Court Opinion

ID: 9639702
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:45:33.597004+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:21.134902
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mb. Justice Jones:
I agree with the views expressed in the majority opinion in the following respects: (1) that, at the time of appellant’s oral statement, he was then “in custody” and that he was entitled to be given the Miranda warnings before being questioned; and (2) that the question whether appellant was at the time of the incident in the office of Mayor George the focus of an investigation does not require our consideration because appellant was then clearly occupying an “in custody” status. I dis'agree, however, with the view expressed in the majority opinion that appellant’s oral statement was not a volunteered statement and the conclusion reached in the majority opinion that appellant’s oral statement was admitted in violation of Miranda.
The key inquiry in the case at bar in determining the admissibility of appellant’s oral statement is whether such statement was a purely volunteered statement or the result of an interrogation or questioning which should have been preceded by the Miranda warnings. If appellant’s statement was a purely voluntary statement, then it is not within the proscription of *229Miranda. See: Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966). Cf. Commonwealth ex rel. Vanderpool v. Russell, 426 Pa. 499, 233 A. 2d 246 (1967); Commonwealth v. Eperjesi, 423 Pa. 455, 224 A. 2d 216 (1966); Commonwealth v. Feldman, 432 Pa. 428, 248 A. 2d 1 (1968). If the latter, in the absence of any Miranda warnings, appellant’s statement would be inadmissible.
In the resolution of this question we look to the record for that which transpired, and there is little or no dispute as to that which did transpire.
The remarks of Mayor George to appellant which preceded appellant’s oral statement, even though inquisitive in nature, did not constitute an “interrogation” or a “questioning” of the nature contemplated by Escobedo or Miranda as a police “interrogation” or “questioning” which should have been preceded by warnings to appellant of his constitutional rights. Viewed in the totality of the circumstances present, appellant’s oral statement was a purely voluntary statement and did not arise from an interrogation or questioning by police authorities.
The United States Supreme Court has not said that any statement volunteered by a person “in custody” in the absence of police interrogation or questioning, and in the absence of Miranda warnings, is inadmissible. Unless and until it be so held, I decline to declare a statement such as that volunteered by the instant appellant constitutionally infirm.
In my opinion, appellant’s conviction was proper and should be sustained.
Mr. Chief Justice Bell joins in this dissent.