Court Opinion

ID: 9694138
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:25:52.21508+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:56.784025
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Eagen :
Although I concur in the result reached by Mr. Justice Nix, I totally disagree with his analysis of Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.S. 682, 92 S. Ct. 1877 (1972).
Mr. Justice Nix makes the bold assertion: “Kirby does not establish an all inclusive rule; rather, the line to be drawn depends upon the procedure employed by each state. We are therefore faced with the issue of whether this lineup preceded the ‘initiation of adversary judicial proceedings’ as defined in Pennsylvania. While the plurality in Kirby attaches some significance to the indictment, they specifically mention several benchmarks : ‘formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.’ 406 U.S. at 689. We are convinced that it would be artificial to attach conclusionary significance to the indictment in Pennsylvania. Rather, we hold that Commonwealth v. Whiting, 439 Pa. 205, 266 A.2d 738 (1970), appropriately draws the line for determining the initiation of judicial proceedings in Pennsylvania at the arrest.” [Footnotes omitted.] This interpretation of Kvrby is without legal support.
The Kirrby decision is a case involving the same question we are here concerned with, the plurality there stated: “In the present case we are asked to extend the Wade-Gilbert per se exclusionary rule to identification testimony based upon a police station showup that took place before the defendant had been indicted or otherwise formally charged with any criminal offense.” Id. *177at 684, 92 S. Ct. at 1879. The plurality proceeded to answer this question in the negative (they refused to extend the Wade-Gilbert1 line); and, pertinently stated: “[W]hile members of the Court have differed as to existence of the right to counsel in the contexts of some of the above cases, all* of those cases have involved points of time at or after the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings — whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.” [* Emphasis in original] 406 U.S. at 689, 92 S. Ct. at 1882. It is clear in my mind that the plurality used the five underscored terms as synonyms. They were used to indicate the time when the accused is formally charged with the crime at a judicial proceeding and when the accused first begins his defense in an adversary judicial criminal proceeding. Jurisdictions vary on the terminology they employ to refer to the time when the accused is formally charged and when their adversary proceedings initiate;2 and thus the reason for including the five different terms. However, these terms, as used, are not different in any *178significant respect (other than semantically), as Mr. Justice Nix would lead us to believe. Thus, I believe it is ludicrous to say that under the Kirby test we can draw the Wade-Gilbert line at the arrest. The plurality explicitly refused to expand the Wade-Gilbert line to pre-indictment (pre-adversary proceeding) lineups. An arrest cannot be deemed to be an adversary judicial decision to proceed with the prosecution of the accused, that decision is not initially determined in this Commonwealth, until, at the earliest, the time of the preliminary arraignment.
My position is buttressed by the concurring and dissenting opinions in Kirby. Mr. Chief Justice Burger in his concurring opinion stated: “I agree that the right to counsel attaches as soon as criminal charges are formally made against an accused and he becomes the subject of a ‘criminal prosecution.’ ” [Emphasis supplied.] Id. at 691, 92 S. Ct. at 1883. While Mr. Justice Powell, concurring in the result, announced: “I would not extend the Wade-Gilbert per se exclusionary rule . . . .” Id. at 691, 92 S. Ct. at 1883. Finally, and most significantly, the dissenting opinion in Kirby, written by Mr. Justice Brennan in which Mr. Justice Douglas and Mi*. Justice Marshall joined, lucidly negated the argument here put forth by Mr. Justice Nix. Although the dissenters could not agree, nor can I, with the plurality’s artificial line between post-charge (decision to prosecute) and pre-charge lineups, they clearly express the point that the plurality did not extend the Wade-Gilbert line to the time of arrest. Mr. Justice Brennan pertinently stated: “In view of Wade, it is plain, and the plurality today does not attempt to dispute it, that there inhere in a confrontation for identification conducted after arrest the identical hazards to a fair trial that inhere in such a confrontation conducted ‘after the onset of formal prosecutorial proceedings.’ Id., at 1883. The plurality apparently considers an ar*179rest, which, for present purposes we must assume to be based upon probable cause, to be nothing more than part of ‘a routine police investigation,’ ibid., and thus not ‘the starting point of our whole system of adversary criminal justice,’ id., at 1882. An arrest, according to the plurality, does not face the accused ‘with the prosecutorial forces of organized society,’ nor immerse him ‘in the intricacies of substantive and procedural criminal law.’ Those consequences ensue, says the plurality, only with ‘[t]he initiation of judicial criminal proceedings’ ‘[f]or it is only then that the government has committed itself to prosecute, and only then that the adverse positions of government and defendant have solidified.’ Ibid.” [Footnotes omitted.] Id. at 697-98, 92 S. Ct. at 1886-87.
Moreover, both federal3 and state4 courts, as well as legal scholars,5 have adopted the position which I now *180adhere to, which, is: “The Supreme Court [in Kirby] has recently held that the critical time for triggering the Sixth Amendment right to counsel at identification is after indictment [formal charge, preliminary hearing, information or arraignment].” United States v. Alston, 483 F.2d 1264, 1265 (D.C. Cir. 1973). In other words after the initial decision to prosecute has been made. At that time and only at that time, according to the plurality in Kirby, is the accused “faced with the prosecutorial forces of organized society.” Id. at 689, 92 S. Ct. at 1882. Until that time, the accused’s rights are protected by Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S. Ct. 1967 (1967). In contradistinction to this abundance of authority, Mr. Justice Nrx is able to cite only one decision in support of his position.6
*181While I do not agree with the Kirby rationale put forth by the majority; I nevertheless reach the same result, because I would adopt a higher standard of law than that mandated by the Ki/rby decision. This Court has it well within its power to establish a higher standard of constitutional protection than that afforded by the United States Supreme Court where the rights of an individual are threatened.7 I deem this an appropriate case to exercise our power, and choose to do so for the following reasons. The artificial distinction drawn by the plurality in Kirby, between post-charge *182and pre-charge lineups is unwise and infringes upon the protections society should grant an accused. To force an accused to stand alone against the full force and investigative powers of organized society, until he is actually charged with the commission of the crime, is an outrageous injustice. The accused’s liberty is equally jeopardized by a pre-charge lineup, as it is by a post-charge lineup. Thus, I consider the line as laid down in Kirby to be arbitrary and unfounded. To follow the constitutional mandate of Kirby would be to encourage the law-enforcement personnel of this Commonwealth to hastily conduct all lineups prior to the institution of the “adversary judicial criminal proceedings,” (see footnote 2, supra). Thus, it is my strong feeling that the superior procedure is to grant the right to counsel at all lineups subsequent to arrest, with the exception of immediate on-the-scene identifications.8 Moreover, this opinion, although not in accord with Kirby, is consistent with that opinion, in that: at the arrest the accused is, in actuality, informed for the first time of the charges for which he is being investigated and is the initial point in our “accusatory” criminal process. Hence, it is a meaningless distinction to postpone the granting of the right to counsel at lineups until the “official” initiation of the judicial criminal process.
I do not feel the need to further explain the reasoning behind my opinion, due to the fact that this position is convincingly and lucidly presented by Mr. Justice Brennan in his dissenting opinion in Kirby 9 I only wish to emphasize the fact that I cannot see any legal *183justification “for concluding that a post-arrest confrontation for identification, unlike a post-charge confrontation, is not among those ‘critical confrontations of the accused by the prosecution at pretrial proceedings where the results might well settle the accused’s fate and reduce the trial itself to a mere formality.’ . . . [Wade] at 224, 87 S. Ct. at 1930.” Id. at 699, 92 S. Ct. at 1887.
Mr. Chief Justice Jones joins in this concurring opinion.

