Commonwealth v. Sorenson

• Decision Date: 30 April 2018
• Docket Number: 17–P–909
• Citation: 103 N.E.3d 772 (Table),93 Mass.App.Ct. 1108
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Erich SORENSON.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

93 Mass.App.Ct. 1108
103 N.E.3d 772 (Table)

COMMONWEALTH
v.
Erich SORENSON.

17–P–909

Appeals Court of Massachusetts.

Entered: April 30, 2018

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 1:28

Following a jury trial in the Superior Court, the defendant, Erich Sorenson, was convicted of armed assault with intent to rob, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. On appeal, the defendant claims that the judge erred in denying his motion to suppress. We affirm.

Background. On April 14, 2012, the defendant stabbed the victim during an attempted robbery. The victim sustained serious injury and was hospitalized for more than six weeks. Two days after the incident, an eyewitness to the stabbing identified the defendant as the assailant and told the police where he lived. Lowell police entered the residence, which was described as a three-story building with numerous apartments on each floor. Sergeant Joseph Murray knocked on the door of one of the units, and after speaking with a female, the defendant came to the door. Murray asked the defendant to step out into the hallway and, after he complied, Murray arrested him.

The defendant filed a motion to suppress both the statements that he made to the police subsequent to his arrest as well as Murray's observation of a cut on the defendant's finger. The defendant claimed that the police did not have probable cause for a warrantless arrest. After an evidentiary hearing, the judge denied the motion, finding that the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant.

Motion to suppress.² The defendant filed a motion to suppress claiming that the police lacked sufficient evidence identifying him as the assailant. He claimed that the eyewitness identification of him and the victim's identification of him from a photographic array were insufficient to establish probable cause for a warrantless arrest.

"In reviewing a decision on a motion to suppress, ‘we accept the judge's subsidiary findings of fact absent clear error "but conduct an independent review of [her] ultimate findings and conclusions of law." ’ " Commonwealth v. Keefner, 461 Mass. 507, 515 (2012), quoting from Commonwealth v. Scott, 440 Mass. 642, 646 (2004). "We make an independent determination of the correctness of the judge's application of constitutional principles." Commonwealth v. Cassino,...