COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Kathleen FRENCH, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Decided May 20, 1992.
611 A.2d 175
Argued Jan. 24, 1992.
John W. Packel, Chief, Appeals Div., Stuart B. Lev, Philadelphia, for cross-appellant.
Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS, and CAPPY, JJ.
OPINION OF THE COURT
LARSEN, Justice.
At issue in these cross-appeals by allowance is whether the use of force against an arresting officer is ever justified, an issue of first impression in this Court; and whether a new
On October 17, 1987, police officer John Welsh was summoned to the scene of an altercation in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. Officer Welsh separated the individuals involved in the fracas, and upon being joined by three other police officers, listened to the participants’ respective versions of the incident. The events taking place after the individuals were separated resulted in appellee1 being arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, criminal conspiracy and disorderly conduct.2
At appellee‘s trial, the Commonwealth‘s evidence showed that when Officer Welsh arrived at the scene of the altercation, he observed appellee, appellee‘s sister and her sister‘s boyfriend as well as appellee‘s boyfriend beating an individual who was pinned to the ground. Officer Welsh pulled these four individuals away from the person being beaten, a black male, and attempted to determine the cause of the altercation. Appellee and her three companions told the Officer that they had been attacked by a group of young men, including the individual whom they were beating, after appellee shouted at the group to stop harassing a couple at a nearby bus stop. Officer Welsh and the three police officers who had arrived on the scene in the interim were told by the individual being beaten that he was walking along the street on his way to catch a bus when he was attacked by appellee and her three companions; he denied that he was involved in harassment of anyone. The officers determined that the individual did not wish to press charges and allowed him to leave. Appellee and her companions were also ordered to leave. At that point, the four refused to leave and began shouting obscenities at the
Appellee‘s testimony at trial differed from the Commonwealth‘s version of the incident. Appellee testified that she and her three companions were walking along the street when they noticed a group of young males harassing another couple. According to appellee, as a result of her shouting at the group to leave the couple alone, her boyfriend was attacked by the group. Appellee also testified that after Officer Welsh and the other three officers arrived on the scene, they used nightsticks to strike her boyfriend in the ribs and on the back of the head. Appellee stated that one officer had his foot on her boyfriend‘s throat and was “choking him to death” and that the officers ignored pleas from her sister‘s boyfriend to stop before they killed appellee‘s boyfriend. Appellee also testified that “when they [the police] wouldn‘t stop and I seen him starting to turn colors, I turned around and hit Officer Welsh.” The testimony of appellee‘s co-defendants was consistent with her testimony.
The jury convicted appellee of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and conspiracy.4 Post-trial motions were denied, and appellee was sentenced to a five-year probationary term. On appeal, Superior Court vacated the judgment of sentence and remanded the case for further proceedings. 578 A.2d 1292.
[I]n this case justification is a defense if the defendant French reasonably believed that her intervention was necessary to protect Moran [appellee‘s boyfriend] from death or serious bodily injury and that the force used was immediately necessary to protect Moran against the force used by Officer Welsh on the same occasion as Miss French used force. Because the Commonwealth has the burden of disproving the defense of justification, you may find Miss French guilty only if you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt either that French did not reasonably believe that her intervention was necessary to protect Moran or that she did not reasonably believe that the force she used was immediately necessary to protect Moran then and there against the force used by Officer Welsh.
N.T. 11/14/88, at 3.130.
Appellee contends that this instruction unfairly limited her justification defense to only those situations in which she reasonably believed that use of force was necessary to protect against serious bodily injury or death. The proper instruction, appellee contends, the one requested by her, would have permitted the jury to find that her use of force against Officer Welsh was justified if she reasonably believed that such force was necessary to protect against any bodily injury. Superior Court, looking to case law in other jurisdictions and to comments from the Model Penal Code, resolved this issue by holding that the trial court‘s instruction to the jury was proper.
Section 505 of Pennsylvania Crimes Code, which defines the right of self defense, provides, inter alia, that the use of force in self protection is not justified to resist arrest.5 (However,
Appellee contends that the instant case does not involve the use of force to resist arrest but, rather, involves the use of force to resist excessive force by an arresting officer. It is appellee‘s position that the use of force by an arresting officer which exceeds the force required to effectuate the arrest amounts to an assault on the arrestee which triggers the right of self defense.
The Commonwealth argues that the prohibition on resisting arrest as set forth in
The Official Comment to
(a)(1) [An arresting officer] is justified in using deadly force only when he believes9 that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person, or when he believes both that:
(i) such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape; and
(ii) the person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay (emphasis added).
