Court Opinion

ID: 9693065
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:19:18.756962+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:39.621892
License: Public Domain

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by
Hoffman, J.:
Appellant was convicted following a nonjury trial on three Bills: Bill No. 173, September Term 1968; Bill No. 303, November Sessions 1968; and Bill No. 235, October Sessions 1968. All of these indictments involved the illegal possession of dangerous drugs. The indictment at Bill No. 235 contained the additional count of malicious loitering and prowling.
The majority sustains the introduction into evidence of the fruits of the search in Bill No. 173; and holds that the search warrant in Bill No. 303 was constitutionally defective. I concur in the result as to these Bills. However, I respectfully dissent from the failure of the majority to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the search in Bill No. 235.
This Bill contained a two-count prosecution, one for possession of capsules of cocaine and the second for malicious loitering and prowling around a dwelling house at nighttime. After arresting appellant on the malicious prowling and loitering charge, the arresting officers conducted a search of appellant’s person and found capsules of cocaine in his left pocket. At trial, the lower court found appellant not guilty of the charge of malicious loitering and prowling, but convicted him of possession of dangerous drugs. The judge had previously refused appellant’s timely petition to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the search.
The question presented on appeal is whether there was probable cause for the malicious loitering and prowling arrest, and thus whether the drugs seized were properly admitted into evidence as the fruits of a *260search pursuant to a lawful arrest.1 The statute under which appellant was arrested provides as follows:
“Whoever at night time maliciously loiters or maliciously prowls around a dwelling house or any other place used wholly or in part for living or dwelling purposes, belonging to or occupied by another, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or undergo imprisonment for a period not exceeding one (1) year, or both.” Act of May 27, 1949, P. L. 1900, §1,18 P.S. §4418.
A close examination of the record reveals that, contrary to the views expressed by the majority, at the time of his arrest appellant was not maliciously loitering or prowling around a dwelling house. For approximately two hours before the arrest, the police officers involved observed appellant and his female companion in various locations. After seeing them for the fifth time, the officers, who were under orders to keep the streets clear of prostitutes and “dope boys”, told them to go home. Instead, the couple went into an open, all-night market, about thirty yards from the spot where the arrest occurred. When the officers returned, they saw appellant and his companion standing on a street comer near the market. The female companion *261had a package from the store. The officers again told the couple to leave the area and were told that appellant and his companion “were waiting for a jitney.” The officers testified that they told the couple that the jitney stand was across the street. At this point the couple told the officers “to leave them alone or something.” They were then placed, under arrest and taken across the street to a call box.
The facts thus clearly show that appellant was not maliciously loitering or prowling around a dwelling house at the time he was arrested.2 In fact, he was not loitering or prowling at all. He had been standing at an intersection for two or three minutes prior to his arrest. There is nothing in the record to indicate that he was planning or doing anything unlawful at the time of his arrest. See, Commonwealth v. Clinton, 391 Pa. 212, 137 A. 2d 463 (1958), reversing 183 Pa. Superior Ct. 111, 127 A. 2d 780 (1956).
In Commonwealth v. DeWan, 181 Pa. Superior Ct. 203, 208, 124 A. 2d 139, 141 (1956), this Court defined the meaning of the section under which appellant was convicted: “This Act was obviously intended to punish not only those persons who at night are bent on peeping into the private affairs of citizens in their dwell*262ings, but also those individuals who are found at or near dwellings without lawful purpose or reason and whose presence cam, only he explained in some preparation for or attempt at illegality or crime.” (emphasis added).
As was the case in Commonwealth v. Clinton, supra, “[t]he only element of this crime which the Commonwealth proved was that [appellant] was out at night.” It is clear from the testimony that the officers suspected appellant of no conduct directed to “injury to the privacy, person or property of another”, which is the mischief prohibited by the statute. Commonwealth v. DeWan, supra. Neither of the arresting officers ever testified that they even remotely thought that appellant was attempting to enter a dwelling house or do anything to invade the privacy of any person’s residence. In fact they did not even know that this was a necessary element of the crime. See n. 2, supra. Their sole thought was that appellant was a drug addict and, therefore, should be kept off the streets. There is no indication either in the cases or the statute itself that suggests that this section was directed to such an “offense.”
Though the police officers may have suspected appellant and his companion, they had no probable cause at the time of the arrest to believe that any misdemeanor was being committed in their presence. The Section under which appellant was arrested and convicted may not constitutionally be used to clear the streets of “undesirables.” The statute is specific as to the type of behavior it seeks to prevent and it should not be extended. See, Act of May 28, 1937, P. L. 1019, art. IV, §58, 46 P.S. §558.
Therefore, I believe that the arrest was unlawful and the search incident thereto is invalid. The evidence obtained pursuant to the arrest should have been suppressed.
*263I would reverse the judgment of the court helow as to Bill No. 235, October Sessions 1968 and order the charges dismissed.

 Appellant also argues that the malicious loitering and prowling section of The Penal Code, Act of May 27, 1949, P. L. 1900, §1, 18 P.S. §4418, is unconstitutionally void for vagueness. Cf., e.g., Giaccio v. Pennsylvania, 382 U.S. 399, 403, 86 S. Ct. 518, 520 (1966); Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 59 S. Ct. 618 (1939). He further argues that even if his arrest were lawful, the search of his person went beyond the scope permissible in an arrest for malicious loitering and prowling. Cf. Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 88 S. Ct. 1889 (1968); Preston v. United States, 376 U.S. 364, 367, 84 S. Ct. 881, 883 (1964).
Although these claims may well be meritorious, since I conclude that the arrest in this case is clearly not sanctioned by the statute, I do not need to reach the constitutional issues at this time.

 It should be noted that the arresting officers did not know that the offense of malicious loitering and prowling at nighttime applies only to dwelling houses. “Q. What is your understanding in terms of making an arrest as to what loitering is and what malicious prowling is? A. As loitering was explained to us, a person who has no logical reason to be in the vicinity. Malicious prowling is where a person having no logical reason to be in the vicinity is moving about places of business or entering private homes other than their own or with a guest. . . . Q. You have been instructed that malicious prowling includes loitering about open business establishments or closed business establishments? A. Closed business establishments. Q. Closed business establishments? A. Yes sir. Q. All right And your instruction is not limited to the term that malicious prowling only involves dwelling houses? A. No, sir.”