Court Opinion

ID: 9747341
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:11:40.720319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:22.132843
License: Public Domain

CIRILLO, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
Appellant alleges that the first interrogation and the second interrogation were tainted by the fact of his continued incarceration, citing Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).
The first statement was obtained as a result of the questioning of a prison investigator at the time of the incident. The second interrogation was pursuant to an investigation by the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office three days later.
The fact that appellant was incarcerated from the time of the first incident to that of the second does not support a finding of a nexus of illegality due to the fact that appellant was incarcerated for a prior burglary.
The circumstances of Wong Sun are distinguishable from this case. The appellant in Wong Sun, Blackie Toy, had given statements to the officers in the bedroom of his own home where he, his wife, and child were sleeping. The statements were found to be the “tangible fruits of the unwarranted intrusion.”
The officers in Wong Sun had not obtained a warrant. The information from which they obtained their probable cause came from an unknown informant who had provided sparse and imprecise information. Thus, unlike the case at bar, the court found that there was an unwarranted intrusion by the officers.
In the instant case, the appellant was interrogated in the prison. He was there as a result of a prior burglary. Thus, he cannot be allowed to use the fact of his prior incarceration to shield him from questioning on the basis of involuntary confinement. There is no illegal arrest in this *38case from which we can find the tainted nexus, to which appellant refers. This is not a case of an illegal arrest and subsequent confession.,
Appellant’s second claim of ineffectiveness stems from counsel’s allowance of appellant to testify on his own behalf. He testified that he did not make a particular inculpatory statement, thus “opening the door” for impeachment. His third claim is that the court erred in allowing the admission of these statements for impeachment purposes. The inculpatory statements in question are that which was the subject of the first claim of ineffectiveness, viz., he stated “he had a problem.”
The appellant decided to take the stand in his own behalf. He testified that he was not involved in the crime and denied making the statement which is the subject of the claim. Even if it were the case that the court had found that the statements made on July 26, and later on July 29 were both inadmissible, the appellant could not be heard to complain of counsel’s ineffectiveness in this instance.
For years it generally was the law in the Commonwealth that constitutionally infirm statements which a Suppression Court declares inadmissible cannot be used to impeach a defendant who elects to testify at trial on his own behalf. Commonwealth v. Triplett, 462 Pa. 244, 341 A.2d 62 (1975). However, here the appellant himself chose not only to testify but also to reiterate the factual narrative contained in the statement which was suppressed and claimed by him to be invalid. These circumstances make the instant case directly controlled by Commonwealth v. Mobley, 267 Pa.Super. 29, 405 A.2d 1287 (1979). There, after choosing to testify to the existence and substance of a suppressed statement, the defendant was impeached with said statement. As in Mobley, the appellant chose to “open the door” by disclosing the existence and substance of the suppressed statement and cannot complain now of its use. Mobley, supra, 267 Pa.Superior Ct. at p. 32, 405 A.2d at p. 1287.
*39Commonwealth v. Anderson, 302 Pa.Super. 457, 448 A.2d 1131 (1982).
Moreover, the principle of this holding further supports the finding that the admission of the statements made on both July 26 and July 29 was not error by the trial court.
In addition, because of the similarity between the appellant’s testimony and the suppressed statement, the admission of the statement, if error at all, is error that is harmless. Commonwealth v. Story, 476 Pa. 391, 383 A.2d 155 (1978), Commonwealth v. Cummings, 466 Pa. 332, 353 A.2d 381 (1976).
Commonwealth v. Anderson, supra, 302 Pa.Superior Ct. at 463, 448 A.2d at 1134.
Thus, even if the statements had been suppressed, the claims raised by appellant with reference to these inculpatory statements are rendered moot by virtue of his testimony in which he denied them by reiterating them. Commonwealth v. Anderson, supra.
Appellant’s fourth claim is of ineffective assistance of counsel in not objecting to the court’s failure to charge the jury to disregard the alleged inculpatory statements. Appellant also attributes error to the court for failing to charge the jury to disregard these same statements, if they determined the statements were involuntarily given.
