not already voluntarily disclosed because the Commonwealth's amplification of the tape occurred before the court ordered the tape turned over to the Commonwealth for purposes of this prosecution: Indeed, the defense had already voluntarily disclosed the existence, content and possible importance of this demonstrative evidence at this defendant's prior trial for the Bermudez-Gonzalez murders. In addition, physical possession of this evidence had already been granted to the prosecution for the purpose of conducting sound-enhancement testing to sharpen otherwise inaudible portions thereof. Consequently, this Court's order constituted a reaffirmance of rights already voluntarily granted by the defense to the prosecution in terms of discovery. See, Pa.R.Crim.P 305A (a good faith effort to resolve all questions of discovery and [n]othing in this provision shall delay the disclosure of any items agreed upon by the parties . . .). Since these provisions are designed to further the expeditious determination of the truthful facts in a criminal case, it cannot now be complained that this voluntary disclosure was prejudicial to the party granting it. Tr. Ct. Op. at 51-52. Appellant argues to this Court that the trial court could properly compel him to turn over the tape only if the tape fell within the discretionary discovery permitted by Pa. R.Crim. P. 573(C). Thus, in appellant's view, to secure the tape, the Commonwealth was required to file a written motion for pretrial discovery which demonstrated materiality and reasonableness. In accordance with Rule 573(C), such discovery is limited to an express list of topics and things, [10] and all such discovery is subject to the defendant's right against compulsory self-incrimination. Appellant contends that the Commonwealth was not entitled to the tape in this case because (1) its request was made upon an oral (not written) motion made during (not prior to) trial; and (2) the Commonwealth failed to demonstrate materiality, as the testimonial purpose for which the tape was eventually introduced was impossible to appreciate until the recording had been amplified. Thus, neither side knew the content of the message at the time of disclosure. The Commonwealth counters that questions regarding discovery in criminal cases are within the trial court's discretion. Commonwealth v. Rucci, 543 Pa. 261, 670 A.2d 1129, 1140 (1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1121, 117 S.Ct. 1257, 137 L.Ed.2d 337 (1997). The Commonwealth also notes that appellant had already disclosed the existence of this tape at his prior trial for the double murders of Gonzalez and Bermudez, and indeed, police had already made a copy of the tape. For purposes of this case, the trial court ordered appellant's counsel to again turn the tape over to the Commonwealth for examination, upon learning that the tape had been taken from the victims' answering machine. The Commonwealth then introduced the cassette tape into evidence and played for the jury the twenty-six messages on the tape preceding the pertinent message, message number twenty-seven, which contained the words spoken by a man: They're dead. Why did you pick up the phone for? Yo, for four dollars, this s man. N.T. 11/19/92 at 456. Subsequently, appellant, who did not testify on his own behalf, provided a voice sample to the jury for comparison with the voice on the answering machine tape. N.T. 11/23/92 at 709. Appellant's objection premised upon the discovery rules fails because he was not ordered to disclose the answering machine tape as part of discretionary discovery. More importantly, the proverbial cat was already out of the bag. In the course of the prior murder trial, appellant's counsel voluntarily disclosed that appellant's family somehow had secured the answering tape from the victims' home, i.e., the scene of the crime. Appellant's counsel had previously permitted the Commonwealth to listen to the tape, from which it could be determined that the tape indeed was from the Padilla home (the twenty-six messages preceding the pertinent recording were identifiable as messages left for the Padillas). Appellant's argument that the Commonwealth had no viable reason to request the tape in this case likewise is meritless. As evidence from the scene of the murders that somehow was in the possession of appellant's family, there were ample grounds to believe it was material. The question ultimately boils down to whether appellant had some affirmative right to resist disclosure. In this instance, there was not. The function of a trial is to determine the truth and, absent some affirmative right or privilege, every person's evidence is fair game. In United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 709, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974), the United States Supreme Court cogently set forth the role of discovery in eliciting the facts: We have elected to employ an adversary system of criminal justice in which the parties contest all issues before a court of law. The need to develop all relevant facts in the adversary system is both fundamental and comprehensive. The ends of criminal justice would be defeated if judgments were to