Opinion
J-A07004-19 No. 817 EDA 2018
12-03-2019
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. JOSE SAMBANA Appellant
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence March 2, 2018
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0006230-2017 BEFORE: OLSON, J., DUBOW, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E. MEMORANDUM BY OLSON, J.:
Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
Appellant, Jose Sambana, appeals from the judgment of sentence entered on March 2, 2018 in the Criminal Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County following his bench trial convictions for possession of heroin and fentanyl with the intent to deliver (PWID) and knowing and intentional possession of controlled substances (K&I). We affirm.
On January 11, 2017, Appellant was arrested and charged with PWID, K&I, and driving with a suspended license. After a preliminary hearing at which the offense of driving with a suspended license was dismissed for lack of evidence, the Commonwealth filed an information charging Appellant with PWID and K&I.
Appellant filed a motion to suppress physical evidence recovered during searches of his person and vehicle, including 39 packets of heroin and fentanyl and United States currency. On January 10, 2018, the trial court convened a hearing to consider Appellant's motion to suppress. After the court denied suppression, Appellant waived his right to a jury and proceeded to trial. The court found Appellant guilty of PWID and K&I. On May 2, 2018, the court imposed a sentence of two to seven years' incarceration on Appellant's PWID conviction. This timely appeal followed. After Appellant filed his concise statement of errors complained of on appeal, see Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), the trial court issued its opinion.
Appellant raises two issues on appeal:
[Whether the trial court erred in denying Appellant's motion to suppress where officers lacked reasonable suspicion to believe Appellant was armed and dangerous or exceeded the scope of a protective frisk by removing a tray covering a vehicle console and searching the area beneath it?]Appellant's Brief at 3.
[Whether the trial court erred in denying Appellant's motion to suppress where officers lacked probable cause and a warrant to search underneath the console area of Appellant's vehicle and to open a bag of Jolly Ranchers candy?]
Appellant raises two claims in support of his contention that the trial court violated his constitutional rights in denying his motion to suppress. First, Appellant claims that police officers lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a protective search of his vehicle or exceeded the permissible scope of an initially valid search. Second, Appellant argues that police officers lacked both a warrant and probable cause to justify the retrieval and search of a bag of Jolly Rancher candy recovered from a void located underneath the console area of Appellant's vehicle. We disagree.
We review orders denying a motion to suppress under the following standard of review:
Our standard of review in addressing a challenge to the denial of a suppression motion is limited to determining whether the suppression court's factual findings are supported by the record and whether the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are correct. Because the Commonwealth prevailed before the suppression court, we may consider only the evidence of the Commonwealth and so much of the evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted when read in the context of the record as a whole. Where the suppression court's factual findings are supported by the record, we are bound by these findings and may reverse only if the court's legal conclusions are erroneous. Where, as here, the appeal of the determination of the suppression court turns on allegations of legal error, the suppression court's legal conclusions are not binding on an appellate court, whose duty it is to determine if the suppression court properly applied the law to the facts. Thus, the conclusions of law of the courts below are subject to our plenary review.Commonwealth v. Mbewe , 203 A.3d 983, 986 (Pa. Super. 2019) (internal quotations and citations omitted).
We have carefully reviewed the certified record, the submissions of the parties, and the trial court's Rule 1925(a) opinion. Based upon our review, we adopt the trial court's factual recitation and we conclude that the record supports the factual findings of the trial court and that its legal conclusions are correct. In particular, the trial court correctly concluded that the officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct a protective sweep of Appellant's vehicle. See Trial Court Opinion, 6/13/18, at 5 (crediting police testimony that Appellant's vehicle had heavily tinted windows, that Appellant appeared to move about the interior compartment, that Appellant reached toward the center console area, that Appellant did not comply with multiple commands that he open his window, and that officers could not see what Appellant was reaching for inside the vehicle). The trial court also correctly determined that the area beneath the center console (including the location of the Jolly Ranchers candy bag) fell within the scope of a permissible protective sweep since the cup holder tray atop the console had been pried open and could reasonably have concealed a weapon. See id. at 6. Lastly, the court properly determined that the officers had probable cause to believe that the Jolly Ranchers candy bag contained evidence of a crime since the police observed it in an area of the vehicle not designed for storage and not ordinarily accessible to vehicle occupants. See id. at 7. In sum, because the trial court adequately and accurately addressed each of the issues raised on appeal, we adopt its opinion and conclusions as our own. We instruct the parties to attach the trial court's June 13, 2018 opinion to each future filing pertaining to our disposition of this appeal.
Judgment of sentence affirmed. Judgment Entered. /s/_________
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary Date: 12/3/19
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