This case presents an issue of first impression in Pennsylvania: must a coroner advise a parent whom he suspects of causing her child’s death by abuse, of her Miranda 1 rights. We conclude that the federal constitution did not obligate the coroner in the instant case to apprise appellant of her Miranda rights. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of sentence. 2
On January 11, 1972, Washington County police officials arrested appellant and filed a criminal complaint which charged her with the involuntary manslaughter 3 of her four year old son. On January 21,1972, appellant’s attorney'filed an application to suppress oral and written statements *337 obtained in violation of appellant’s rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 4 The Commonwealth filed an answer denying appellant’s assertion. On March 20, 1972, the lower court conducted a suppression hearing. At this hearing, Mr. Farrell Jackson, Coroner of Washington County, testified that on Friday, December 31, 1971, an employee of a local hospital informed him that a child named Richard Anderson had died earlier that day, possibly as a result of child abuse. The coroner immediately ordered the removal of the child’s body to another hospital so that a pathologist could perform a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death. The coroner also learned that appellant was the child’s mother.
On January 3, 1972, the coroner telephoned appellant and asked her to come to his office at 10:00 a. m. that day; appellant acceded to this request. When she arrived, Coroner Jackson stated that he asked her to come to his office because the hospital had reported a suspicion that child abuse had caused the child’s death. He also disclosed that he had ordered a pathologist’s report which would be completed in a day or two. The subsequent conversation lasted 45 minutes. The coroner’s secretary transcribed the interchange. The discussion concerned the nature of the coroner’s duties and general details of how the death occurred. In sum, it was exploratory rather than accusatory. Appellant attributed her child’s demise to a fall; she made no self-incriminating statements. At the close of the conversation, the coroner asked appellant to return to his office at 10:30 a. m. on January 5, 1972, in order to discuss the findings contained in the expected pathologist’s report. The coroner suggested that appellant bring an attorney.
At 10:30 a. m. on January 5, 1972, appellant again appeared at the coroner’s office; she had not retained an attorney. Coroner Jackson informed appellant of the pathologist’s report which indicated possible child abuse and *338 that the injury which resulted in death could not have been caused by a fall. Further, the coroner testified: “Well, I discussed the nature of the death, the cause of the death, and informed her that the doctors who were involved are compelled by law to report these, and as a coroner’s office it is our duty to see to it that those who do such things are prosecuted or recommended for prosecution and this is my intent, and I felt from what I had learned that she was involved, and this is what this office intended to do.” (Notes of Suppression Hearing, p. 7) Appellant then expressed a willingness to tell the coroner what happened. Before further questioning, the coroner reminded appellant that he had advised her on January 3, 1972, to consult with an attorney; appellant responded that she did not know if he had given such advice. Appellant also stated that she had wanted to consult with an attorney. The coroner then asked the following question: “Now, you appeared here this morning without an attorney and what you are about to say now, is voluntary on your part?” (N.S.H. 9) Appellant responded affirmatively and then implicated herself by stating that she struck her child with her hand. The trier of fact found that this blow caused his death.
After appellant made her statement, the interview ended. Appellant returned home. Coroner Jackson proceeded to the District Attorney’s office to ascertain what he should do next. On cross-examination, the coroner asserted that even in the absence of appellant’s admission, he would have recommended further investigation to the District Attorney because, based upon the pathologist’s report, he believed that appellant had abused her son and caused his death. The District Attorney advised him that he had not fully informed appellant of her Miranda warnings and that he should call her back. The coroner then notified appellant to return to his office at 2:00 p. m. that afternoon. A police sergeant, a county detective, the coroner, and his secretary awaited; appellant returned alone. The coroner informed appellant that he had failed to instruct her properly about her rights against self-incrimination before the second inter *339 view. A police sergeant then informed her of the full Miranda rights, and appellant signed a written form which waived these rights. Subsequently, she verified the statement which she had given that morning as true and correct.
On March 21, 1972, the lower court denied appellant’s motion to suppress the statements she made on the morning and afternoon of January 5, 1972. On March 27, 1973, the lower court, sitting without a jury, found appellant guilty of the crime charged. Appellant filed written post-verdict motions which specifically raised the contention that the lower court should have suppressed all her statements to the coroner and police. On April 26, 1974, the lower court sentenced appellant to a maximum two year term of imprisonment in a state institutional home and to pay the costs of prosecution. The lower court also granted a supersedeas on the sentence. This appeal followed.
