Court Opinion

ID: 9750961
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:52:18.13711+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:30.038376
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
I believe that the order of the court below suppressing appellee’s confession should be affirmed for the following reasons:
At the outset, I believe that this case can be decided solely under Escobedo and thus no question is raised as to whether Miranda applies to a retrial commenced after the date of the Miranda decision when appellee’s original trial predated Miranda. Thus although the implication that Miranda does not apply to retrials can be drawn from the majority’s statement that “the law which governs the legality and admissibility of Geraldine’s statement at her trial is that which ivas enunciated in Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, see Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719,” I cannot believe that the majority intended to decide so important an issue in such a cavalier manner.1 In any event, if the majority does think that it is so deciding, its statement is only gratuitous dictum, and clearly not controlling. See Commonwealth v. Christman, 432 Pa. 455, 459 n.2, 247 A. 2d 451, 453 n.2 (1968).
Moving to the merits, I believe that Escobedo has been violated for two reasons. First, in my view Escobedo requires that a confession be suppressed if a *80prisoner is not warned of Ms right to remain silent. That right of course can be waived, but footnote 14 of the Escobedo opinion indicates by its citation of Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S. Ct. 1019 (1938) that that waiver must still be, in short, a knowing and intelligent one. The court below found that appellee did not understand what she was being told, and this finding precludes the possibility that her waiver was knowing and intelligent. It causes no particular harm, I suppose, for the majority to perform verbal theatrics in determining whether given statements of the court below were “findings” or “conclusions,” although it should be pointed out that this case is in no way different than the many cases in which we affirm findings of the hearing judge that, for example, a guilty plea has been voluntarily entered, see, e.g., Commonwealth v. Wakeley, 433 Pa. 159, 249 A. 2d 303 (1969).
What is important is that there is support in the record for the court’s ultimate finding. The court below pointed out that the record showed that appellee was sleepy and seemed to have been nodding her head aimlessly during the period in which she was told of her rights. The court also found that the statement which appellee gave, including that part in which she supposedly admits to knowing her rights, was not in her own words. On this record, I do not believe that we could hold that as a matter of law appellee knowingly and intelligently waived her right to remain silent.
Second, I believe that regardless of the view one takes of Commonwealth v. Schmidt, 423 Pa. 432, 224 A. 2d 625 (1966); cf. Billingsley v. New Jersey, F. 2d (1969), which when applied to the facts of this case would require a request for counsel to have been made before appellee’s Escobedo right to counsel would attach, appellee has been denied counsel in vio*81lation of Escobedo because she did in effect request an attorney.2 At several times during the interrogation appellee said that, if necessary, she would obtain the services of an attorney. In my view, the fact that a request for counsel is not couched in language of the utmost clarity and has not specifically been made and refused does not mean that a Schmidt “request” has not been made. Given the fact that the accused was a 17 year old girl, and apparently was, in general, far from entirely lucid, I believe her statement that she would obtain an attorney if necessary constitutes a sufficient request.3
*82I thus conclude that appellee’s statements were obtained under circumstances violative of Escobedo, and thus agree that the order of the court below should be affirmed.

 This question, which has been the subject of considerable dispute, see Comment, 116 U. Pa. L. Rev. 316, 317 (1967), has not yet been decided by this Court or by the Supreme Court of the United States, although the latter has granted certiorari to decide it, Jenkins v. Delaware, 393 U.S. 950, 89 S. Ct. 380 (1968), and on March 5, 1969 heard argument. 37 L.W. 3335.

 The interrogating officers apparently did not teil appellee that the presence of an attorney was necessary. Of course, it cannot be known if their failure to do so was based upon a belief that an attorney would hinder the interrogation process.

 In Frazier v. Cupp, 37 L.W. 4362, 4364 (April 22, 1960), an opinion announced on the day before our decision in the case before us was filed, the Supreme Court of the United States held insufficient as an Escobedo request a prisoner’s in-custody statement that: “I think I had better get a lawyer before I talk any more. I am going to get into trouble more than I am in now”, to which the officer replied, “You can’t be in any more trouble than you are in now.” I believe that the Frazier decision is unwise on its facts and would reject it as a matter of state law, an option that is open to us when we believe that the Supreme Court of the United States has too narrowly drawn the bounds of constitutional protections. See Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 733, 86 S. Ct. 1772, 1781 (1966).
The Court in Frazier reasoned that the prisoner’s statement may have merely been “a passing comment” especially since the prisoner continued to answer questions after it became clear that no lawyer was forthcoming. It seems to me that Frazier’s request was a rather explicit one, and I think it is totally unrealistic to view it as anything less than that. Certainly Frazier said what he did because he wanted a lawyer. I do not believe that prisoners make “passing comments” of this type merely to pass time with interrogating police officers. I also would reject the Court’s argument that “petitioner did not pursue the matter.” Under the circumstances, I do not think there was anything Frazier could *82have done but continue to answer questions. An in-custody prisoner undergoing police interrogation is hardly in a position to be too uncooperative.
In my view, the Court is also on shaky ground in reasoning that although this might be a sufficient “request” under Miranda, it is not under Escobedo. Even assuming the questionable proposition that the factual determination of what is a “request” should be different under the two cases, I believe that the Supreme Court’s approach has put the wall on top of Humpty-Dumpty. Considering the fact that under Escobedo, less complete warnings are necessary than under Miranda, I would think that a prisoner having been told less, if anything would be required to be less articulate in his demands.
In any event, I believe that Frazier need not preclude the position which I have taken in this case. I cannot believe that the Court in Frazier meant to exclude from consideration the age, intelligence, experience, and condition of a prisoner in determining whether an Escobedo request has been made. Certainly Geraldine Taper, a tired, seventeen year old girl of limited intelligence, could not be expected to be as articulate as at least some prisoners who have had considerable experience in the criminal process. I believe that her requests here, under the circumstances, were sufficient.