Court Opinion

ID: 9713033
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:05:32.962089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:15.916475
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result reached by the majority on all the issues raised on this appeal. I wish, however, to indicate specifically the limits of my agreement with the majority’s conclusion that appellant’s right to due process of law was not violated by 18 C.P.S.A. § 3104 (Supp.1979-80).
The United States Supreme Court has held that [i]t is fundamentally unfair to require a defendant to divulge the details of his own case while at the same time subjecting him to the hazards of surprise concerning refutation of the very pieces of evidence which he disclosed to the State.
Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470, 476, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 2213-14, 37 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973).
Such a requirement violates the defendant’s right under the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution to *218due process of law. Id. See also Commonwealth v. Contakos, 455 Pa. 136, 314 A.2d 259 (1974). The majority concludes that “any analogy to Wardius and Contakos is inappropriate.” At 372. I suggest, however, that the reasoning in support of this conclusion is not persuasive.
The majority says that evidence of an alibi defense, which was what was involved in Wardius and Contakos, “is fundamentally different from” evidence of prior consensual sexual intercourse. At 371. The difference does not seem to me so great. Both sorts of evidence bear directly upon an essential element of the offense.
It is true that section 3104 is not intended to be a discovery device for the Commonwealth; its purpose is to avoid confusion of issues at trial and needless embarrassment of the prosecutrix by excluding irrelevant (or at best marginally relevant) evidence concerning the prosecutrix’s prior sexual behavior. It is also true that in providing that a defendant who wishes to offer evidence of the prosecutrix’s past sexual relations with him may file a written motion and offer of proof at the time of trial, and in further providing that the motion, offer of proof, and subsequent hearing shall address only “the relevance and admissibility of the [defendant’s] proposed evidence,” section 3104 minimizes the risk that the Commonwealth will gain unfair pre-trial discovery of the defendant’s case. Nevertheless, it is easy to suppose a case where the Commonwealth might convert the evidentiary proceedings under section 3104 into a discovery device. Suppose, for example, a case in which the defendant makes an offer of proof that he and a friend will testify that the prosecutrix had consensual sexual intercourse with the defendant in the defendant’s home the day before the alleged rape, and further, that the friend knows this because he witnessed the act. A hearing is held, and the court rules that the proposed evidence is relevant and admissible on the issue of the prosecutrix’s consent at the time of the alleged rape. Then, while trial is being held, the Commonwealth conducts an investigation for evidence to rebut the friend’s proposed testimony. Through the investí*219gation, the Commonwealth discovers that the friend’s mother is willing to testify that her son could not have witnessed sexual relations between the prosecutrix and the defendant because on the day in question her son was with her in a city a hundred miles away from the defendant’s home. Were the Commonwealth to introduce the mother’s testimony without giving the defendant timely notice that it intended to do so, I should question whether the Commonwealth’s exploitation of the procedures under section 3104 was not forbidden by Wardius and Contakos, for the defendant would have been required “to divulge' the details of his own case while at the same time [being subjected] to the hazards of surprise concerning refutation of the very pieces of evidence which he disclosed to the State.” Wardius v. Oregon, supra, 412 U.S. at 476, 93 S.Ct. at 2213.
I am not sure how I should decide a case such as the one I have just supposed. I submit, however, that we should not do as the majority does, which is to decide it now. Instead, we should decide each case as it arises, and on its particular facts, for in some case, contrary to the majority, an analogy to Wardius and Contakos may be most appropriate.
I concur in the result reached by the majority because when the particular facts of this case are examined, it will be seen that appellant was not required “to divulge the details of his own case while at the same time [being subjected] to the hazards of surprise . . . .” Immediately before trial, appellant filed a written motion and offer of proof that prior to the rape the prosecutrix had had sexual intercourse with him. An in camera hearing was held at which appellant testified concerning the incident. The lower court ruled that the testimony was relevant and admissible, and at trial, appellant repeated the testimony. The district attorney cross-examined appellant briefly concerning the date and time of the prior intercourse and possible corroborating witnesses. In rebuttal, the Commonwealth recalled the prosecutrix, who denied having inter-
*220course with appellant prior to the rape.* Thus, the Commonwealth’s impeachment of appellant’s testimony of prior sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix took an entirely predictable course. First, the district attorney explored on cross-examination the weaknesses of appellant’s testimony. Second, the prosecutrix, on rebuttal, denied the incident. No unexpected cross-examination. No surprise witnesses. Appellant complains that the district attorney’s cross-examination may have been sharper, and the prosecutrix’s rebuttal better prepared, because of the Commonwealth’s foreknowledge of his proposed testimony. Assuming that this was so, it did not, I think, confer the kind of advantage one would denominate “fundamentally unfair.”

 It appears from the reproduced record that the prosecutrix was the only witness called on rebuttal.