Court Opinion

ID: 9704839
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:48:00.871697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:05.756735
License: Public Domain

BECK, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s introduction of a broad good-faith exception based on its interpretation of United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). I concur with the retroactive application of Commonwealth v. Beauford, 327 Pa.Super. 253, 475 *443A.2d 783 (1984), appeal dismissed, 508 Pa. 319, 496 A.2d 1143 (1985).
I. Good-Faith Exception
Although in principle I endorse the introduction of a narrow Leon good-faith exception into Pennsylvania jurisprudence, I find the instant case is an inappropriate vehicle by which to do it.
The good-faith exception has recently been enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984) and Massachusetts v. Sheppard, 468 U.S. 981, 104 S.Ct. 3424, 82 L.Ed.2d 737 (1984). In Leon the Court applied the good faith exception to admit evidence discovered pursuant to a search warrant not supported by probable cause on the ground that the police who conducted the search had reasonably relied on the issuance of the warrant by a neutral magistrate. In Sheppard, the Court concluded that the exclusionary rule does not require the suppression of evidence seized by law enforcement officials acting in objectively reasonable reliance on a technically defective warrant. In both of those cases, the issuing authority made an objective assessment based on established standards of whether there was probable cause to support the warrant. In hindsight it was determined that probable cause did not support the warrant in Leon, and although probable cause did support the warrant in Sheppard, the warrant was defective because it failed to specify with particularity the kind of items that the search was aimed at uncovering.
In the case sub judice the search involved placing a pen register on the telephone of the appellant. Under the applicable law at the time, the police could legally install a pen register on their own initiative. No warrant was required as a precondition to the installation. Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979). Therefore, no mandated standard existed by which the issuing authority could assess whether to permit the installation of the pen register. In the case sub judice the issuing authority issued the warrant as an accomodation to *444the telephone company because the company refused to install the pen register without judicial approval.
It appears that the issuing authority in the case sub judice rubber-stamped the request by the police without bringing to bear its independent judgment. I would find the good-faith exception inapplicable because the facts in this case do not support it. Without standards for an independent assessment by the issuing authority of the pre-search actions of the police, the object of a search becomes vulnerable to unsupervised, and perhaps overzealous, law enforcement activity even if performed in good faith. No safeguard exists that the neutral issuing authority assessed the information presented by the police. No pre-search record exists by which a reviewing court can assess the grounds on which the authorization was approved.
Since no warrant was required in this case, the majority’s opinion leads dangerously close to approving a good-faith exception for warrantless searches.
The Leon and Sheppard doctrine creates a narrow good-faith exception, where the issuing authority has assessed the presearch information. To extend the doctrine to situations where the issuing authority is a rubber stamp or to situations where no warrant is necessary would grant the police too broad discretion. In determining whether the police acted in good faith in relying on the authorization, the reviewing court would have to rely on after-the-fact documentation by the police. After the fact, the police would have to assemble a case in favor of good faith. In most cases, the police would not have the pre-search opportunity to document good faith in searches without a warrant because most warrantless searches are conducted in emergency situations. Also, in situations where search-and-seizure doctrine is unclear, the police could rely totally on their interpretation to support a good-faith exception.
Extension of the good-faith exception to warrantless searches would begin seriously to erode the established body of search and seizure law and I fear the majority’s opinion leads to that end.
*445II. Retroactivity
Although I agree that the rule in Commonwealth v. Beauford, 327 Pa.Super. 253, 475 A.2d 783 (1984), appeal dismissed, 508 Pa. 319, 496 A.2d 1143 (1985), is retroactive, I do not agree with the majority’s analysis of the issue of retroactivity. The majority bases its analysis solely on Commonwealth v. Cabeza, 503 Pa. 228, 469 A.2d 146 (1983). Cabeza requires that all decisions in criminal cases be retroactive absent a specific statement in the opinion rendering it prospective only. As Beauford declines to determine its own retroactivity, the Cabeza rule would automatically render it retroactive. Although the Cabeza rule establishes a strong presumption of retroactivity, it should not be the end of retroactivity analysis. The rule is too broad. Our Supreme Court has begun to limit its breadth. Commonwealth v. Gillespie, 512 Pa. 349, 516 A.2d 1180 (1986). Rather than adopting a standard of analysis, the rule is conclusory. In providing clear direction as to applicable law, Cabeza hampers the court’s discretion and deprives the court from making equitable considerations. It sacrifices fairness to certainty.
The preferable standard was recently enunciated by Justice Papadakos in his concurrence in Commonwealth v. Harper, 512 Pa. 155, 516 A.2d 319 (1986). Justice Papada-kos refers to Cabeza as our present rule of retroactivity in criminal cases. Yet, realizing that Cabeza is not a tool for analysis, he reiterates the Stovall standard:
The criteria to be employed in determining whether a newly adopted rule should be applied retroactively are: “(a) the purpose to be served by the new standards, (b) the extent of the reliance by law enforcement authorities on the old standards, and (c) the effect on the administration of justice of a retroactive application of the new standards.” Stovall v. Denno, [388 U.S. 293, 297, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 1970, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967)].
Harper, 512 Pa. at 162, 516 A.2d at 323 (Papadakos, J. concurring).
Pursuant to Harper and Stovall, I review the countervailing considerations. The purpose of the new rule requiring *446search warrants for use of pen registers is to safeguard the important state constitutional right against unreasonable searches. The reliance by law enforcement authorities on the previous standard which was established in 1979 in Smith v. Maryland, is clear from the facts in the case sub judice. Before Beauford was decided, law enforcement officials used pen registers without court authorization. However, it is not possible to assess the extent of this reliance. Therefore, we cannot determine the impact that retroactive application of the new requirement or standard will have on the administration of justice. Clearly, retroac-tivity will cause the suppression of evidence in some cases. Since retroactivity analysis in criminal decisional law begins with a strong presumption in favor of retroactivity and since the purpose of the new rule is of constitutional dimension, I agree that the Beauford rule should have retroactive application.
Although I find it is proper to apply the Beauford principle retroactively, I conclude that the good-faith exception is inapplicable. I would, therefore, affirm.