Court Opinion

ID: 9730603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:17:20.114488+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:07.502323
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Watkins, J.:
The voice identifications of Marino in Room 708A in Philadelphia’s City Hall violated his right of due process. After Marino’s lawful arrest he was taken to Room 708A in Philadelphia’s City Hall and engaged in conversation with a co-defendant, an arresting officer and other policemen. He was advised of his right to counsel and of his right to remain silent. The conversation, however, revolved around seemingly general topics including policemen working extra hours and truckers strikes and Marino willingly participated. All present were unaware that the complaining witness and Sgt. McLellan, another arresting officer, sat on the other side of a five foot tall partition in the same room. But Sgt. McLellan knew that Marino was on the other side of the partition before any identification was made. [N.T. 685]
After fifteen to twenty minutes of conversation the complaining witness jumped up and stated “That’s the *111voice on the phone [which had threatened him]. Whoever is over there is the voice on the phone.” Thereupon, Sgt. McLellan asked Marino to come out and talk again in the presence of the complaining witness. The latter then made a second identification which he stated was based solely on hearing Marino’s voice.
In Peyton v. Palmer, 359 F. 2d 199 (4th Cir. 1966), cited with approval in Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293 (1967), the court stated that petitioner was denied due process of law when without being advised of his right to counsel or of his right to remain silent and following police directions he spoke into a paper bag the words used by the robber of the complaining witness. Thereupon, he was identified as the robber by the complaining witness who was stationed in an adjacent room.
The court held that the identification was a violation of due process in that only one voice was submitted for identification in an atmosphere that itself suggested that the defendant was guilty of the crime.
Likewise, in the instant case, the first voice identification may have been induced not only by Marino’s tone of voice but also by other circumstances arising out of his confinement. Marino talked about truckers’ strikes when the complaining witness knew that the person who threatened him was affiliated with the Teamster’s union. In addition, Marino addressed an arresting officer and a co-defendant both of whom were already known to the complaining witness. These factors may have contributed to the complaining witness’ association of Marino with the crime in question and colored his first identification based “solely” on hearing Marino’s voice.
The second identification was also in violation of the standards laid down by Peyton, supra, as it stemmed from the first identification. Moreover, Ma-*112rino was directed by the police to speak so that he could be identified. He was not warned at that time that he could have counsel or that he need not speak at all. Hence, the second “voice” identification was not the product of happenstance, but rather of willful police conduct.
In addition, Marino who is a big fat man, was asked at the time of the second identification to appear in front of the complaining witness. But at that time the complaining witness knew that the person who threatened him was known as the “Big Man”. Ma-rino’s appearance, therefore, may also have further colored what ostensibly was a pure voice identification. Indeed, Sgt. McLellan testified that at the time of Marino’s arrest, “It was very funny because it was his size that attracted . . .” his attention. This led in part to Marino’s arrest. [N.T. 715] Thus, “(w)hen [the complaining witness] was asked if [he] could identify the voice, the only voice that was submitted for identification, the highly suggestive atmosphere... could not have failed to affect his judgment.” Peyton at 201.
Any distinction even if drawn between the two separate identifications which is based upon abuse of police power cannot be maintained. The two separate voice identifications cannot be separated as it is impossible to say that any later in court identification stemmed from the first identification and not from the second. Hence the police action in producing Marino for the second identification did not constitute harmless error.
Thus, Marino’s girth, his talking about a “truckers’ strike” and his conversation with an arresting officer and a co-defendant in an atmosphere which was highly suggestive that Marino was somehow involved in the crimes in question were prejudicial factors which may *113have underlaid the complaining witness’s identification of him. In addition, identification by the complaining witness was made of a voice which he heard previously only over the telephone. Such identification is inherently suspect due to the distortions which arise in voice transmittals through telephone cables. All of these factors were mixed in an unseemly gel which possibly gave rise to induced and mistaken voice identifications. Thus, in my opinion, the context in which the first and second voice identifications were made was improperly suggestive. “The opportunity for suggestion inherent in the procedure used to secure this identification is manifest.” Peyton v. Palmer, supra at 201.
Marino after his arrest should not have been exposed or exhibited to the complaining witness except under the most antiseptic and neutral circumstances such as a random voice selection. This would ensure that Marino would not be pre-identified as having been involved in the crimes in question. Otherwise, the police atmosphere and close association of Marino with people already known to the complaining witness as having been involved in the crimes in question might color any subsequent voice identification by the complaining witness. Fundamental fairness dictates that extraneous factors whether they be an association with a co-defendant or the girth of a man should not be considered or even come to the attention of a complaining witness when a pure voice identification is made. It is the responsibility of the police to ensure that inadvertent violations of this principle do not occur as they are charged with the sole custody and responsibility for a suspect after his arrest. When the police fail in this duty, by design, negligence or inadvertence we must, in my opinion, reject the product of the breach.
*114It seems to follow that in all fairness, a voice comparison should he set up to prevent identification solely by suggestion.
In the case of Commonwealth v. Derembeis, 120 Pa. Superior Ct. 158, 182 A. 85 (1935), this Court discussed very carefully the value of voice identification and how it should be handled and said at page 166: “The established rule is that while the sound of the voice is a relevant circumstance to be considered on the question of identity, the value of such testimony depends, first, upon some peculiarity of the voice and second, the extent of the familiarity of the witness with the voice:”. In that case the Commonwealth depended on the testimony of a victim who had been blinded by the perpetrators of the crime, and who identified the defendant by voice alone. A new trial was granted. In Commonwealth v. Kumitis, 167 Pa. Superior Ct. 184, 74 A. 2d 741 (1950), at page 189, this Court said: “If his conviction depended upon the testimony of Oroop alone, who said that although he was not one of the three men who first entered the building he later recognized his voice because of its peculiar high pitch, although he had not heard it for 16 or 18 years, we would be constrained to sustain the assignment.”
As no evidence other than the voice identifications was presented at trial which implicated Marino, I would direct a reversal of his conviction and order the lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal.
Hoffman, J., joins in this opinion.