Opinion ID: 2055636
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Underlying probable cause as basis for warrantless arrest.

Text: The State argues that, even assuming the arrest warrant was invalid, the arrest was valid because the investigating officer had probable cause to make a warrantless arrest; the defendant counters that, because the officers relied upon an invalid warrant, they cannot later legitimatize the arrest by saying no warrant was necessary. While the defendant's argument might have some basis in logic, and was accepted by the district court, it is clearly not the prevailing view. In United States v. Wilson, 451 F.2d 209, 214-15 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, Fairman v. United States, 405 U.S. 1032, 92 S.Ct. 1298, 31 L.Ed.2d 490 (1972), a similar issue was presented. An arrest warrant was concededly invalid, but the court held that a search incident to the arrest was legal because probable cause for a warrantless search existed: [a] search incident to an arrest valid on one ground is not an illegal search merely because the arrest would be invalid if supported only by the faulty warrant. Id. at 15. Accord, Rocha v. United States, 387 F.2d 1019, 1022 (9th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1004, 88 S.Ct. 1247, 20 L.Ed.2d 104 (1968) (by proceeding under an invalid warrant, the officers had not elected to proceed on basis of warrant alone; underlying probable cause sufficient for warrantless arrest); United States v. Gearhart, 326 F.2d 412, 413 (4th Cir. 1964) (misconceived reliance by officers upon an unnecessary warrant which is later found invalid did not vitiate arrest sustainable on underlying probable cause). As observed by the court in Gearhart, [t]he [arrest] warrants did not enlarge the officers' authority nor did they diminish it; they did not lessen the defendant's rights, and we perceive no reason for saying that they expanded his immunities. 326 F.2d at 414. In sustaining a defendant's warrantless arrest, the court in Bell v. United States, 371 F.2d 35, 37 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1040, 87 S.Ct. 1498, 18 L.Ed.2d 608 (1967) said: [T]he [defendant] urges that since the agent had what he thought was a valid warrant and purported to act upon it, the Government cannot fall back upon the justification that the agent did not need a warrant at all and that therefore the validity or invalidity of the warrant is irrelevant. The [defendant's] counsel has not cited any decision to the effect that the invalidity of an arrest warrant nullifies the right . . . to arrest without a warrant if the requirements of that [warrantless arrest] statute are present. Accord, Dearinger v. United States, 378 F.2d 346, 347 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 885, 88 S.Ct. 156, 19 L.Ed.2d 183, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1030, 90 S.Ct. 603, 24 L.Ed.2d 525, reh. denied, 397 U.S. 1004, 90 S.Ct. 1132, 25 L.Ed.2d 417 (1967); United States v. Hall, 348 F.2d 837, 841 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 947, 86 S.Ct. 408, 15 L.Ed.2d 355 (1965); United States v. White, 342 F.2d 379, 381 (4th Cir. 1965) (fact that the authorities apparently relied upon an invalid arrest warrant would not invalidate the arrest and the search and seizures which took place as incidents thereof if the officers had adequate knowledge independent of the warrant to constitute probable cause); Hagans v. United States, 315 F.2d 67, 69 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 826, 84 S.Ct. 68, 11 L.Ed.2d 58 (1963). Similarly, the Supreme Court has observed that despite the illegality of the warrant, [t]his is not to say ... that in the event of a new trial the Government may not seek to justify petitioner's arrest without relying on the warrant. Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. at 488, 78 S.Ct. at 1251, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1511. The district court erred in ruling that the arrest was invalid notwithstanding the existence of underlying probable cause.