Court Opinion

ID: 9757078
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:17:51.216207+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:34.639995
License: Public Domain

GALLAGHER, Associate Judge,
dissenting:
This is another case where the government made an indifferent presentation of evidence in a suppression hearing. See Galloway v. United States, D.C.App., 326 A.2d 803, 806 (1974) (dissenting opinion). It is apparent that the evidence was available to the government to support beyond question the arrest but it did not adduce it at the hearing, nor did the trial court put the government on its mettle to clarify the situation. While trial judges surely have no prosecutive responsibility and should not assume it, neither are they disinterested observers. There is a middle ground. Be that as it may, we have another needless appeal and a divided court.
Nevertheless, I would affirm this conviction as, to me, it just passes muster. I think we are able to infer from the testimony that the arresting officer observed the dropping of the pill as he approached appellant Rushing before the arrest1 rather than after it.2 We are in agreement that this observation, when added to the other evidence, would result in probable cause to arrest.

. Evidence putting this particular question to rest was available to the government at the suppression hearing and this is demonstrated by the fact that the arresting officer specifically so stated when testifying at the trial. This trial testimony, of course, may not be relied upon now to conclude probable cause was established before the arrest.

. While the testimony to this effect at the suppression hearing was hearsay, it was reliable hearsay. Such testimony is admissible in suppression hearings. Mitchell v. United States, D.C.App., 368 A.2d 514, 518 (1977).