Court Opinion

ID: 9651452
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:19:42.720786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:34.069030
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice
(dissenting).
I am unable to conclude that the approximately five hours between appellant’s arrest and the giving of his oral inculpatory statement constituted a period of “unnecessary delay.” * According to the police chronology, less than half that period was spent in actual interrogation of the defendant. During the remainder of the time, he was permitted to eat, rest and use the bathroom. Under these circumstances, and absent a rule that any time spent for the purposes of interrogation is “unnecessary”, I am of the opinion that the period of time which elapsed prior to defendant’s oral confession did not constitute a period of “unnecessary delay.”
If, however, the contrary be assumed arguendo, I do not believe that the confession Bey gave the police can be said to be reasonably related to any delay. It is my opinion that the rationale of this Court in Commonwealth v. Fogan, 449 Pa. 552, 296 A.2d 755 (1972) is as applicable in the instant case as it is in cases involving illegal arrests. See the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Eagen, joined by Mr. Chief Justice Jones and this writer, in Commonwealth v. Doamaral, 461 Pa. 517, 337 A.2d *543273 (1975). It was being confronted with a statement by a co-defendant which implicated Bey in the killing that prompted Bey himself to confess. The fact that this happened to take place five hours after arrest rather than, say, three hours afterwards is of no significance; the motivation was the fact that Bey’s companion had “fingered” him. Thus Bey’s confession was not, in my view, the product of any delay in arraignment.
For the aforementioned reasons, I dissent.
JONES, C. J., joins in this opinion.

 For the purpose of determining whether there has been a violation of our exclusionary rule announced in Commonwealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1972), this is the only relevant time that need be considered. Commonwealth v. Rowe, 459 Pa. 163, 327 A.2d 358 (1974).