Opinion
No. 1 EAL 2020
07-21-2020
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Respondent v. DAVON MARKIEM WRIGHT, Petitioner
Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Published Opinion and Order of the Superior Court at No. 2991 EDA 2018, at 2019 PA Super 358 (Bowes, Olson, JJ., Stevens , P.J.E.), entered on December 19, 2019, affirming the Judgment of Sentence of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas at No. CP-51-CR-0001903-2017 (Lerner, S.J.), entered on June 7, 2018 CONCURRING STATEMENT JUSTICE WECHT
I join the Court's dismissal of this petition. I write separately because one aspect of the Superior Court's published opinion requires correction and clarification. Although that court properly determined that Philadelphia Police Officer John Lang lawfully recovered the firearm from Davon Wright's windbreaker after removing Wright from his vehicle, it mistakenly concluded that Officer Lang had probable cause to arrest Wright "upon seizing the gun." Commonwealth v. Wright, 224 A.3d 1104, 1110 (Pa. Super. 2019). To the contrary, "[a]lthough the carrying of a concealed firearm is unlawful for a person statutorily prohibited from firearm ownership or for a person not licensed to do so, . . . there is no way to ascertain an individual's licensing status, or status as a prohibited person, merely by his outward appearance." Commonwealth v. Hicks, 208 A.3d 916, 936-37 (Pa. 2019). Here the record demonstrates that Officer Lang detained Wright in order to complete an investigation into whether he had "the proper documentation . . . to carry a firearm." N.T., 3/23/2018, at 141. Probable cause to arrest Wright for a firearms offense existed only when Officer Lang learned that Wright was unlicensed, not before. To the extent that the Superior Court's published opinion suggests the existence of probable cause for a possessory firearms offense "upon seizing the gun," that legal conclusion is unsupported by the totality of these circumstances.