 United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S. Ct. 1926 (1967), and Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S. Ct. 1951 (1967), held “that a post-indictment pretrial lineup at which the accused is exhibited to identifying witnesses is a critical stage of the criminal prosecution; that police conduct of such a lineup without notice to and in the absence of his counsel denies the accused his Sixth [and Fourteenth] Amendment right to counsel and calls in question the admissibility at trial of the in-court identifications of the accused by witnesses who attended the lineup.” Id. at 272, 87 S. Ct. at 1956.

 In Pennsylvania the adversary judicial proceedings, under the Kirby rationale, would appear to begin at the preliminary arraignment (which is prior to the charge by an indictment, but is the stage at which the accused is informed, at a judicial proceeding, of the complaint lodged against him). See Pa. R. Crim. P. No. 140 (Former Rule 119, which has been renumbered effective January 1, 1974). However, we need not here decide this issue, see discussion infra.

 United States v. Lemonakis, 485 F.2d 941 (D.C. Cir. 1973); Dodge v. Johnson, 471 F.2d 1249 (6th Cir. 1972); United States v. Abshire, 471 F.2d 116 (5th Cir. 1972); United States v. Miramon, 470 F.2d 1362 (9th Cir. 1972); United States v. Savage, 470 F.2d 948 (3d Cir. 1972); United States v. Coades, 468 F.2d 1061 (3d Cir. 1972); and, Moore v. Eyman, 464 F.2d 559 (9th Cir. 1972).