Appellant contends that the lower court should have suppressed the statement made on the morning of January 5, 1972, because the coroner failed to inform her fully of her rights against self-incrimination as required by Miranda v. Arizona, supra, and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Miranda, the United States Supreme Court promulgated the following rules pertaining to police interrogation of a suspect:
“ . . . The prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination. By custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. . As for the procedural safeguards to be employed, unless other fully effective means are devised to inform accused persons of their right of silence and to assure a continuous opportunity to exercise it, the following measures are required. Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any *340 statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. If, however, he indicates in any manner and at any state of the process that he wishes to consult with an attorney before speaking there can be no questioning. Likewise, if the individual is alone and indicates in any manner that he does not wish to be interrogated, the police may not question him. The mere fact that he may have answered some questions or volunteered some statements on his own does not deprive him of the right to refrain from answering any further inquiries until he has consulted with an attorney and thereafter consents to be questioned.” Supra at 444,86 S.Ct. at 1612 . (Emphasis supplied) (Footnote omitted). In the instant case, appellant did not receive any Miranda warnings prior to the questioning on the morning of January 5, 1972. Consequently, the crux of this case turns on whether appellant’s statement that morning stemmed from custodial interrogation.-
To determine the parameters of the “custodial interrogation” which necessitates the procedural safeguards of
Miranda,
we must closely examine recent United States and Pennsylvania Supreme Court precedents. In
Beckwith v. United States,
The United States Supreme Court most recently considered the scope of “custodial interrogation” in
Oregon v. Mathiason,
The Supreme Court of Oregon concluded that
Miranda
warnings had been required because the questioning took place in a coercive environment. In a per curiam opinion, the United States Supreme Court disagreed and reversed.
*342
The Court recognized that any interview between a suspect and a police officer carries coercive aspects. Nevertheless, the Court refused to require
Miranda
warnings “simply because the questioning takes place in the station house or because the questioned person is one whom the police suspect.”
“In the present case, however, there is no indication that the questioning took place in a context where respondent’s freedom to depart was restricted in any way. He came voluntarily to the police station, where he was immediately informed that he was not under arrest. At the close of a one half-hour interview respondent did in fact leave the police station without hindrance. It is clear from these facts that Mathiason was not in custody ‘or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way.’ ” Id. Oregon v. Mathiason reinforces the central message of Beckwith v. United States: a court must objectively focus on the compulsion which emanates from a restriction on the suspect’s freedom to leave an interview, not on the psychological compulsion which leads a suspect to participate in such an interview.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has also attempted to define “custodial interrogation” in two recent cases. In
Commonwealth v. Brown,
Commonwealth v. McLaughlin,
*344
The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s suppression order, which our Court had affirmed,
*345
By distilling the essence of these United States and Pennsylvania Supreme Court precedents, we conclude that the following guidelines govern the determination of when a “custodial interrogation” which triggers the need for
Miranda
warnings occurs. First, the mere fact that the police investigation has focused on a particular person will not require
Miranda
warnings before police interviews with that person.
See Beckwith v. United States,
supra;
Commonwealth v. McLaughlin,
supra. Second, if the police in fact place a person in custody or restrict his freedom in any significant way prior to, or during, the interview, then the interrogators must advise that person of his
Miranda
rights.
Miranda v. Arizona,
supra;
Commonwealth v. Learning,
We must now apply these four guidelines to the instant case. Initially, we note that a coroner in Pennsylvania has powers which in fact make him part of the Common
*347
wealth’s criminal investigation team. 16 P.S. § 1237
9
authorizes a coroner to investigate suspicious deaths in order to determine whether there is sufficient evidence of criminal acts to justify the holding of an inquest. If the coroner conducts an inquest, 16 P.S. § 1245
10
confers' power upon the coroner to issue subpoenas and attachments to obtain the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents. If the coroner concludes after an inquest that the death resulted from criminal conduct, he may act as a committing magistrate. See
Commonwealth v. Sullivan,
In the case at bar, appellant was already the focus of the coroner’s investigation; indeed, she was the only suspect. However, without some further indicia of an actual or a reasonably perceived restraint on appellant’s freedom of action,
Miranda
warnings would not have been required.
Beckwith v. United States,
supra;
Commonwealth v. McLaughlin,
supra. Appellant concedes, as she must, that Coroner Jackson had not in fact restrained her freedom of action in any way; he did not place her under arrest or expressly indicate that she would be detained until she fully cooperated with his investigation.
