| COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. HAKIM JOHNSON No. 3395 EDA 2006 2009 PA Super 41 Atlantic: 969 A.2d 565 Filed: 3/11/2009 | |
| Appeal from the Order entered November 1, 2006 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal No. CP-51-CR-1107921-2005 | |
| Before: BOWES, SHOGAN, and FITZGERALD, JJ. | |
| Opinion by: FITZGERALD, J. | |
| The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, appeals from the order entered in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, granting the motion to suppress filed by Appellee, Hakim Johnson. We find that the need to identify an unconscious victim, in order to facilitate investigation of the attack, can be an exigent circumstance justifying a warrantless search of the victim’s clothing. We specifically hold that the instant, warrantless search was justified when the police had no reason to believe that Appellee had committed a crime. As a result, we conclude that the suppression court erred as a matter of law in relying on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s decisions in Commonwealth v. Silo, 509 Pa. 406, 502 A.2d 173 (1985) (Silo II), and Commonwealth v. Silo, 480 Pa. 15, 389 A.2d 62 (1978) (Silo I), because the facts of those cases are distinguishable from the instant facts. Accordingly, we reverse the order suppressing the contraband inadvertently found in Appellee’s discarded clothing. | |
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