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Commonwealth v. Shine

Denial of defendant's motion to suppress physical evidence affirmed because totality of the circumstances that confronted police officer, including potential for "imminent danger," justified officer's actions in stopping and frisking defendant.

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OPINION

� 1 This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence imposed after Appellant was convicted, at the conclusion of a bench trial, of two violations of the Uniform Firearms Act and possession of a controlled substance (cocaine). *fn1 He was sentenced to an aggregate term of fifteen to thirty-six months’ incarceration, followed by five years of reporting probation. A post-sentence motion was filed and denied. In this direct appeal, Appellant challenges the denial of his motion to suppress physical evidence. We affirm.

� 2 When “reviewing the ruling of a suppression court, an appellate court must first ascertain whether the record supports the factual findings of the suppression court and then determine the reasonableness of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn” from such findings. Commonwealth v. Gommer, 665 A.2d 1269, 1270 (Pa. Super. 1995) (quotation marks and citation omitted). “When it is a defendant who has appealed, we must consider only the evidence of the prosecution and so much of the evidence for the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted.” Commonwealth v. Queen, 536 Pa. 315, 319, 639 A.2d 443, 445 (1994) (citation omitted). “With respect to factual findings, we are mindful that it is the sole province of the suppression court to weigh the credibility of the witnesses. Further, the suppression court judge is entitled to believe all, part or none of the evidence presented. However, where the factual determinations made by the suppression court are not supported by the evidence, we may reject those findings. Only factual findings which are supported by the record are binding upon this [C]court.” Commonwealth v. Benton, 655 A.2d 1030, 1032 (Pa. Super. 1995) (citations omitted). Moreover, we are bound by those findings that are supported by the record and may only reverse if the legal conclusions drawn therefrom are in error. Gommer, 665 A.2d at 1270.

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