Commonwealth v. Monarch

While I concur in the legal analysis of the majority, which is consistent and well reasoned, I would add that I believe the trial judge should be given the freedom to correct himself when he views an obvious error in his analysis of the suppression testimony, whether or not new evidence has been presented.

Although it is conceivable we could treat the trial court’s changed view of the police officer’s testimony as new evidence, since there was some difference between his testimony at trial and that at the suppression hearing, the issue is still one of credibility. He was believed by the…