Opinion ID: 2321153
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Black Hooded Sweatshirt

Text: The defendant next contends that the denial of his motion to suppress the tangible evidence seized by the police after they stopped him constituted reversible error because he did not freely and voluntarily consent to a search. Specifically, defendant argues that, after he was stopped by the police, one of the officers removed a sweatshirt from the basket of his bicycle without asking for or receiving his consent to do so. In addition, defendant argues that the consent that he gave the police to search his bicycle baskets after they removed the sweatshirt was coerced and involuntary. Subject to certain exceptions that are not relevant to this case, objects that are within the plain view of an officer may be seized and introduced into evidence. Harris v. United States, 390 U.S. 234, 236, 88 S.Ct. 992, 19 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1968); see also State v. Joseph, 114 R.I. 596, 604, 337 A.2d 523, 528 (1975). In addition, we have held that the items subject to seizure pursuant to the plain-view exception are not limited to contraband or instruments of the crime as long as there is a nexus between the seized item and the criminal behavior. Joseph, 114 R.I. at 604, 337 A.2d at 528; see also Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 307, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967) (holding that items of clothing found in a house searched by the police without a warrant were properly seized where they matched the description of the clothing worn by the culprit and where the police could reasonably have believed that the items seized would aid in the identification of the criminal). In the instant case, Jill had described her attacker as being a white man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. Detective Hill testified that she had been given a description of the suspect as being a white male in dark clothing. After Detective Hill detained defendant, who she testified was wearing dark clothing when she stopped him, other police officers arrived at the scene; one of those officers gave the detective further information to the effect that the attacker had been described as wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. Detective Hill further testified that, when she detained defendant, she immediately noticed a dark, heavy piece of clothing made out of jersey material, which was rolled up in the basket of his bicycle. Officer Reilly, who was one of the officers who arrived at the scene after defendant was detained by Detective Hill, testified at the suppression hearing that he saw a black hooded sweatshirt lying on top of one of defendant's bicycle baskets. The hearing justice noted that it was undisputed that the bicycle basket which contained defendant's black sweatshirt was an open mesh-type container. He further noted that there was no suggestion that that black sweatshirt was not in plain view. After carefully reviewing the record and considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, as we must, see Luciano, 739 A.2d at 226, we perceive no error with respect to the hearing justice's findings of fact in this regard. Moreover, since the black hooded sweatshirt was in the plain view of the police and since it matched the complainant's description of what her attacker had been wearing, the police could reasonably have believed that the item would aid in the identification of the criminal, and they properly seized it. See Hayden, 387 U.S. at 307, 87 S.Ct. 1642. B