Court Opinion

ID: 9848544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:22:10.281377+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:23.440113
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE ERICKSON
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. Looking to Stone v. People, 174 *235Colo. 504, 485 P.2d 495 (1971), the majority have held that the defendant was lawfully detained when she abandoned her intent to enter a house after she was confronted by a police officer who was in the process of searching the house pursuant to a warrant. The defendant’s arrest and the subsequent search are upheld because police officers testified that the defendant, after she was in custody, exhibited heroin withdrawal symptoms. In my opinion, this is not a Stone case.
The trial court found that the defendant was arrested on the front porch of the house. Nothing in the record suggests to me that the trial court was in error. In my view, this court must proceed on the premise that the defendant was, in fact, arrested on the porch when she attempted to leave. Therefore, the sole issue presented on this appeal is whether the police officer had probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a crime at the time the arrest occurred. The burden of showing that a warrantless arrest was supported by probable cause rests with the prosecution. Mora v. People, 178 Colo. 279, 496 P.2d 1045 (1972); People v. Moreno, 176 Colo. 488, 491 P.2d 575 (1971); People v. Feltch, 174 Colo. 383, 483 P.2d 1335 (1971); People v. Ortega, 173 Colo. 564, 481 P.2d 727 (1971); People v. Valdez, 173 Colo. 410, 480 P.2d 574 (1971). The only evidence which would tend to support a showing of probable cause arises out of the fact that the defendant appeared at a place where a police search was being conducted and attempted to depart when she became aware of the presence of the police. We have held on a number of occasions that similar facts do not establish probable cause. People v. Navran, 174 Colo. 222, 483 P.2d 228 (1971); People v. Henderson, 175 Colo. 400, 487 P.2d 1108 (1971); People v. Bueno, 173 Colo. 69, 475 P.2d 702 (1970); and Gallegos v. People, 157 Colo. 173,401 P.2d 613 (1965). See also People v. Nelson, 172 Colo. 456, 474 P.2d 158 (1970), and Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 80 S.Ct. 168, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959). The record is barren of other facts which would support a finding of probable cause. See People v. Mac*236Donald, 173 Colo. 470, 480 P.2d 555 (1971); People v. Lujan, 173 Colo. 77, 475 P.2d 700 (1971); and People v. Collman, 172 Colo. 238, 471 P.2d 421 (1970).
In the absence of probable cause to support the defendant’s warrantless arrest, the arrest and the subsequent search of the defendant’s person and possessions constituted a violation of her constitutional rights. The evidence which was obtained as a result of the unlawful search may not be introduced at trial. U.S. Const., amends. IV and XIV; Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963); Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). In my view, the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence and allowing the illegally obtained evidence to be presented to the jury to obtain a conviction.
Accordingly, the defendant’s motion to suppress should have been granted, and the error requires reversal.
MR. JUSTICE DAY has authorized me to say that he joins me in this dissent.