Opinion ID: 1281880
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence Seized From Defendant's Person.

Text: Defendant maintains that the warrantless search of his person is a ground for the suppression of all physical evidence directly seized and of everything seized later from his room because it was derived from the illegal search, citing Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). The trial court held that the wallet, containing defendant's identification, seized during the original pat-down of defendant, and the keys, seized by the police officer during his interrogation of defendant, were properly obtained pursuant to a search incident to a lawful arrest. The Court of Appeals agreed. Defendant agrees that he was under arrest, but contends that it was unlawful because the police officer lacked probable cause. Defendant argues that the illegal arrest is an independent ground to warrant the suppression of all the physical evidence seized from defendant's person and room because it was derived from the prior illegality under the Wong Sun analysis. Under ORS 133.310(1)(a), a police officer may arrest a suspect without a warrant when there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a felony or a Class A misdemeanor. [14] Probable cause must exist at the time the arrest is made, not subsequently. We conclude that, when the officer arrived at the telephone booth, he knew that moments before a man had made an unsolicited confession to homicide from that telephone booth. After the officer confirmed that defendant was the person talking to Dammasch State Hospital, he had probable cause to arrest defendant on suspicion of murder, notwithstanding the officer's testimony that defendant was neither in custody nor under arrest. Under federal constitutional standards, when probable cause to arrest exists, the fact that an officer does not subjectively believe a person is under arrest does not affect the officer's right to make a valid arrest and search incident thereto. See State v. Cloman, 254 Or. 1, 12, 456 P.2d 67 (1969), where we held that if officers have probable cause to arrest, the arrest is not rendered illegal because the officers testified to another, improper reason for the arrest. We hold that the search of defendant's person and seizure of his wallet, and later his keys, were proper and did not exceed the scope of a search incident to a lawful arrest.