 Houston v. State, 49 Ala. App. 403, 272 So. 2d 610 (1973); State v. Money, 110 Ariz. 18, 514 P. 2d 1014 (1973); People v. Chojnacky, 8 Cal. 3d 759, 505 P. 2d 530, 106 Cal. Rptr. 106 (1973); People v. Montgomery, 9 Ill. App. 3d 896, 293 N.E. 2d 340 (1973); State v. Jackson, 199 N.W. 2d 102 (Iowa 1972); State v. Jefferson, 284 So. 2d 577 (La. 1973); Jackson v. State, 17 Md. App. 167, 300 A.2d 430 (1973); Hobson v. State, 285 So. 2d 464 (Miss. 1973); State v. Gant, 490 S.W. 2d 46 (Mo. 1973); Robinson v. State, 482 S.W. 2d 492 (Mo. 1972); State v. Earle, 60 N.J. 550, 292 A.2d 2 (1972); People v. Parish, 70 Misc. 2d 577, 333 N.Y.S. 2d 631 (1972); Baker v. State, 88 Nev. 369, 498 P. 2d 1310 (1972); State v. Sheardon, 31 Ohio St. 2d 20, 285 N.E. 2d 335 (1972); Stewart v. State, 509 P. 2d 1402 (Okla. Cr. 1973); Chandler v. State, 501 P. 2d 512 (Okla. Cr. 1972); and State v. Taylor, 60 Wis. 2d 506, 210 N.W. 2d 873 (1973).

N. Sobel, Eye Witness Identification (1972).

 The majority relies upon United States ex rel. Robinson v. Zelker, 468 F.2d 159 (2d Cir. 1972). Robinson held that the issuance of an arrest warrant under the old section 144 of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure, was tantamount to the initiation of the adversary judicial proceedings. Thus, it seemingly held that the beginning of the adversary proceeding was not necessarily the equivalent of being formally charged (using the term in its fullest Kirby sense, supra). However, in so ruling, the court placed great emphasis upon the precise wording of the former criminal code provision. The court there stated:
“Section 144 of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure (as amended in 1967), which was in effect at all times here relevant (the New York Code of Criminal Procedure was repealed and replaced by the New York Criminal Procedure Law in 1971) provided that: ‘A prosecution is commenced, within the meaning of any provision of this act which limits the time for commencing an action, when an information is laid before a magistrate charging the commission of a crime and a warrant of arrest is issued by him, or when an indictment is duly presented by the grand jury in open court, and there received and filed.’” (Emphasis supplied.)
“It is difficult to perceive any basis upon which commencement of a prosecution for the purposes of the statute of limitations is not commencement for other purposes as well, including the commencement of adversary judicial criminal proceedings within Kirby. Kirby states, 406 U.S. 682, 92 S. Ct. 1877, 32 L. Ed. 2d 411, and *181presumably the dissent in this case would concede, that the filing of an indictment is the initiation of ‘adversary criminal proceedings.’ The issuance of a warrant of arrest upon an information is the exact equivalent of the filing of an indictment and, in fact, they are explicitly equated by Section 144- Under New York law, the degree of prosecutorial discretion to proceed to trial under either appears to be equivalent; for example, under the statutes now in effect both can be dropped only with court approval, compare,* New York Criminal Procedure Law, §170.40 (McKinney 1971) ; with* id. §210.40, and there is every reason to suppose that this has always been the case. Of. New York Code of Criminal Procedure, §671 (McKinney, 1958). Under both ‘a defendant finds himself faced with the prosecutorial forces of organised society, and immersed in the intricacies of substantive and procedural criminal law.’ Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689, 92 S. Ct. at 1882.” [’"Emphasis in original.] Id. at 160-61, n. 2.
Therefore, the court, itself, there distinguished the Robinson case from the case presently at bar.
Moreover, in my research, I have discovered two states (Oklahoma and Wisconsin) recognizing that counsel is not constitutionally mandated at post-indictment lineups, but do nevertheless express the view that the superior position is to allow counsel, whenever possible, to be present at any lineup. Chandler v. State, supra, and State v. Taylor, supra. However, the courts in Oklahoma have not enforced this position; but, merely follow the minimum constitutional requirement as mandated by Kirby. See Stewart v. State, supra.

 Eor our authority to so do, see Cooper v. California, 386 U.S. 58, 87 S. Ct. 788 (1967), and Commonwealth v. Campana (2), 455 Pa. 622, 314 A.2d 854 (1974) and cases cited therein.

 For cases dealing with on-the-scene identifications, see United States v. Savage, supra; United States v. Canty, 469 F.2d 114 (D.C. Cir. 1972); United States v. Gaines, 450 F.2d 186 (3d Cir. 1971); and Russell v. United States, 408 F.2d 1280 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 928, 89 S. Ct. 1786 (1969).

 Also see State v. Taylor, supra, and Chandler v. State, supra, discussed in footnote 6.