Court Opinion

ID: 9637592
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:11:34.976966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:19.270413
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority’s opinion, in my judgment, creates an intolerable tension between two constitutionally-guaranteed rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution and I therefore dissent. Article 5, § 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides an absolute right of appeal.1 Article 1, § 9 affords anyone accused of a crime an opportunity to be heard.2 Both of these rights are guaranteed; neither is conditional or qualified.
*684While it is true that decisions of a trial attorney are binding on a client if they are strategic in nature, Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U.S. 443, 85 S.Ct. 564, 13 L.Ed.2d 408 (1965); Commonwealth ex rel. Adderley v. Myers, 418 Pa. 366, 211 A.2d 481 (1965), an accused should not be unnecessarily required to surrender one right, simply because he elects to exercise another.
The problem of the possibility of conflict between protections afforded under various constitutional provisions is not new. In an analogous situation, the United States Supreme Court refused to force defendants in possessory crimes to be faced with an election between the protections of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 390, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed. 2d 1247 (1968). In Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1959), the Supreme Court noted:
“. . . such a defendant has been placed in the criminally tendentious position of explaining his possession of the premises. He has been faced, not only with the chance that the allegations made on the motion to suppress may be used against him at the trial, . but also with the encouragement that he perjure himself if he seeks to establish ‘standing’ while maintaining a defense to the charge of possession [of narcotics] ”. 362 U.S. at 262, 80 S.Ct. at 731.
In Simmons v. United States, supra 390 U.S. at 393-394, 88 S.Ct. at 976, the Supreme Court observed:
“Those courts which have allowed the admission of testimony given to establish standing have reasoned that there is no violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Self-Incrimination Clause because the testimony was voluntary. As an abstract matter, this may well be true. A defendant is ‘compelled’ to testify in support of a motion to suppress only in the sense that if he refrains from testifying he will have to forgo a benefit, and *685testimony is not always involuntary as a matter of law simply because it is given to obtain a benefit. However, the assumption which underlies this reasoning is that the defendant has a choice: he may refuse to testify and give up the benefit. When this assumption is applied to a situation in which the ‘benefit’ to be gained is that afforded by another provision of the Bill of Rights, an undeniable tension is created.” (Footnotes omitted).
The United States Supreme Court recognized that “Although a defendant may have a right, even of constitutional dimensions, to follow whatever course he chooses, the Constitution does not by that token always forbid requiring him to choose.” McGautha v. California, 402 U. S. 188, 212-213, 91 S.Ct. 1454, 1470, 28 L.Ed.2d 711 (1971). The Court in McGautha indicated that the crucial question is whether compelling the election impairs to an appreciable extent any of the policies behind the rights involved.
In my judgment there is no basis in law or policy that justifies the election of rights the majority is now requiring. The ruling for which the appellant seeks appellate review is the refusal to suppress a confession because of an alleged violation of our procedural rule 118 (now Pa.R.Crim.P. 130).3 In our decision in Common*686wealth v. Futch, 447 Pa. 389, 290 A.2d 417 (1973) and its progeny,4 we announced that any evidence, including incriminatory statements, obtained during an unreasonable delay in violation of Rule 118 would be excluded as evidence. This rule of exclusion was not developed primarily because of the unreliability of such evidence but rather because of our determination to require police conduct to comply with our procedural rules. In the case of statements, this rule of exclusion is invoked regardless of the truth of the admissions sought to be introduced.
I fail to comprehend why the majority has now determined that testimony at trial by appellant which reiterates the challenged statement, and at best merely attests to its accuracy, should provide an adequate basis for effectively denying appellate review of the question of the propriety of the police conduct that initially elicited this piece of evidence. The use of the doctrines of “trial strategy” and “harmless error” in this context creates a misapprehension that an election of options in fact exists. In practice, however, we are well aware that in many instances the need for the accused to offer his testimony was occasioned by the challenged admission by the Commonwealth of the statement.5
*687Unless we modify our “Futch exclusionary rule” in all instances and limit its application to instances where there is serious question as to the reliability of the evidence obtained; I can perceive no justification for curtailing the right of an accused to testify in his or her behalf, on pain of relinquishing a subsequent right of review, of an otherwise properly preserved objection, solely because the testimony may establish the truth of the questioned evidence.
ROBERTS, J., joins in this dissent.

. “§ 9. Right of appeal
There shall be a right of appeal in all cases to a court of record from a court not of record; and there shall also be a right of appeal from a court of record or from an administrative agency to a court of record or to an appellate court, the selection of such court to be as provided by law; and there shall be such other rights of appeal as may be provided by law.”

. “Sec. 9. Rights of accused in criminal prosecutions
In all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to meet the witnesses face to face, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and, in prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; he cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor can he be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, unless by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.”

. Pa.R.Crim.P. 118 provided:
“Rule 118. Proceedings Initiated by Arrest Without Warrant
When a defendant has been arrested without a warrant, he shall be taken without unnecessary delay before the proper issuing authority where a complaint shall be filed against him.
(a) If the complaint charges a court case, the defendant shall be given an immediate preliminary arraignment.
(b) If the complaint charges a summary offense, the defendant shall be given an immediate trial or upon his request, the defendant shall be given the opportunity of posting security for his appearance at trial on a date which shall be not less than three nor more than ten days after his appearance, unless extended for cause shown, or unless the issuing authority fixes an earlier date upon request of the defendant or his attorney with the consent of the police officer.” Adopted January 31, 1970. Effective May 1, *6861970. Effective January 1, 1974, Pa.R.Crim.P. 118 was renumbered in pertinent part as Pa.R.Crim.P. 130.

. Commonwealth v. Hancock, 455 Pa. 583, 317 A.2d 588 (1974); Commonwealth v. Dixon, 454 Pa. 444, 311 A.2d 613 (1973); Commonwealth v. Wayman, 454 Pa. 79, 309 A.2d 784 (1973); Commonwealth v. Dutton, 453 Pa. 547, 307 A.2d 238 (1973); Commonwealth v. Tingle, 451 Pa. 241, 301 A.2d 701 (1973).

. In support of this position the majority cites a number of our earlier decisions. Upon analysis, the cases relied upon do not provide support for the position sought to be advanced. In both Commonwealth v. Greene, 456 Pa. 195, 317 A.2d 268 (1974) and Commonwealth v. Collins, 436 Pa. 114, 259 A.2d 160 (1969), only three members of this Court joined in the opinion; thus the statements appearing therein are not representative of the thinking of the majority of the members of this Court and these decisions therefore provide no precedential value. Further, the cases of Commonwealth ex rel. Edowski v. Maroney, 423 Pa. 229, 223 *687A.2d 749 (1966) and Commonwealth ex rel. Adderley v. Myers, 418 Pa. 366, 211 A.2d 481 (1965) are inapposite because in those instances no objection was raised at trial to the introduction of the challenged confession.