Court Opinion

ID: 9640767
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:14:45.983047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:32.655045
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
dissenting:
Only one person testified at the suppression hearing — Officer Gratten. He testified that appellee was stopped by Officer Shaffer and himself, and was asked to get out of his truck to take a field sobriety test. Appellee complied and passed the test. Record at 42a. However, instead of being released, appellee was placed in the officers’ car. Record at 34a-36a. When asked by the court why this action was taken, Officer Gratten stated that he had “no idea.” Record at 41a. He also stated that appellee was never cited for a motor vehicle code violation in connection with the stop. Record at 38a and 40a-^la. Thus, the record shows no justification for appellee’s continued detention after he passed the sobriety test, and since the Commonwealth had the burden of proof at the suppression hearing to show that the seizure of marijuana was lawful, Pa.R.Crim.P. 323(h), we must assume that no justification exists. Moreover, since appellee’s detention after the test was unjustified, it was ipso facto unlawful, even though the officers may have had reasonable cause to stop appellee initially and detain him until he took the sobriety test. Cf. United States v. Luckett, 484 F.2d 89 (9th Cir. 1973) (the length and scope of a stop not based on probable cause are strictly limited by the circumstances that rendered the stop permissible; when the circumstances are no longer present, the detention must cease.) * Since Officer Gratten did not discover the mari*486juana in appellee’s truck until after appellee had taken the test and been placed in the officers’ car, the discovery was tainted by the illegal detention; for without the detention, appellee would have been free to drive from the scene, and Officer Gratten would not have been in a position to engage the female passenger in appellee’s truck in conversation, nor to search the floor of the truck with his flashlight while so engaged.
Consequently, I should affirm the order of the lower court and suppress the marijuana.

 I have more difficulty than the majority in concluding that the initial stop of appellee was justified. Although there was testimony that appellee was weaving back and forth across the road, the lower court could have believed that some of this driving resulted from appellee’s desire to avoid potholes. Record at 28a-31a. Also, when asked why appellee was stopped, Officer Gratten was unable to give a definitive answer. Record at 41a-42a. Matters of credibility are usually to be decided by the hearing judge. See Commonwealth v. Richard, 233 Pa.Super. 254, 336 A.2d 423, 430 (1975) (SPAETH, J., concurring). Here the hearing judge was evidently reluctant to give full credibility *486to the Commonwealth’s proof. I see little reason for us to be less reluctant.