Court Opinion

ID: 9694394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:39:58.195932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:00.776571
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts :
I join in the opinion of the Court but desire to add that the present case is controlled by Commonwealth *7v. Padgett, 428 Pa. 229, 231, 237 A.2d 209, 210 (1968).1 This Court in Padgett held that “a statement procured either after failure to give an accused opportunity to consult with counsel or, as in this case, failure to warn an accused of his right to remain silent (under Escobedo [v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S. Ct. 1758 (1964)]), or in the absence of police attempts to advise the accused of his constitutional rights (under Miranda [v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966)]), cannot be employed at trial for any purpose.” From this Court’s unequivocal refusal to permit the prosecution to use an unconstitutionally obtained confession “for any purpose,” it is evident that Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S. Ct. 643 (1971),2 cannot represent the law of this Commonwealth.
Harris-type use of constitutionally infirm confessions forces upon an accused a grisly Hobson’s choice. Either an accused must forgo his right to testify, or he must risk the sure and devastating prejudice occasioned by the prosecution’s use of the impermissibly obtained confession at the critical rebuttal stage.
Mr. Justice O’Biuen and Mr. Justice Nix join in this concurring opinion.

 Accord Commonwealth v. Horner, 453 Pa. 435, 309 A.2d 552 (1973); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 428 Pa. 458, 239 A.2d 308 (1968).

 Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S. Ct. 643 (1971), has been severely criticized. See Dershowitz & Ely, Harris v. New York: Some Anxious Observations on the Candor and Logic of the Emerging Nixon Majority, 80 Yale L.J. 1198 (1971); The Supreme Court 1970 Term, 85 Harv. L. Eev. 40, 44-64 (1971).
At least one other jurisdiction has refused to follow Harris. State v. Santiago, 53 Hawaii 254, 263, 492 P.2d 657, 662 (1971).