An arresting officer using deadly force under the above-cited circumstances is doing an act for which the law provides a justification. Our Crimes Code “adopts the view that a principle of necessity, properly conceived, affords a general justification for conduct that otherwise would constitute an offense . . .” Commonwealth v. Capitolo, 508 Pa. 372, 498 A.2d 806 (1985). Consequently, an arresting officer‘s use of deadly force to which a justification does not attach under
Appellee‘s final issue on appeal involves the admissibility of pre-trial statements by police officers who were witnesses at trial. The statements in question were made in the course of a police Internal Affairs Division (IAD) investigation into the incident giving rise to the instant charges against appellee.11 When defense counsel for appellee attempted to cross examine one of the officers as to any pre-trial statements he may have made, the prosecution objected, asserting that the IAD file was confidential material. The trial court conducted an in camera review of the IAD file and ruled that the Commonwealth was not required to produce the witnesses’ statements contained therein. That the trial court erred in denying the defense access to the witnesses’ statements in the IAD file is clear. “Relevant, pre-trial statements of witnesses in the possession of the Commonwealth must be made available to the accused, upon request, during trial.” Commonwealth v. Morris, 444 Pa. 364, 366, 281 A.2d 851 (1971). Moreover, a determination of whether the statements of the prosecution witnesses would have been helpful to the defense is not to be made by the prosecution or the trial court. Commonwealth v. Grayson, 466 Pa. 427, 353 A.2d 428 (1976). “Matters contained in a witness’ statement may appear innocuous to some, but have great significance to counsel viewing the statements from the perspective of an advocate for the accused about to cross-examine a witness.” Id., at 466 Pa. 429, 353 A.2d 428.
Superior Court applied a harmless error analysis to the issue and held that determination of whether the error influ-
Appellee argues that Superior Court erred in not granting her a new trial. We disagree. The defense is entitled to examine pre-trial statements of prosecution witnesses in order to have a fair opportunity to cross-examine those witnesses. See Grayson, supra. Consequently, denial of that right implicates the Confrontation Clause. A new trial is not required however, in every instance where there has been such a violation. The United States Supreme Court in Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986), recognized that a violation of the Confrontation Clause could constitute harmless error. See also Commonwealth v. McGrogan, 523 Pa. 614, 568 A.2d 924 (1990).
The trial court‘s determination that the statements contained in the IAD file possessed no impeachment value was commented upon by Superior Court as follows:
The statements have been forwarded in sealed form to this court and made part of the record. Our inspection of them has led this court to conclude that the trial court‘s evaluation of the statements was correct, and that his failure to turn them over to defense counsel was harmless error. However, a reviewing court eyes evidence from a neutral stance and not from the perspective of a defense advocate. Therefore a remand is necessary.
Since defense counsel did not have the opportunity to examine the statements in question,12 we agree with Superior Court
The order of the Superior Court is affirmed.
McDERMOTT, J., joins this opinion and files a concurring opinion.
CAPPY, J., concurs in the result.
ZAPPALA, J., files a concurring and dissenting opinion.
McDERMOTT, Justice, concurring.
I join in the opinion of the majority. I wish, however, to express the following.
It is the duty of arresting authorities to arrest, and the duty of the citizenry to yield until their authority is determined. Reasonable force may be used by the authorities before, or during an arrest, but no force is ever justified after an arrestee has submitted; and there can be no defense for trained professional police to inflict their version of a penalty because of prior resistance. Thus, authorities are only empowered to use that reasonable force which is necessary to effectuate their legitimate purpose.
The instant case raises the question of when, if ever, resistance to that force is justified. The majority holds, and I agree, that one may be justified in resisting unnecessary and illegal force that is life threatening or capable of inflicting serious bodily harm. When such unnecessary force is used
There is a distinction, however, between resisting arrest initially and thereby raising the level of police force necessary to effect arrest, and protecting oneself from initial or subsequent illegal force; and one may raise the level of necessary police force, by continued resistance, to a level which would be illegal force were it used initially. In other words, one cannot find justification, if by their own acts, they exacerbate what they are required to do peacefully into a dangerous condition for themselves and others; hence, one is never authorized to resist a legal arrest or profit by their resistance.
ZAPPALA, Justice, concurring and dissenting.
I dissent with respect to the majority‘s disposition of the issue of the justification defense and would adopt the rationale of the Dissenting Opinion of the Honorable Donald E. Wieand in resolving this issue. As to the second issue involving the admissibility of pre-trial statements by police officers who were witnesses at trial, I join the Majority Opinion.
LARSEN, J.
Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Notes
§ 505 Use of force in self protection
(a) Use of force justifiable for protection of the person.— The use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by such other person on the present occasion.
The section also lists a number of limitations on the justifiable use of force; relevant to this analysis is the following:
(b) Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.—
(1) The use of force is not justifiable under this section:
(i) to resist arrest which the actor knows is being made by a peace officer, although the arrest is unlawful;
§ 506. Use of force for the protection of other persons
(a) General rule.—The use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable to protect a third person when:
(1) the actor would be justified under § 505 of this title (relating to use of force in self protection) in using such force to protect against the injury he believes to be threatened to the person he seeks to protect;
(2) under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be, the person whom he seeks to protect would be justified in using such protective force; and
(3) the actor believes that his intervention is necessary for the protection of such other person.
The same rules, therefore, which apply to persons acting in self defense apply to persons acting in defense of others. For the sake of simplification, our analysis of the instant issue will not make continuous references to situations involving both self defense and defense of others.