Court Opinion

ID: 9748022
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:48:52.720559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:30.592500
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING STATEMENT BY
FITZGERALD, J.:
¶ 1 I agree with the result reached by the learned majority. I write separately only to emphasize that this issue should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. If Officer Schweizer had been the only officer involved, I would conclude that his prior disciplinary action is relevant because his false statement in the report involved his honesty in stating the facts of the arrest. Compare with Commonwealth v. Boczkowski, 577 Pa. 421, 846 A.2d 75, 97 (2004) (acknowledging Commonwealth’s argument that evidence upon which appellant sought to cross-examine detective did not involve detective’s honesty).1 In the instant case, however, I do not find the disciplinary action relevant because another officer recovered the gun Officer Schweizer saw Appellant throw away. Accordingly, I agree that the disciplinary action is irrelevant under the specific facts of this case.

. I also note that Officer Schweizer's disciplinary action occurred approximately seven years before trial. Defendants are regularly subject to having crimen falsi introduced against them when the conviction was within ten years of the defendant's testimony and his reputation for honesty is at issue. See Pa.R.E. 609(b).