Court Opinion

ID: 9700704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:46:20.233124+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:13.912510
License: Public Domain

CAVANAUGH, Judge,
concurring:
I agree with PART I of Judge Spaeth’s opinion which holds that an order suppressing evidence is appealable when it is apparent from the record that the order terminates or substantially handicaps the prosecution. I do so reluctantly since I feel that this is not a good rule, but rather one that is required since as Judge Spaeth points out we have no power to enlarge our jurisdiction by holding appealable an order that precedent has established is not appealable. I believe it is not a good rule since it forces us to do something we have no business doing, that is review a prosecution contention that certain evidence does or does not substantially handicap him in his responsibility as a prosecutor and moreover we do so from a limited record in the sense that we have no idea whatsoever of the facts available to the prosecutor outside the limited record of the suppression hearing. It seems to me that a better rule would be to accept the certification of a public official that in the exercise of his responsibilities he has determined that the absence of the suppressed evidence would terminate or substantially handicap him in the prosecution of the case.
Further, I agree with the conclusion in PART II A that in both of the present cases the suppression order would terminate the prosecution, and therefore both orders are appealable. I also agree with Judge Spaeth’s disposition in II B, Commonwealth v. Lapia, which affirms the lower court’s suppression order.
Finally, as to Commonwealth v. Dugger I agree with Judge Wieand, joined by Judges Cirillo and McEwen, and Judge Montemuro joining herein, that the facts of this case support a reasonable suspicion of presence of drugs on the *310person of Dugger. However, because of the extraordinarily intrusive nature of strip searches, I would always ground such prison visitor searches, which are conducted based on a reasonable suspicion standard, on voluntariness, i.e., they can only be conducted after the visitor has been advised of the alternative of leaving without a visit. Since the lower court found here that Dugger did not voluntarily consent to a strip search I would affirm the order suppressing the evidence, thereby concurring in the result reached by Judge Spaeth.
MONTEMURO, J., joins in this opinion.