Court Opinion

ID: 9693585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:50:59.088983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:48.715271
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. While the majority opinion correctly applies the law to the two issues raised by appellant, these issues should not have been dealt with on their merits. They were waived due to a failure to make a timely objection.1
Officer Oakley testified that the coat-containing the stolen money and the keys was taken into custody by the police. He further testified that he asked the defendant if they were his keys and, upon receiving an affirmative answer, returned them to him. No objection was made at that time. Defense counsel then conducted a cross examination, without mention of the Miranda or the Mandatory Disclosure violations. Discussions were then held in chambers, also without reference to these issues. Court was then recessed for the day.
A motion for mistrial, on the basis of the evidence regarding the return of the keys, was first made at the beginning of the court session the following day. The trial judge held at that time that “there was no timely objection.” 2 I agree.
In Commonwealth v. Griffin, 271 Pa.Super. 228, 412 A.2d 897 (1979), this Court stated the applicable law on this question.
*399Case law in this jurisdiction has consistently held that the cornerstone of our waiver doctrine is that issues below not raised in a timely manner are foreclosed for purposes of appellate review. Commonwealth v. Pritchitt, 468 Pa. 10, 359 A.2d 786 (1976). In the vast majority of cases, the rubric “in a timely manner” requires contemporaneous objection; and our rules and cases rigorously enforce the contemporaneous objection rule. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Chuck, 227 Pa.Superior Ct. 612, 323 A.2d 123 (1974); Pa.R.Crim.P. 1119(b); Pa.R.A.P. 302.
Griffin, supra, 271 Pa.Superior at 236, 412 A.2d at 901.
A factual situation similar to the one before us was present in Commonwealth v. Folino, 293 Pa.Super. 347, 439 A.2d 145 (1981). There alleged error was not objected to immediately. Subsequent to the error, defense counsel continued the cross-examination and, after a brief recess, moved for a mistrial. The court concluded that, “... we may not review this claim as appellants have failed to preserve it with a timely objection.” Folino, supra, 293 Pa.Superior at 352, 439 A.2d at 148. In the case before us, the length of time between the objectionable occurrence and the objection was considerably longer than that in Folino.
Further guidance can be found in Folino. A lack of timeliness was found there because the objection was not made when counsel became aware of the facts which created the grounds for the objection. Id. In the case before us, defense counsel had full exposure to the material ’facts which created grounds for the objection at the time the testimony regarding the keys was given.
First, vis-a-vis the Mandatory Disclosure violation, as soon as counsel had heard testimony about a statement made by the defendant, an objection should have been made. Counsel was aware that no information had been given to her regarding such a statement.3
*400Second, with regard to the Miranda violation, the objection was also tardy. Statements only come under the rule in Miranda if they are incriminatory. Thus, if the testimony about defendant’s statement had not appeared to be incriminatory at the time it was given, an objection need not have been made at that time. In that event, a valid objection could have been made when the facts came into the record which put the statement in an incriminatory light. However, in this case, all the information that made the statement incriminatory was already on the record.
It does appear that no curative measures, short of a mistrial, could have been taken even had the objection been timely made. However, this should not influence the decision to be made here. A contrary result would encourage the meretricious practice of “sandbagging.” Namely, counsel could allow error to enter the record; fail to make a timely objection; wait and see if the trial seems to be progressing in his favor; and, if it is not, make an objection later demanding a mistrial. Then, even if the motion for a mistrial is denied, the issue could be raised on appeal.
We do not insinuate that this is the case here. Nonetheless, we know of no reliable method to distinguish between errors honestly discovered later and those kept hidden for tactical purposes. As a rule of general application therefore, the courts of this state have made unequivocal the requirement that objections be made in a timely fashion in order to be preserved for appellate review. That rule is binding on us in this case.
I would affirm the judgment of sentence.

. On appeal, appellee has not countered appellant by arguing this issue. However, this Court “may raise the issue of waiver sua sponte." Commonwealth v. Triplett, 476 Pa. 83 at 90 n. 10, 381 A.2d 877 at 881 n. 10 (1977).

. While the trial court never withdrew this holding, a suppression hearing was held and the evidence ruled admissible for reasons dealt with in the majority opinion.

. It is, of course, possible that counsel was not consciously aware of the violation at the moment the testimony was given. We can, however, only judge the timeliness of an objection with regard to the moment when grounds for it appear; when counsel should have *400become aware of the grounds for an objection. Indeed, any lack of such awareness on counsel's part is irrelevant. In Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Trust Co., 457 Pa. 255, at 257, 322 A.2d 114, at 116 (1974), the Supreme Court of this Commonwealth rejected the shortcomings of counsel as an excuse for a failure to make a timely objection.