 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Commonwealth v. Ogrod12/30/2003
s is not whether the defendant would have confessed without interrogation, but whether the interrogation was so manipulative or coercive that it deprived the defendant of his ability to make a free and unconstrained decision to confess. The Commonwealth has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant confessed voluntarily.
Id. at 882 (internal footnote and citation omitted). In this case, the Commonwealth has clearly met its burden. The Detectives properly provided Appellant with Miranda warnings; they determined that Appellant understood those warnings; but, nevertheless, wanted to give a statement; they provided Appellant with time to compose himself when he became upset prior to giving his statement; and, they allowed Appellant to tell his story. In fact, the Detectives told Appellant that he did not have to give a statement and that, even if he chose to give one, he could stop at anytime. Detectives also did not force Appellant to come to meet with them. Instead, Appellant called the Detectives in response to their leaving their card with his landlord. We, therefore, hold that Appellant gave the statement voluntarily.
Suppression Judge Heard Content of the Confession
Appellant contends, for the first time on appeal, that it was error for the suppression court to allow itself to hear the content of the confession because he asserts that the content was irrelevant to the determination of whether the statement was voluntary. Brief of Appellant at 17. Appellant failed to object to the admission of the content of his confession during the suppression hearing and fails to provide any legal authority to support his argument that the content of the statement should have been excluded.
Additionally, this was not the guilt or penalty phase of the trial. The content of the confession was introduced during the suppression hearing. The jury was not present. The role of the court was to determine whether the statement was voluntary. Appellant fails to explain why the content of the statement would prevent a judge from evaluating whether the statement was voluntary. Cf. Commonwealth v. Corbin, 291 A.2d 307, 310 (Pa. 1972) (a defendant suffers no prejudice when the same judge presides during the suppression hearing and the trial if the confession was deemed voluntary because the confession was admissible at trial to prove guilt). Therefore, even if Appellant had objected (which he did not) and the statement had not been used on cross-examination (which he did), we do not believe that Appellant was prejudiced by the admission of the statement at the suppression hearing.
Cross-examination at the Suppression Hearing
Appellant claims that he was denied due process of law during the suppression hearing when the Commonwealth questioned his former attorney on cross-examination regarding whether the attorney was in good standing and whether the past contact of the attorney with police created a bias against them.
At the hearing, Appellant called Peter Blust (Mr. Blust), his former attorney, to testify. Appellant's first few questions for Mr. Blust involved whether he was an attorney in good standing in the Commonwealth. N.T. 9/8/93 at 127-128. Mr. Blust testified that he was. Id. at 128. He advised the court that he was an acquaintance of Appellant and had served as attorney for Appellant with regard to some legal problems. Id. at 128-129. Mr. Blust also testified that Appellant called him from jail and told him that he had been arrested, that police kept telling him that he killed a little girl, that he had a mental block about the entire matter, that police were threatening to put him in the general prison popu
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Pennsylvania DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|