Court Opinion

ID: 9693983
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:15:32.028222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:53.528064
License: Public Domain

NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
While I agree with the result reached by the majority, I am not persuaded that the “totality of the circumstances” test adopted by the United States Supreme Court as a matter of federal constitutional law in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), is an adequate standard for determining the existence of probable cause under Article I, section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Federal Constitution at best defines only *489the minimum protection which must be afforded fundamental rights. Within our federal system of government, state constitutions must be viewed as independent, and indeed, primary sources of such protection. See e.g., Brennan, State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv.L.Rev. 489 (1977). It is the responsibility of the state court to define the scope of protection of the fundamental rights of all citizens mandated by the state’s constitution. See Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). The majority, in its rush to embrace the Gates standard, abdicates that responsibility by focusing only on the convenience in application of the new standard without giving due consideration to the adequacy of the protection to be afforded to one of our most basic rights.
Moreover, the instant case does not, in my view, present a factual situation which either demonstrates the impracticality of the Aguilar-Spinelli standard or necessitates its rejection. It is well established that the statements of different confidential informants may corroborate each other. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 506 Pa. 262, 484 A.2d 1383 (1984); Commonwealth v. Reel, 499 Pa. 381, 453 A.2d 923 (1982); Commonwealth v. Sudler, 496 Pa. 295, 436 A.2d 1376 (1981); Commonwealth v. Edwards, 493 Pa. 281, 426 A.2d 550 (1981); Commonwealth v. Mamon, 449 Pa. 249, 297 A.2d 471 (1972). Here, the statement of the first informant that he had seen marijuana in appellant’s residence and cars was corroborated by information supplied by two other informants that appellant was a major drug dealer. The reliability of the first informant’s statement was also bolstered by the statement in the affidavit that subsequent police observation revealed that the automobiles he had described were located where he said they would be.
Thus, as the trial court correctly concluded, both prongs of the Aguilar-Spinelli test was satisfied. The majority’s predicate for discarding that salutary standard, therefore, is nonexistent.
ZAPPALA, J., joins in this concurring opinion.