[Download] "Commonwealth Pennsylvania v. William N. Corley" by Supreme Court of Pennsylvania " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth Pennsylvania v. William N. Corley
- Author : Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- Release Date : January 23, 1985
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 70 KB
Description
We review an Opinion and Order of the Superior Court affirming the denial of post-conviction relief to the Appellant William N. Corley. The essence of the Appellants argument is that his trial counsel was ineffective for having withdrawn an allegedly meritorious suppression motion. The lower court found, and Superior Court agreed, that because the suppression motion would properly have been denied, counsel could not be found ineffective for having withdrawn it. The issues raised by the motion would have been, (1) whether the exclusionary rule applies in the context of a "citizens arrest", and, if so, (2) whether the arrest of the Appellant in this case was illegal, there not having been a felony committed in the presence of the arresting person. The Superior Court held "that the fruits of an illegal citizens arrest are subject to the full action of the Fourth Amendment and to the exclusionary rule," Commonwealth v. Corley, 316 Pa. Super. 327, 335, 462 A.2d 1374, 1378 (1983), but determined that on the facts of this case the arrest was not illegal. This finding was based on the courts holding that "a citizens arrest can be made for a breach of the peace that is personally observed by the arrestor." Id., 316 Pa. Super. at 338, 462 A.2d at 1379. The Superior Court acknowledged that this holding was contrary to dicta found in several previous cases, but there being no binding precedential authority on point, the court, in the common law tradition, reasoned that the rule permitting individuals to arrest for felonies committed in their presence should be extended to permit arrests for breaches of the peace as well. We granted allowance of appeal to review these holdings. While rejecting that courts conclusions