Commonwealth v. Brown

OPINION

Justice TODD*.

In this appeal, our Court is presented with two questions: (1) whether a defendant’s convictions for first-degree murder and other crimes which rest solely on subsequently recanted out-of-court statements given to police violate the due process guarantees of either the United States or Pennsylvania Constitutions; and (2) whether the confessions of a former co-defendant should have been admitted as evidence as statements against interest under Pa.R.E. 804(b)(3). After careful consideration, we hold the recanting witnesses’ out-of-court statements to the police were…