Opinion ID: 1643011
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failing to Challenge the Trial Court's Denial of the Motion to Suppress the Confession

Text: Bryant claims that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the trial court's denial of Bryant's motion to suppress his confession. Bryant argues that counsel should have argued that the confession was obtained pursuant to an arrest for which there was no probable cause. We conclude that the police had probable cause to arrest him. Police arrested Bryant pursuant to statements given by four individuals: Mary Williams, Betty Bueie, Tara Bueie, and Damien Remy. On January 16, 1992, Betty Bueie contacted Detective Hartman, the lead investigating officer in the case. Mary Williams accompanied her to the police station. Betty and Williams spoke to Hartman in person and each told him in separate taped statements that they had heard Bryant say he had committed the murder. Betty said that she was upset because Bryant, who was dating Betty's sister Tara Bueie, had beaten Tara earlier that day and that Betty wanted to tell the police what she knew about the homicide. According to Hartman's testimony, Betty said that Bryant had told her ... about the homicide, that he shot and killed the man in a robbery attempt, that he didn't mean to shoot and kill him but it happened. Both women also indicated that the gun Bryant used belonged to Cheryl Evans, another of his girlfriends, and that the gun was given back to her and that she had in turn given it to a man known to them as Big D who, at the time these statements were given, was incarcerated on narcotics charges. After taking these statements, Hartman went to Bethesda Memorial Hospital to question Tara. Tara told him she had found out about the crime through Evans and that when she confronted Bryant, he had told her essentially the same story that Betty and Williams had told him. Hartman also indicated that he believed all three women mentioned a ski mask. A ski mask was found at the crime scene. The police were able to ascertain the identity of Big D as a man named Damien Remy. He was being held in Martin County Jail under federal narcotics charges. The police then interviewed Remy and obtained a taped statement from him. Remy had been dating Evans and had recently found out that Evans was also dating Bryant, whom Remy thought was Evans's cousin. Remy said that Evans had told him about how Bryant had confessed to her about committing the crime. Evans also told Remy that it was her gun that was used in the robbery attempt and murder. Soon after this conversation between Remy and Evans, Remy discovered Evans's gun on the floorboard of his car and threw it out the window while driving on the highway. In addition to these statements, police had certain knowledge about the crime from investigation of the crime scene and interviews of witnesses. The deceased's wife witnessed the shooting and told police the assailant was a black male. An autopsy indicated that the victim was killed by gunshot wounds, and the lack of shell casings at the scene indicated the murder weapon was a revolver. Based on this information and the statements of Betty, Tara, Williams, and Remy, the police determined that they had probable cause to arrest Bryant. On January 19, 1992, Evans arrived at the police station on an unrelated matter. Hartman noticed that she was the passenger of the vehicle and asked her who was driving. She replied it was Bryant. Hartman, with the assistance of other officers, approached the car and arrested him. Bryant argues that Betty, Tara, Williams, and Remy should be considered anonymous informants and that their statements needed independent verification to establish probable cause. See Cunningham v. State, 591 So.2d 1058, 1060 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991) (holding that an anonymous tip cannot be used to effectuate an arrest unless the officer develops independent evidence of criminal activity). Cunningham, however, deals with a truly anonymous informant. [8] Police officers personally interviewed all four persons who gave information against Bryant. Each has been identified by name and none has tried to hide his or her identity. It is difficult to conceive how Remy could be anonymous when he was in jail when his statement was taken. See State v. Evans, 692 So.2d 216, 218 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) (where a restaurant employee called 911, identified herself, and said she thought one of the restaurant's patrons was drunk in the drive-thru line, the court noted that it is difficult to see how [the employee] can be deemed an `anonymous' caller: she provided her name, location, and occupation to the police). The informants in this case are much closer to the definition of citizen-informants whose information is at the high end of the tip-reliability scale ... [and is] `motivated not by pecuniary gain, but by the desire to further justice.' Evans, 692 So.2d at 219 (quoting State v. Talbott, 425 So.2d 600, 602 n. 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)). Although any one of the four informants may have had personal reasons to denounce Bryant, none came forward for pecuniary gain. Betty and Williams voluntarily approached the police with the stated intent of aiding the police investigation, and Tara and Remy also gave their statements voluntarily. Because all four informants were identified and gave their statements without the desire for pecuniary gain, they are citizen-informants whose statements can be relied upon by police when deciding if probable cause exists. See Kearse v. State, 662 So.2d 677, 684 (Fla.1995) (probable cause found where police had independent information coupled with citizens' statements at the arrest site); Krawczuk v. State, 634 So.2d 1070, 1071-73 (Fla.1994) (probable cause found where witness informed police that he may have purchased stolen items from defendant). That the informants in Bryant's case did not witness the crime and were not victims does not render their statements irrelevant or unreliable. We have previously explained the standard for probable cause: Probable cause for arrest exists where an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed a felony. The standard of conclusiveness and probability is less than that required to support a conviction. Blanco v. State, 452 So.2d 520, 523 (Fla.1984). The question of probable cause is viewed from the perspective of a police officer with specialized training and takes into account the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act. Schmitt v. State, 563 So.2d 1095, 1098 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). Walker v. State, 707 So.2d 300, 312 (Fla. 1998). In Bryant's case, four separate identified persons gave recorded statements indicating that Bryant was involved in the homicide. Each also provided similar details, such as the existence of a ski mask and the nature of the weapon used in the crime. The police also had an ongoing investigation of the crime which gave them independent knowledge with which to verify some of the statements made by the informants, such as the type of weapon used and the existence of a ski mask. These facts indicate that the police had the requisite reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed a felony when they arrested Bryant. Id. Bryant claims that police should have obtained search warrants for Bryant's home, initiated wiretaps, and employed other investigatory measures to gather more evidence on Bryant before making an arrest. However, the standard for probable cause is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt but reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed a felony. Walker, 707 So.2d at 312. Based on the statements of Betty, Tara, Williams, and Remy and the information the police already had through their investigation of the crime, police had sufficient probable cause to arrest Bryant. Counsel was not ineffective for failing to challenge the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress his confession based on an unlawful arrest effectuated without probable cause.