Court Opinion

ID: 9710914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:20:22.820145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:00.895667
License: Public Domain

TAMILIA, Judge,
concurring.
I join in the majority but write separately because I believe this case, though correctly decided, creates a void when considered in conjunction with Commonwealth v. Ogborne, 384 Pa.Super. 604, 559 A.2d 931 (1989). While I believe the majority in both cases would hold they can be distinguished, I view the underlying issues as being inseparable. Those issues may be simply stated in the following fashion:

Reviera Issue

May police who suspect a party of preparing to engage in criminal activity which has not culminated in the ultimate act be permitted to obtain a search warrant in anticipation of the act?
Yes, as answered by Reviera.

Ogborne Issue

When police arrest parties after a Terry stop resulting from surveillance which corroborates prior information which was insufficient to support an anticipatory search warrant, must the evidence obtained in the arrest be suppressed?
Yes, as answered by Ogborne.
In this case, the police received information from a reliable informant that appellant was dealing in drugs and *208based upon that information, an undercover agent approached appellant’s dwelling about 5:00 p.m. and was told drugs would be delivered for sale at about 10:00 p.m. that evening. Accordingly, a warrant was obtained and execution on the warrant after 10:00 p.m. resulted in appellant’s arrest. The evidence so acquired was suppressed by the trial court as no probable cause existed. This Court now holds the use of an anticipatory warrant is proper if the information is reliable and not merely speculative. We go on to say that precautions must be taken so there is no unreasonable danger of loss of judicial control over a search where police could not have arrived at the location to be searched in advance of delivery of contraband. I have no problem with the majority in this case but I do not take our holding to be authority for the proposition that an anticipatory search warrant must issue in every case where the police have reason to believe criminal activity is to take place in the immediate future. This holding is replete throughout with caution and warning that the basis for the warrant must be heavily documented and that its use may not anticipate the crime although its issuance may be in anticipation of the crime. It is for this reason that we have created for ourselves, the police and issuing authorities a gray area which should not exist when the facts pose circumstances less clear than those in this case, Reviera.
That type of situation is presented by the facts of Ogborne. In Ogborne, the officer received a call from an informant that appellant would arrive later that evening in a black Dodge automobile at the 100 block of Saude Avenue, Tinicain Township, and to his knowledge, he would have in his possession approximately ten bundles of the drug Phencyclidine (P.C.P.). The officer did not request a search warrant because he did not think he had probable cause. (In this regard, according to our analysis in Reviera, he was most likely correct.) After confirming the address, appellant’s identity and the presence of a black Dodge at that location through local police, a surveillance was set up and at approximately 11:20 p.m., police observed a black Dodge enter Saude Avenue and turn into a private *209drive at 115 Saude. Police identified appellant as the driver. Police surrounded the car and an officer tapped on the window after showing his badge. Appellant lowered the window and the officer smelled P.C.P. coming from the car. Appellant was directed to step out of the car and upon search, nine packets of P.C.P. were found on his person and a smaller amount found in the car. At trial, appellant’s motion to suppress the evidence was denied and he was convicted of possession and possession with intent to deliver. Upon appeal this Court reversed (Tamilia, J., dissenting) and reargument before the Court en banc was denied.
The Ogborne majority held that the officer’s reliance on a Terry1 investigation and search was impermissible and there was more than ample time to obtain a search warrant. What was lacking in Ogborne that was present in Reviera was the personal knowledge of the officer that drugs were being sold at the Reviera dwelling and the exact time the seller would have the drugs available for distribution. I believe this was crucial to our finding that an anticipatory warrant could issue and that it would not become a tool for a fishing expedition. Cases cited by Reviera in support of anticipatory warrants point out the need to make the execution of the warrant contingent on the occurrence of specific events or the passage of a specified period of time. Ogborne would have difficulty meeting this test. Also it is evident in Reviera that this is a case of first impression and the police officer in Ogborne did not have the benefit of our holding today that anticipatory warrants could be obtained. We reversed in Reviera because a learned trial judge believed the same.
Under these circumstances in Ogborne, the police did the best they could which was to set up a surveillance and when sufficient activity occurred to confirm their suspicions they acted to investigate further. An anticipatory search warrant which might have been obtained for the 100 block of Saude Avenue would not have been specific enough to search a car which pulled into a driveway at 115 Saude *210Avenue. Attempting to obtain a search warrant under the exigencies of these circumstances would likely have resulted in the disposal of the evidence. Drug trafficking is such a volatile and fast moving criminal activity that obtaining evidence is frequently frustrated by the more deliberate pace of legal requirements. Here, where there was time and sufficient probable cause to obtain an anticipatory warrant, it is the proper way to proceed. In Ogborne, when there was not sufficient probable cause, by the time probable cause was established there was insufficient time to obtain a warrant. However, there was sufficient probable cause to make a Terry stop, followed by a legal arrest.
This case and Ogborne should have been joined for argument as representing different points on the continuum of anticipatory search. Had this been done, I believe the Court en banc would have seen the need for a definitive statement which would permit issuance of both anticipatory warrants and the right to proceed as in Ogborne, when such a warrant is not viable.

. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).