Commonwealth v. Jenkins

OPINION

NIX, Justice.

This is an interlocutory appeal1 by the Commonwealth challenging a pretrial order suppressing an inculpatory custodial statement given by appellee, Francis Jenkins, relating to the circumstances surrounding the death of Ms. Betty Homer. The suppression court concluded that the actions of the Commonwealth constituted “an improper prosecutorial design to circumvent the rule of Commonwealth v. Davenport, [471 Pa. 278, 370 A.2d 301 (1977)], [and as a result] must ... be held ineffective to preserve the evidentiary utility of defendant’s incriminating admissions against…