Commonwealth v. Price

203 A.3d 264

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania

v.Darryl PRICE, Appellant

No. 599 EDA 2016

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted May 21, 2018

Filed January 28, 2019

James F. Berardinelli, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Lawrence J. Goode, Assistant District Attorney, and Michael L. Erlich, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellee.

BEFORE: OTT, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and STEVENS,^* P.J.E.

OPINION BY McLAUGHLIN, J.:

Darryl Price appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed following his convictions for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, firearms not to be carried without a license, and possession of a firearm in the City of Philadelphia.¹ Price argues that the trial court erred in denying his pre-trial Motion to Suppress and in granting the Commonwealth's pre-trial Motion in Limine. We affirm.

Price was convicted of the above-listed offenses following a bench trial in 2015. Prior to trial, Price filed a Motion to Suppress Physical Evidence, claiming that he had been seized and searched without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The trial court held a hearing on January 15, 2015, at which the Commonwealth presented the testimony of Philadelphia Police Officer Kevin Klein.

Officer Klein testified that on the night of July 23, 2014,² he was working in an unmarked patrol vehicle with his partner, Officer Christopher Ficchi, when they received a radio broadcast to respond to the 5100 block of Willows Avenue. See N.T., 1/15/15, at 15-16. According to Officer Klein, who had been a Philadelphia Police Officer for seven years at the time of the hearing, violent crime is prevalent in that area. Id. at 13, 28-29. The radio broadcast reported that a black male, wearing a white T-shirt and gray shorts, was driving a silver Lexus with a license plate reading "GWL8569," and was carrying a firearm. Id. at 15-16, 29. Officer Klein indicated that the radio broadcast was the result of a 911 call. Id. at 30.

Officer Klein testified that he and Officer Ficchi arrived at the intersection of 51st Street and Willows Avenue within a minute of receiving the radio broadcast and saw a silver Lexus, facing westbound, stopped at a stop sign. Id. at 17-18. The Lexus proceeded through the intersection and past the unmarked police vehicle, which was stopped at the same intersection, facing eastbound. Id. at 18. As the Lexus passed the officers' car, Officer Klein observed that the driver was a black male, later identified as Price, who was wearing a white T-shirt. Id. Officer Klein also saw that the car had a license plate reading "GWL8568," which Officer Klein noted differed by only one digit from the number provided by the radio broadcast. Id. The officers turned their vehicle around and followed the Lexus until it pulled into a parking spot. Id. at 18-19, 27. The officers stopped their vehicle and activated their lights. Id. at 19, 27.³

Officer Klein exited the police car and approached the passenger side of the Lexus. Id. at 19. The window was down, and Officer Klein could see that Price was wearing gray shorts in addition to wearing a white T-shirt. Id. Price had his hands on the steering wheel, and did not respond when Officer Klein asked if he was carrying a firearm. Id. Officer Klein walked to the driver's side of the Lexus, opened the door, and asked Price to step out. Id. at 20. Price stood up, and as he turned, Officer Klein could see that he had a large bulge in the stomach area of his waistband. Id. Officer Klein testified that in his experience, most individuals carry firearms in the waistband area. Id. at 14-15. Officer Klein told his partner that he observed the bulge, and they both grabbed Price's arms. Id. at 20. Officer Klein felt the bulge, and found that it felt like a hard metal object. Id. The officers handcuffed Price and removed from his waistband a Kel-Tec 9-millimeter gun. Id.

As Officers Klein and Ficchi were arresting Price, they were approached by a woman named Rachel Clark, who told the officers that she had called 911 to report the gun. Id. at 21-22, 28. She pointed to Price and said, "[T]hat's him," and asked the officers if they had recovered the gun. Id. at 22. Officer Klein noted that Clark appeared to be standing out of Price's view, and initially appeared to be nervous, but was relieved once the officers told her they had obtained the firearm. Id. Clark informed the officers that she had called 911 because she observed Price "put an item in the trunk of the vehicle" and that "he loaded bullets into a brown bag and placed that item into the trunk of the vehicle."Id. Clark was taken to a police station, where she gave a statement.⁴ Id. at 28. Despite Clark's appearance at Price's arrest, Officer Klein acknowledged that at the time he stopped Price, he was acting on the basis that the tip received by 911 was from an anonymous source. Id. at 29-30.