12
Thus, we must determine whether appellant had a reasonable, even though erroneous belief that the coroner had restrained her freedom of
*348
action. We conclude that appellant could not have had a reasonable belief that she had been detained by the coroner on the morning of January 5, 1972. First, appellant’s prior contact with the coroner on January 3, had been brief, courteous, and exploratory in nature. At the end of this interview, appellant was free to go. Appellant voluntarily attended the second interview on the morning of January 5. Like the first session, this meeting was not protracted and appellant was in fact free to leave at the end.
Commonwealth v. Brown,
supra, stands in marked contrast: In
Brown,
the police had detained the suspect twice for prolonged periods of time; the police controlled the location and duration of the interview without any assent by the suspect. Therefore, Brown had a reasonable belief that the police continue to hold him incommunicado unless and until he co-operated with the questioning.
(Contrast also Commonwealth v. Romberger,
supra, and
Commonwealth v. Marabel,
supra, both cases in which the police detained suspects for questioning over prolonged periods of time.) In the instant case, the coroner informed appellant that he intended to recommend or initiate prosecution. At most, this representation allowed appellant to infer reasonably that further investigation and proceedings would follow. It cannot reasonably be construed as notification that the coroner had decided to arrest appellant at that very moment. In short, the coroner’s conduct gave appellant no more reason to surmise that she had been placed in custody than the reason any other suspect has when being questioned during the course of a police investigation.
Compare Commonwealth v. McLaughlin,
supra, in which the Supreme Court held that a city comptroller’s interview with a suspect, under the compulsion of a subpoena, did not constitute “custodial interrogation.”
See also Commonwealth v. Columbia Investors Corp.,
Judgment of sentence affirmed.
Notes
.
Miranda v. Arizona,
. Appellant made two inculpatory statements: one to the coroner on the morning of January 5, 1972, and one to the coroner, a police sergeant, and a county detective on the afternoon of January 5, 1972. Appellant challenges the admissibility of the first statement because the coroner failed to give Miranda warnings at the morning interview. We reject this claim. Appellant also contends that the afternoon statement, given after the coroner advised appellant of her Miranda rights, should have been suppressed because it was a fruit of the poisonous first admission. Because we have determined that the first admission was not obtained in violation of the federal constitution, the essential predicate, a poisonous tree, for appellant’s second contention is missing. Accordingly, we reject appellant’s second contention as well.
. The Crimes Code, Act of Dec. 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1; 18 Pa.C.S. § 2504.
. U.S.Const. Amend. V provides, in pertinent part: “No person . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself . . .
. The Court distinguished Oregon v. Mathiason. In that case, the defendant voluntarily went to the police station by himself to participate in an interview the time and place of which he had helped to arrange. Moreover, the defendant implicated himself within five minutes of his arrival. In Brown, however, appellant was not given any option as to the time and place of questioning and police officers accompanied him to the station house. Furthermore, interrogation dragged on over a two day period. The Court did not discuss the application of Beckwith v. United States to Brown’s situation.
. We also note that the McLaughlin Court did not discuss the impact of Oregon v. Mathiason, on the meaning of “custodial interrogation.”
. The Court next discussed whether Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution afforded broader protection for McLaughlin than that provided by Miranda and the United States Constitution. The Court ruled that the Pennsylvania Constitution did not *345 mandate Miranda warnings in non-criminal, administrative investigations.
.
Orozco v. Texas,
. The Act of August 9, 1955, P.L. 323, § 1237.
. The Act of August 9, 1955, supra.
. 'The Act of August 9, 1955, supra.
. Coroner Jackson did not have power to arrest appellant at this stage in the investigation. Commonwealth v. Sullivan and Commonwealth v. Lopinson, supra, require the initiation of a formal inquest proceeding before a coroner may exercise the power of arrest. An inquest proceeding had not been launched in the instant case.
. Appellant has not contended that, considering all the circumstances, her statements to the coroner were elicited involuntarily in violation of federal and state due process guarantees. Because appellant did not specifically raise this issue in her application to suppress evidence, we are precluded from reaching it. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 323(d); 19 P.S.Appendix; Commonwealth v. McLaughlin, supra. We also note that appellant has not relied at any point on the protection of Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. In McLaughlin, our Supreme Court intimated that this state constitutional provision may encompass a higher standard of protection than the minimum standards of the federal constitution delineated in Beckwith v. United States and Oregon v. Mathiason. See, generally, Brennan, State Constitutions and The Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv.L.Rev. 489 (1977). We intimate no opinion as to the applicability of Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution to the facts of the case at bar.
