Court Opinion

ID: 9733172
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:56:08.492776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:39.088448
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result as it is clear that appellee’s statement was voluntary and not the product of unnecessary delay between arrest and arraignment. Further, I join in that portion of the opinion authored by Mr. Justice Papadakos announcing that statements given within six hours of arrest should not be suppressed merely because arraignment occurs more than six hours after arrest, as those statements ought not be presumed to be the product of unnecessary delay between arrest and arraignment.
While I am in complete agreement that our rule which requires that persons accused of crimes be afforded a prompt preliminary arraignment, Commonwealth v. Davenport, 471 Pa. 278, 370 A.2d 301 (1977), is a good one, I *409write separately to express my continued opposition to the per se application of Davenport to exclude all statements made more than six hours after arrest. Rather, I would afford the Commonwealth the opportunity, and impose on the Commonwealth the burden, of proving that the delay was not unnecessary when the delay between arrest and arraignment exceeds six hours. See my authored concurring opinion filed in Commonwealth v. Bennett, 498 Pa. 656, 658, 450 A.2d 970, 971 (1982).