The statements in question are the same two statements addressed in the previous claims. The first statement which is alleged that appellant gave on July 26, 1981 was to John Harbovsky. The statement gives rise to the allegation of ineffectiveness. This claim contradicts the position which trial counsel took in his defense of appellant. The notes of testimony indicate that appellant, on cross-examination by the District Attorney, denied having made any such statements. If counsel would have requested a charge regarding the voluntariness of the statements, such a request would have been inconsistent with his contention that appellant did not make the statement. The defense at trial was that appellant was not guilty and that he never made the inculpatory statements. Counsel had a reasonable basis *40for his not objecting consistent with his trial strategy. Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 235 A.2d 349 (1967).
Appellant next asserts that the Commonwealth did not lay a proper foundation for their exhibits, numbers one, two and three, before they were admitted into evidence.
Commonwealth’s exhibits were respectively the hacksaw blade found under the bunk in cell A-l-13 of the Dauphin County Prison, the blade found outside the window of cell A-l-14, and the leather wristband with the inscription “Rick” on it. Appellant’s argument is that the Commonwealth failed to establish a chain, even a tenuous one, which would connect the physical evidence to the appellant.
The argument raised by appellant fails because there is no need to have positive testimony which links the evidence to the crime before it is admitted into evidence. A lack of testimony as to the link between the weapon and the crime affects the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility. Commonwealth v. Manns, 229 Pa.Super. 21, 323 A.2d 262 (1974). The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has stated that even where the evidence in question cannot be identified by positive testimony as the actual murder weapon, it can be introduced into evidence. The fact of the lack of positive identification affects the weight, not the admissibility of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Ford, 451 Pa. 81, 301 A.2d 856 (1973); see also Commonwealth v. Simpson, 316 Pa. Super. 115, 462 A.2d 821 (1983), where the court held that the fact that there was no positive identification of the jogging pants affected the weight not the admissibility of the relevant evidence.
Since the absence of positive identification of the weapon doesn’t affect its admissibility, appellant cannot argue that the absence of positive testimony linking the appellant to the items which comprise the contents of the exhibits in question renders them inadmissible.
There was testimony that appellant was seen in possession of the exhibits in question. Each piece of evidence *41need not be linked to the appellant beyond all doubt; that is a question for the fact finder. Commonwealth v. Sullivan, 472 Pa. 129, 371 A.2d 468 (1977); see also Commonwealth v. Brown, 320 Pa.Super. 80, 466 A.2d 1071 (1983).
The law is clear that physical evidence may be properly admitted despite gaps in testimony regarding its custody. Commonwealth v. Royster, 472 Pa. 581, 372 A.2d 1194 (1977); Commonwealth v. Ford, 451 Pa. 81, 301 A.2d 856 (1973). We have reasoned that gaps in the chain of custody go to the weight to be given to the testimony, not to its admissibility. Applying that reasoning to the instant situation, it is clear that the question being raised is also one of credibility, and not of admissibility.
Commonwealth v. Bolden, 486 Pa. 383, 406 A.2d 333 (1979). The evidence was therefore properly admitted.
Lastly, appellant contends that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Commonwealth, as verdict winner, is entitled to have the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to it. Commonwealth v. Burton, 450 Pa. 532, 301 A.2d 599 (1973). On appellate review, it is not the function of the court to weigh the evidence.
Traditionally under our system of jurisprudence, issues of credibility are left to the trier of fact for resolution. Commonwealth v. Hampton, 462 Pa. 322, 341 A.2d 101 (1975); Commonwealth v. Murray, 460 Pa. 605, 334 A.2d 255 (1975); Commonwealth v. Oates, 448 Pa. 486, 295 A.2d 337 (1972); Commonwealth v. Garvin, 448 Pa. 258, 293 A.2d 33 (1972). While there may be some legitimacy for a trial court, who has also observed the witnesses as they testified, to consider the weight of the evidence and to that extent review the jury’s determination of credibility, there is surely no justification for an appellate court, relying solely upon a cold record, to exercise such a function.
Commonwealth v. Farquharson, 467 Pa. 50, 354 A.2d 545 (1976).
*42There was testimony that appellant was heard telling someone on the telephone to bring the blades. The appellant was in possession of two hacksaw blades on July 26, 1981. There was testimony that appellant had requested another inmate to participate in an escape. Appellant was also seen in a cell with a bar that had been sawed three-quarters of the way through.
I would not remand for a hearing on whether trial counsel was ineffective in failing to file a motion to suppress appellant’s statements.