Officer Klein asked Price if he had any other bullets in the vehicle. Id. at 23. Price responded that there were bullets in the trunk, and gave Officer Klein written permission to retrieve them. Id. In the trunk, Officer Klein found a brown corduroy bag containing 41 live rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition, six blue latex gloves, and one pair of black leather gloves. Id.

Relying on Navarette v. California , 572 U.S. 393, 134 S.Ct. 1683, 188 L.Ed.2d 680 (2014), the court found that the police had reasonable suspicion to stop Price based on the 911 call.⁵ The court explained that the 911 center in Philadelphia can "track [911 calls] if it's a landline," and that "they have caller ID if it's not a landline." N.T., 1/15/15, at 54. The court also noted that 911 callers have their voices recorded, and the police may be able to establish a 911 caller's identity through tracing and tracking systems, which minimize the possibility that a caller would be dishonest. Id. The court therefore determined that the 911 call was sufficiently reliable to support reasonable suspicion to justify stopping Price's car, and denied Price's Motion to Suppress.

Immediately preceding trial on September 18, 2015, the Commonwealth made an oral Motion in Limine to preclude testimony that Rachel Clark, who had called 911, and her nephew, Kevin White, burglarized Price's home several weeks after his arrest.⁶ Price's attorney argued that testimony regarding the burglaries would corroborate Price's defense at trial—that Clark had framed him for the firearms charges. Price intended to testify that on the day of his arrest, he had been in a verbal dispute with Clark, and that Clark and White had been in possession of Price's car with an opportunity to plant the gun and ammunition there. Price also intended to testify that the police had recovered the gun from the door of his vehicle, where Clark and White had hidden it.

The trial court granted the Motion and precluded the testimony regarding the burglaries. In a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, the court explained that because "[t]he burglaries occurred approximately two and three weeks after the gun arrest," they did "nothing to show that [Price] possessed a gun or did not possess a gun at the time he was arrested," and the proposed testimony was therefore irrelevant to Price's guilt. Trial Court Opinion, filed January 19, 2018, at 3 (unpaginated).

Price proceeded to a non-jury trial. The Commonwealth presented the testimony of Officers Klein and Ficchi, who testified consistently with Officer Klein's suppression testimony. Price testified that Clark had been his girlfriend at the time of his arrest, and the two had had an argument at Clark's house that day. He also said that following the argument, Clark borrowed Price's car to go to a store, and when she returned, she asked Price to buy watermelon. Price testified that upon his return to Clark's house, he was arrested, and did not know about the presence of the gun in the door of his car until it was found by the police. See N.T., 9/18/15, at 45-51.

The court found Price guilty of the above offenses and thereafter sentenced him to a minimum of five to ten years' incarceration followed by five years' probation. Price filed a post-sentence motion, which was denied on January 25, 2016.

Price filed a timely notice of appeal on February 17, 2016,⁷ and raises the following issues:

I. Did the lower court err in denying [Price]'s [M]otion to [S]uppress since the stop leading to his arrest was not supported by reasonable suspicion or probable cause since the stop was based on a description in an anonymous phone call that lacked the sufficient indicia of reliability required by [ Commonwealth ] v. Jackson , 698 A.2d 571 ( [Pa.] 1997) and its progeny?

II. Did the lower court err in granting the Commonwealth's [M]otion in [L]imine to exclude evidence relating to the subsequent burglary of [Price]'s residence by Rachel Clark?

Price's Br. at 3 (suggested answers omitted).⁸

I. Motion to Suppress

Price first argues that the trial court erred in denying his Motion to Suppress because the anonymous call received by the police was insufficient to support reasonable suspicion to justify stopping Price's vehicle.

Our standard of review on appeal of the denial of a motion to suppress is "to determine whether the record supports the suppression court's factual findings and the legitimacy of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings." Commonwealth v. Griffin , 24 A.3d 1037, 1041 (Pa.Super. 2011) (citation omitted). If the record supports the factual findings of the suppression court, we reverse "only if there is an error in the legal conclusions drawn from those factual findings." Id. We view the record in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the prevailing party. See Commonwealth v. Mathis , 173 A.3d 699, 706 (Pa. 2017).

The parties agree that when Officers Klein and Ficchi activated the lights on the police vehicle, Price was subjected to an investigative detention, which needed to be supported by reasonable suspicion. See Commonwealth v. Fuller , 940 A.2d 476, 479 (Pa.Super....