Court Opinion

ID: 9697056
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:04:46.276314+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:28.871774
License: Public Domain

CASTILLE, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent. As a majority of this Court recognizes, the Commonwealth must be free to proceed against a criminally charged defendant even after it has failed to convince a neutral magistrate that it has a prima facie case so long as such further proceedings are not taken to harass the suspect and are undertaken in good faith. Nevertheless, the Court now holds that in this case the Commonwealth should not be allowed to proceed with criminal charges against appellant. To fully appreciate why the Commonwealth should be allowed to proceed against appellant under the circumstances of this case, a review of the full record is necessary.1
The affidavit supporting the Commonwealth’s case reveals that in the early morning hours of January 21, 1993, police met with a person who had observed a robbery that had occurred on January 18, 1993. The witness told police that he observed a pizza delivery person attempting to deliver a pizza at which time a black male wearing a blue zippered sweat shirt with a hood with his face partially covered by a dark colored bandanna confronted the victim. The assailant had in his possession some type of weapon concealed by a brown paper bag which he used to confront the victim. The delivery person turned over his money and pizza to the armed assailant. The witness identified the assailant by name to police, that person being appellant. The witness further told police that appellant had informed him that appellant intended to rob *350two stores or snatch some purses in the near future. Police asked the witness to call them immediately if he learned the location of the stores appellant intended to rob.
Later that same day, the same witness called police sometime after 10:00 p.m. to alert them that appellant had informed him that he was on his way to rob a particular delicatessen in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The same witness further informed the police that appellant had taken the witness’s dark knit cap and scarf to use in the robbery.
On January 21, 1993, at approximately 10:43 p.m., an armed robbery was indeed reported at the very same Chester County delicatessen the witness had discussed with police. Police were dispatched to the crime scene and were informed that the suspect was a black male, 5'8" tall, medium complexion, and wearing a tan waist-length coat, dark colored knit cap, and scarf around his face. The male was also reported as being armed and that he concealed his weapon in a brown paper bag. He was further reported as having fled in a white Plymouth Horizon. Approximately seven minutes later, police, acting on this information, stopped a vehicle matching the description. In plain view, officers observed a blue knit cap, a checkered scarf, a brown paper bag and money partially protruding from under the passenger seat where appellant was sitting. Police also found a hammer under the passenger seat. Both appellant and the driver of the vehicle were arrested. The witness to the pizza delivery robbery later identified the cap and scarf found in appellant’s getaway car as the ones he gave appellant prior to the robbery.
At the preliminary hearing on November 28, 1994, the Commonwealth presented the testimony of the driver, the delicatessen worker who was robbed, the delicatessen owner and the officer and the detective involved in appellant’s arrest.
The driver testified that on January 21, 1993, appellant had asked him to drive him to his girlfriend’s house in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania and that, for an agreed upon fee, he agreed. On the way, the driver testified that appellant asked him to stop near the delicatessen in question and that before exiting the *351car to enter the delicatessen, appellant had stated that if it “looks good, he’s going to take it.” The driver further testified that shortly after appellant returned to the car, he saw currency between the seats and that when the police signalled him to pull the car over, appellant urged him to speed up the car and flee.
The delicatessen employee testified that, although she could not identify the person who robbed her because the person wore a knit cap and scarf over his face, she could tell he was a black male. She further testified that while holding what appeared to her to be a gun in a brown paper bag, the robber said, “Give me the money. Hurry up. Give me the money.” Fearing for her life, she gave him money from the store’s cash register.
The owner testified that he was in the rear of the delicatessen and that after he heard the employee scream, he emerged from the rear of the store, learned what had transpired and called the police. The owner determined that approximately $574.00 had been stolen in the robbery. The officer and detective testified that appellant and the co-defendant driver were stopped within minutes approximately six miles from the store and that currency, a knit cap, hammer, scarf and assorted other items had been found in the car.2
After these witnesses’ testimony, District Justice Brenda Bicking stated that the driver was the worst witness she had ever seen and she inexplicably dismissed the case with prejudice. The Commonwealth sought once again to proceed against appellant for a fourth time. This decision was based upon the Commonwealth’s contention that the co-defendant driver had not fully revealed all relevant evidence during his preliminary hearing testimony but that after consulting with his attorney, he was willing to provide additional information to assist the Commonwealth in making a prima facie case against appellant. Accordingly, the Commonwealth is not attempting to proceed against appellant yet another time with the “same” evidence. Rather, as a result of the co-defendant’s *352consultation with his own attorney, the co-defendant was willing to fully cooperate with the prosecutor and to provide new evidence against appellant.
The parties readily acknowledge that there is no authority expressly limiting the number of times the Commonwealth may rearrest a person for the same criminal episode. Rather, the only prohibition appears to be that the Commonwealth may not continue to rearrest a person and pursue the same charges if such action is undertaken simply to harass the accused or is undertaken in bad faith. As I believe that the Commonwealth now has access to new evidence, albeit from an existing witness who previously testified, and that there is no evidence that the felony charges are being pursued simply to harass appellant, I would affirm the Superior Court’s holding. I would further add that even if an abuse of discretion standard applied, I would find that the trial court abused its discretion in this case by not allowing the Commonwealth to proceed under the circumstances of this case.

. The record fails to reveal why the Commonwealth was not prepared to proceed at each of the listings. Presumably, no record was made in this regard since the Commonwealth believed it could always rearrest appellant under the existing law, notwithstanding the reasons for the continuances.

. Neither witness was able to testify regarding the amount of food.