be founded on a partial or speculative presentation of the facts. The very integrity of the judicial system and public confidence in the system depend on full disclosure of all the facts, within the framework of the rules of evidence. To ensure that justice is done, it is imperative to the function of courts that compulsory process be available for the production of evidence needed either by the prosecution or by the defense. While this Court has never ruled on the precise issue presented whether a criminal defendant must turn over to the Commonwealth physical evidence from the crime scene in his lawyers possession, the general principle set forth in Nixon provides ample guidance. In the quest to develop the relevant facts in a criminal investigation, police officers may execute search warrants of a criminal defendants residence to search for items taken from the crime scene that would indicate that the defendant was present at the scene. Assuming the search was lawfully authorized and conducted, such relevant evidence is clearly admissible against the defendant. Logic dictates that if such evidence is discovered to be in the possession of the defendant, and the Commonwealth requests that the evidence be turned over, the trial court acts within its authority to order such disclosure so that the Commonwealth may reasonably develop the facts of the case. In analogous situations, this Court has reached that precise result. In Lepley v. Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas, 481 Pa. 565, 393 A.2d 306 (1978), this Court found that the trial court properly ordered defense counsel to produce to the Commonwealth a copy of a tape counsel had made of the preliminary hearing testimony of a witness who was unavailable to testify at trial. Subsequent to the preliminary hearing, the witness, who was the defendants co-conspirator, indicated that if called to testify at trial, he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Lycoming County did not, at that time, routinely transcribe preliminary hearings. The Commonwealth petitioned the trial court to order defense counsel to turn the tape over because it was the sole record, aside from the recollections of spectators, of the witness's testimony. The trial court granted the petition, finding that, the tape recording is in the nature of real evidence relevant to the issue of innocence or guilt and [] the Commonwealth has a right of access to the same for possible use at trial. Id. at 308. Rejecting arguments that the tape was privileged as attorney work product and that its disclosure violated the defendants Fifth Amendment rights, this Court upheld the trial courts decision, finding that the order was in accord with the general principle enunciated in Nixon that the parties should be permitted to develop the facts to ensure that justice is done. Similarly, in Commonwealth v. Brinkley, 505 Pa. 442, 480 A.2d 980 (1984), this Court affirmed a trial court order requiring defense counsel to disclose witness statements to the Commonwealth. At trial, during cross-examination of defense witnesses, the prosecutor learned that several of the witnesses had given statements to defense counsel, and the prosecutor requested that defense counsel produce the statements. Counsel objected, arguing that the statements constituted work product. The trial court overruled the objections and issued a narrowly tailored disclosure order, which applied only to the actual statements. This Court held that the trial courts narrow order was appropriate, noting that, in the interest of ensuring justice, the Commonwealth could have been required to produce such statements to the defense. In the case sub judice, appellant voluntarily disclosed the existence of the tape in open court in a prior trial and permitted the prosecution to listen to the tape. This tape was evidence from the crime scene that somehow had come into appellants possession. In addition, far from being privileged to withhold the tape taken from the victims home, there is no evidence demonstrating that appellant had any right to the tape at all. In keeping with Nixon and this Courts decisions in Lepley and Brinkley, the trial court did not err in requiring appellant to provide the Commonwealth with evidence taken from the crime scene. Finally, appellant's argument that the trial court's order violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination is unavailing. The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination does not apply to physical evidence. See Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U.S. 582, 588-89, 110 S.Ct. 2638, 110 L.Ed.2d 528 (1990) (we have long held that the privilege [against self-incrimination] does not protect a suspect from being compelled by the state to produce real or physical evidence.); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 764, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) Appellant had no right to retain this physical evidence taken from the crime scene, nor was it privileged. Furthermore, the statement appellant left on the answering machine tape was not a product of governmental coercion. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion.