Court Opinion

ID: 9634762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:22:48.758892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:58.148257
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
dissenting.
There are sixty-eight duly elected prosecutors in our Commonwealth, one for each of our counties and one Attorney General. Heretofore over the decades, it was assumed that only they possessed the discretion to bring forth prosecutions and enter into bargains with arrestees.
Suddenly, surely to the jolting surprise of these sixty-eight, the legislature, the municipal, county and state executive *445branches of government and to at least some members of the judiciary, the majority has now by judicial fiat endowed untold thousands of police throughout this Commonwealth with this sensitive, fundamental power.
Therefore, I cannot join in the Majority’s decision to uphold the lower court’s grant of the Motions to Dismiss the criminal complaints issued by the District Attorney of Allegheny County against the appellees/George & Heidi Stipetich.
The facts are undisputed: An informant gave information to the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police resulting in the securement of a warrant to search the appellees’ home in Upper St. Clair, a suburb outside of the city limits but within the jurisdictional confines of Allegheny County.
The search of the appellees’ residence was conducted with the assistance of the Allegheny County Police Department on November 13, 1990, and netted the Pittsburgh police suspected drugs, drug paraphernalia and non-drug items. Prior to any charges being lodged, the appellees’ attorney contacted the supervisor (Sergeant Thomas) of the two Pittsburgh police officers who were the affiants on the warrant. He made inquiry regarding the intent of the police, i.e., would charges be filed.
Sergeant Thomas advised counsel that the items seized tested positive for cocaine and the police department was evaluating what, if any, additional action would be taken because of the other items seized. This exchange was followed by a continuing dialogue in which counsel for the appellees questioned the viability (premised upon his experience as a prosecutor for the United States Attorney’s Office, defense counsel and former judge) of prosecuting the appellees. Finally, counsel for the appellees and Sergeant Thomas “reached an agreement” whereby Mr. Stipetich would cooperate with the Pittsburgh police by disclosing whatever information he knew as to the source of the drugs found at his premises. In exchange, Sergeant Thomas agreed that no charges would be filed.
*446In compliance with the understanding reached between Sergeant Thomas and counsel for the appellees, a meeting was held on April 13, 1991, wherein Mr. Stipetich answered all questions posed to him by Sergeant Thomas. Some ten months thereafter, the District Attorney of Allegheny County ordered the appellees arrested on criminal complaints filed by the Allegheny County Police Department, one of the agencies present during the initial search of the appellees’ residence. Evidence seized formed the basis for complaints.
Motions seeking dismissal of the criminal complaints, charging violations of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device & Cosmetic Act, were filed and granted, after a hearing, by the court below. The Commonwealth perfected an appeal and claims that the Pittsburgh police did not have the authority to consummate an agreement not to prosecute, a determination this writer believes is reserved solely to the District Attorney.
The Office of District Attorney is a constitutionally established position and vests with that official, as chief law enforcement officer, the authority to prosecute criminal cases arising within a geographical area. See Pa. Const. Art. 9, § 4, Act of July 28, 1953, P.L. 723, art. XIV, § 1402, 16 P.S. § 4402(a).1
In considering the extent of the district attorney’s power, it is important to bear in mind that the district attorney’s function is to represent the Commonwealth in criminal prosecutions. Commonwealth ex rel. Specter v. Freed, 424 Pa. 508, 228 A.2d 382 (1967). In the capacity of the Commonwealth’s attorney, the district attorney has traditionally fulfilled the obligation of investigation and prosecution of crime by initially evaluating complaints to determine whether a charge should be brought against a suspect. “A District Attorney has a general and widely recognized pow*447er to conduct criminal litigation and prosecutions on behalf of the Commonwealth, and to decide whether and when to continue or discontinue a case.” Commonwealth v. DiPasquale, 431 Pa. 536, 540-41, 246 A.2d 430, 432 (1968).
The power granted the district attorney ... is consistent with the authority regularly exercised by that office in deciding whether to initiate or to discontinue prosecutions. Commonwealth v. Ragone, 317 Pa. 113, 176 A. 454 (1935); Commonwealth v. Lord, 230 Pa.Super. 96, 326 A.2d 455 (1974); Pa.R.Crim.P. 314. The attorney for the Commonwealth is acting in accordance with a recognized duty owed to the people of the Commonwealth ... not only of overseeing the prosecution of crime but also determining when charges should be brought.... 4
Petition of Piscanio, 235 Pa.Super. 490, 344 A.2d 658, 660-61 (1975); see also Commonwealth Attorneys Act, Act of Oct. 15, 1980, P.L. 950, no. 164, § 205, 71 P.S. § 732-205.
It is this writer’s belief that affording police officers the unbridled authority to enter into negotiations which terminate prosecutions shifts a constitutionally reposed power from an elected official to an appointed public servant. This is unacceptable.
Those state courts which have dealt with the issue have concluded that the breach of an unauthorized agreement with police does not warrant the dismissal of charges brought thereafter by a District Attorney. For example, in People v. Gallego, 430 Mich. 443, 424 N.W.2d 470 (1988), the Supreme Court of Michigan, in a case of first impression, was confronted with the question of whether a defendant was entitled to specific performance of a written agreement of non-prosecution executed with federal agents and state police in exchange for assisting in retrieving money used in a drug transaction by the defendant.
*448The local prosecutor did- not feel he was bound by the agreement and, consequently, charged the defendant with drug violations. The lower court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Michigan affirmed the Court of Appeals reversal of the motion to dismiss. In the course of doing so, as herein relevant, the Court wrote:
We base our decision to deny defendant specific performance on the fact that the police lacked the authority to make a binding promise of immunity or not to prosecute. The case at bar involves a non-plea agreement for which specific performance amounts to preclusion of an otherwise valid prosecution, and the Court has available an alternative remedy short of specific performance, i.e., suppression, which- essentially restores defendant to the position he enjoyed prior to making the agreement in question to the police.
The absence of authority of the police in this matter is significant for several reasons. To begin with, by enforcing the unauthorized promise made to defendant, this Court would undermine the accountability built into the prosecutorial function. Unlike a Michigan State Police officer, the Oakland County Prosecutor is an elected official and thus accountable to the county’s electorate for his' acts. Since the police possess neither the authority to withhold prosecution nor to grant immunity, no formal system exists by which to check the potentially unbridled discretion the police would possess if allowed to make binding promises precluding prosecution. The potential for abuse seems obvious.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
In addition, enforcing the unauthorized promise made by the police to defendant raises the question of the logical limits of the power of the police to control the criminal justice system. If the police may make unauthorized, yet binding promises that preclude prosecution, why could they also not make binding plea bargains or sentence agreements? Thus, in granting defendant specific performance, *449this Court would create a dangerous precedent. By doing so, we would implicitly recognize the propriety of allowing non-elected, non-prosecutorial public officials to administer an ad hoc system of criminal justice.
A factor suggesting caution in granting defendant’s request for specific performance is the fact that the instant case involves a non-plea agreement for which specific performance amounts to preclusion of an otherwise valid prosecution. To begin with, dismissal of criminal charges as a remedy for alleged police misconduct is a drastic and disfavored remedy. See e.g., United States v. Blue, supra, 384 U.S. [251] at 255, 86 S.Ct. [1416] at 1419 [16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966)]; United States v. Rogers, 751 F.2d 1074, 1076-1077 (CA 9, 1985). In this case, dismissal of criminal charges is even less desirable, however, because it advances no other legitimate interests. With a plea bargain, for example, a defendant may plead guilty to one or more charges in exchange for the dismissal of other charges. By negotiating such an agreement, the prosecution protects the public by guaranteeing the defendant’s conviction on at least one offense and promotes the prompt and efficient disposition of criminal cases.
sis sfc
A factor which underlies our decision to deny defendant’s request for specific performance is the presence of an alternative remedy which essentially restores defendant to the position he enjoyed prior to making the agreement in question with the police.
:}c Hí ❖ sjs H* ^
In other words, specific performance is not required to restore defendant to the position he enjoyed prior to making the agreement in question with the police. Exclusion of the buy money and suppression of the written agreement, obtained in alleged violation of defendant’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, respectively, correct any prejudice suffered to date by defendant. As for defendant’s contention that statement by the [prosecution] and the Court of Appeals have stripped him of his constitutional right to a *450presumption of innocence, we cannot agree. Our decision to deny defendant’s request for specific performance is not an adjudication of defendant’s guilt; we properly leave that determination to the trial court. Instead, our decision rests solely on the legal and policy ramifications of specific enforcement of unauthorized, non-plea agreements made by the police, such as in the case at bar, not on any assumptions about defendant’s ultimate guilt or innocence.
Since suppression or exclusion cures defendant’s detrimental reliance, specific performance is not necessary to return defendant to the position he eiijoyed prior to making the unauthorized, non-plea agreement at issue in this case.
424 N.W.2d at 473-475 (Footnotes omitted). Accord Commonwealth v. St. John, 173 Mass. 566, 54 N.E. 254 (1899).
Instantly, we have a scenario in which the District Attorney of Allegheny County was never contacted prior to or during the “continuing” discussions had between Sergeant Thomas of the Pittsburgh police and counsel for the appellees. In fact, implicit in the testimony of counsel for the appellees is the belief that the Pittsburgh police had the “apparent authority”2 to finalize any deal which would insulate his clients from prosecution. See RR. 61 (“I assumed that [Sergeant Thomas] communicated with whomever he was required to who might have been his superior before accord was reached and the deal was consummated.”)
Yet, nowhere in the record is there any indication that the District Attorney’s office, as a matter of course, permitted the Pittsburgh police to act as extensions of or on behalf of the prosecutor by making binding agreements of which he knew *451nothing (from inception to consummation). Such conduct by the Pittsburgh police, and joinder by defense counsel, is indicative of a perception of power which has evolved into a practice accepted as de facto authority and the practice appears to have become commonplace. See RR. 54-55 (Counsel for the appellees testified that the police enjoyed the last decision-making responsibility; prosecutorial discretion rests first with the arresting officer). This was never the intent of the Legislature in establishing a unified judicial system which has as one of its players the District Attorney, whose role it is to bring violators to justice. Petition of Piscanio, supra.
