Court Opinion

ID: 9705126
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:57:20.504793+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:08.140452
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge,
concurring:
I concur that the judgment of sentence on this appeal must be affirmed, albeit for a different reason than that advanced by my distinguished colleague.
This case was submitted to a three-judge panel without benefit of oral argument. Often, in such a situation, questions pertaining to the proper resolution of the appeal have not undergone adequate examination or exposition at the time of submission. This is just such a case.
The sole issue presented in the Brief of the Appellant at 3; is as follows:
Whether the due process provisions of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania require that confessions obtained while the defendant is present in a police station or place of detention be memorialized, in their entirety, by audio recording or a written document signed by the defendant?
While this may be an interesting question for contemplation by students of the law, it has not been properly raised, or preserved, in the case now before us. As an error-correcting court, we are generally limited to determining whether the trial judge has committed either an abuse of discretion or an error of law in the handling and disposition of a case. In this case, counsel for Andrew Craft did not file an omnibus pretrial motion for relief pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 306. There was also no pretrial request for suppression of any evidence. In a Motion to Amend Post Verdict Motions filed October 5, 1994, Craft alleged in paragraph 4(d) thereof:
*380that the defendant was denied due process of law because the police did not tape record his alleged confession, or have him write out the alleged confession (T. p. 90 et seq.).
However, during trial, there was no objection posed to any of the testimony of Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Steven Marshall relating to Craft’s admissions. Transcript of Proceedings, December 22, 1993, at 60-81. There was no objection raised to the testimony of State Police Trooper Steven J. Szabo- on the same subject matter. Id. at 97-101. Further, counsel made no motion to strike any of the officers’ testimony.
Thus, the trial court was given no opportunity to rectify any alleged error at the time it was claimed to have been made. “ ‘[A] party may not remain silent and take chances on a verdict and afterwards complain of matters which, if erroneous, the [trial court] would have corrected.’’ ” Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 423, 326 A.2d 272, 274 (1974), quoting Commonwealth v. Marlin, 452 Pa. 380, 382, 305 A.2d 14, 16 (1973). Nor can a party allege basic and fundamental error to seek reversal on alleged errors not properly preserved in the trial court. Id. “In order to preserve an issue- for review, it must be specifically raised at trial and in post-verdict motions.” Commonwealth v. Williams, 537 Pa. 1, 21, 640 A.2d 1251, 1261 (1994), citing Commonwealth v. Gravely, 486 Pa. 194, 200, 404 A.2d 1296, 1298 (1979).
Craft has not claimed that the distinguished trial judge, the Honorable William L. Henry, has committed any error of law or abuse of discretion. However, if such a claim is deemed to be implicated in the brief submitted without argument to this Court, I would conclude that it has been waived and may not be reviewed by this Court. Accordingly, I would decline to consider the issue sought to be raised. I would affirm the judgment of sentence and leave for another day the consideration of the constitutional question belatedly posed by Craft’s counsel.