Lucero v. People, 22583
| Decision Date | 25 March 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 22583,22583 |
| Parties | Albert Michael LUCERO, Plaintiff in Error, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Edward H. Sherman, Public Defender, in and for City and County of Denver, Joseph R. Quinn, Michael C. Bender, Asst. Public Defenders, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Hickey, Deputy Atty. Gen., George E. DeRoos, Asst. Atty., Denver, for defendant in error.
Plaintiff in error Lucero, whom we will hereinafter designate by name, was arrested without a warrant as a suspect in a burglary case. In the premises where Lucero was taken into custody, within plain view of the arresting officers, were narcotics (heroin) and instruments for their use, which were seized. Defendant later was charged by information in the district court with possession of narcotics.
Prior to his trial, Lucero filed a motion to suppress the evidence relating to narcotics. The court conducted a preliminary evidentiary hearing on the question of the admissibility of the evidence. Lucero contended therein that his arrest was unlawful; that the narcotics seized were not obtained as incident to a lawful arrest; and that the evidence was inadmissible at the trial. The court denied the motion to suppress. Thereupon Lucero waived a jury and consented to a trial to the court, during the course of which the heroin and instruments were introduced into evidence. Defendant objected on the same ground urged in the motion to suppress. The objection was overruled. The court found the defendant guilty of possession of the heroin and sentenced him to eight to fifteen years in the state penitentiary.
To this judgment writ of error is directed. Error by the court in failing to suppress the evidence is the ground relied on for reversal.
Lucero admits that if the arrest were lawful the narcotics seized incident thereto would be admissible in evidence. The narrow issue, therefore, before this court is whether the arrest without a warrant was based on probable cause. We hold that it was.
A police officer may make an arrest without a warrant pursuant to the authority contained in C.R.S.1963, 39--2--20, when 'a criminal offense has in fact been committed, and he (the officer) has reasonable ground for believing that the person to be arrested has committed it.' Lucero's arrest was the culmination of a week's investigation into a burglary. It came about after a series of events which were related to the trial court in the hearing on the motion to suppress the evidence. Lucero did not testify, and the evidence before the court was not contradicted. It is summarized as follows:
A residence at 1192 26th St. had been burglarized and a new stereo set had been removed therefrom. Roy L. Siebler, a Denver detective, was assigned to investigate the reported criminal offense. A woman witness, who asked that her name not be disclosed, reported to Detective Siebler that she observed a car parked alongside her apartment on 26th St. and saw two persons trying to put a stereo set into the back seat of the car. She knew one of the two persons--Albert Lucero--and gave the officer his name. Later she identified a picture of Lucero which Siebler obtained from the Identification Bureau of the Police Department. She informed the officer that she had seen Lucero on a number of occasions in an apartment next door to the place which had been burglarized.
Two police officers also informed Detective Siebler that about the time of the alleged burglary they were on 26th St. and saw two persons placing a stereo set on the ground and then run off. They turned their spotlight on one of the persons and obtained a description of him. They later identified a photograph of Lucero as the person they chased at that particular time.
On the day of the arrest, Mrs. Harvey, the complainant and the person whose home had been burglarized, observed Detective Siebler across 26th St. in an apartment house where he was making further inquiry. She approached the detective, informing him that Lucero and another party had just alighted from a car parked in front of her home and had entered the premises next door to hers, at 1190 26th St. Detective Siebler called for assistance over the police radio, and Sgt. Kennedy, Lt. Borden and Detective Bates responded to the call. Detective Siebler, after conferring with the other three officers, covered the back door, and the...
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