Moreover, the conduct of the Pittsburgh police fosters unaccountability and exposes the criminal justice system to excesses attendant to unchecked authority. See Gallego, supra.
This case affords the Court the occasion to clarify the statutory and case law interpreting the authoritative limits of the District Attorney’s office vis-a-vis the police department, which I consider to counsel against affixing our imprimatur to the lower court’s dismissal of the motions to dismiss. Otherwise, the police would be able to usurp unilaterally the exclusive prosecution function of the District Attorney set forth in our constitution, statute and case law. See, e.g., Pa. Const. Art. 9, § 4; 16 P.S. § 4402(a); Commonwealth v. Johnson, 507 Pa. 27, 487 A.2d 1320 (1985) (Court may not grant use immunity without consent of prosecutor); Commonwealth v. Peters, 473 Pa. 72, 373 A.2d 1055 (1977) (Detective with the District Attorney’s office had apparent authority to promise immunity for a confession; non-compliance with inducement entitled defendant to a new trial); Commonwealth v. Wolf, 353 Pa.Super. 483, 510 A.2d 764 (1986) (Incrimination statement by defendant, while attempting to secure leniency, admitted at trial when uttered to non-representative of District Attorney’s office, i.e., police officer); Gallego, supra; United States v. Roberson, 872 F.2d 597, 611 (5th Cir.1989) (State immunity agreement did not bind federal prosecutor).
Unlike the Majority, which presumes that the agreement *452entered into by the police and the appellees was valid,3 I find that prohibition of the “deal” under scrutiny here can be gleaned from a combined reading of oür constitution, statutes and case law on the subject. Id. For instance, the decision to grant “use” immunity to any witness is reposed in the Attorney General or District Attorney at 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5947.
Our Supreme Court has interpreted Section 5947 to restrict the grant of immunity to those named public officials because the risk of abuse is substantial. See Johnson, supra. The risk of abuse appears no less extant here where, availing all police officers the unbridled authority to act unilaterally to enter into binding agreements with defendants, the prosecution’s strong interest in trying the appellees for crimes against the Commonwealth is frustrated by the intervention of the police in an area henceforth sacrosant.
Thus, it seems difficult for this writer to reconcile the Legislature’s enactment of the “use” immunity statute (reserving that function to the Attorney General and District Attorney), while ignoring and leaving unprotected for police ruse the area of non-prosecutorial deal-striking. In both instances, the path of prosecutorial discretion should not be infringed upon by an unintended participant. If such be the case, the remedy should never swallow the excesses intended to be curbed.
The more appropriate course to pursue in this case, given the unauthorized actions of the police, would be to suppress any information obtained by the authorities. See Gallego, supra. . However, we have been presented with no insight as to the type of information divulged by the appellee/George Stipetich and whether it is incriminating to the Stipetichs’ case.
The issue of remedy becomes pertinent • only after the defendant has established a due process entitlement to some form of judicial relief by reason of certain actions taken in *453reasonable and detrimental reliance on a governmental promise.
People v. Manning, 672 P.2d 499, 512 (Colo.1993). Therefore, I would remand the case to allow an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the information elicited is truly detrimental to the appellees. If such is the case, the information should be suppressed as a consequence of the police’s inability to abide by the terms of the agreement. Otherwise, the case should be permitted to proceed through the judicial process unabated. Compare Gallego, supra, and contrast Manning, supra. The Majority, having decided to pursue a course at odds with that suggested by this writer, prompts this dissent.
I respectfully dissent.
ROWLEY, President Judge, and CAVANAUGH, J., join.

. Section 4402(a) reads:
The district attorney shall sign all bills of indictment and conduct in court all criminal and other prosecutions, in the name of the Commonwealth, or, when the Commonwealth is a party, which arise in the county, and perform all the duties which now by law are to be performed by deputy attorneys general, and receive the same fees or emoluments of office.

-The A.B.A. Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Standards Relating to the Prosecution Function and the Defense Function § 3.4 (Approved Draft, 1971), recommends that the decision to institute criminal proceedings be initially and primarily the responsibility of the prosecutor, the attorney for the Commonwealth.

. The Restatement (Second) of Agency, § 8 (1958) defines "apparent authority” as "the power to affect the legal relations of another person by transactions with third persons, professedly as agent for the other, arising from and in accordance with the other’s manifestations to such third persons.” This type of authority is created "as to a third person by written or spoken words or any other conduct of the principal which, reasonably interpreted, cause the third person to believe that the principal consents to have the act done on his behalf by the person purporting to act for him.” Id. at § 27. When an agent acts "within his apparent authority" and contracts on behalf of his principal, the principal is liable on the contract. Id. at § 159.

. My finding that the police lack the authority to bind the District Attorney, of necessity, renders unenforceable the agreement between the appellees and the police.