Court Opinion

ID: 9629948
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:54:03.347575+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:27.749104
License: Public Domain

*151POMEROY, Justice
(dissenting).
Like Mr. Chief Justice Jones, I believe that the voluntariness of a confession given by a juvenile suspected of a crime should be judged by the normal standard of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the waiver of constitutional rights which precedes the confession. Those circumstances will include the age of the suspect and whether opportunity for parental or friendly adult guidance was afforded; the latter factor, while significant, should not by itself be determinative of the voluntariness question. As I read the recent opinions of our Court, however, I cannot escape the conclusion that the majority of the Court has in fact adopted a per se rule that a minor cannot validly waive his constitutional rights without having had an opportunity to consult with a parent or other interested adult, who himself has been advised of the minor’s constitutional rights. See Commonwealth v. Chaney, 465 Pa. 407, 350 A.2d 829 (1975); Commonwealth v. Riggs, 465 Pa. 208, 348 A.2d 429 (1975); Commonwealth v. Webster,— Pa. —, — A. 2d — (1975); Commonwealth
I continue of the belief that the rule which has evolved is unnecessary, unwarranted and unwise, and should be changed. For this reason I must again dissent from the application of the per se rule in the case at bar. See my dissenting opinion (joined by Mr. Chief Justice Jones and Mr. Justice Eagen) in Commonwealth v. Chaney, supra, and the dissenting opinions cited therein.