People v. Rogers

• Decision Date: 07 May 1981
• Parties: , 421 N.E.2d 491 The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Richard ROGERS, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 96

439 N.Y.S.2d 96

52 N.Y.2d 527, 421 N.E.2d 491

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Richard ROGERS, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 7, 1981.

Louis G. Adolfsen, New York City, for appellant.

Eugene Gold, Dist. Atty. (Peter Weinstein and Barbara L. Linzer, Asst. Dist. Atty., of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

WACHTLER, Judge.

The defendant was convicted of felony murder and related offenses for killing and raping Linda Jack in Brooklyn in the summer of 1974. The Appellate Division affirmed, without opinion, 414 N.Y.S.2d 948. The defendant appeals. The primary issue is whether admissions made by the defendant to the police following an arrest without probable cause were properly allowed into evidence.

On the morning of August 10, 1974, the partly clad body of Linda Jack was found in an alleyway of a residential area of Coney Island. She had been stabbed in the throat and abdomen. A broad path of blood indicated that after being stabbed her body was dragged along the sidewalk and into an alleyway where, while dying, she was raped. Personal property belonging to the victim was found under a car near the scene of the stabbing. A palm print, found on the door of the car was later identified, during the trial, as belonging to the defendant. In addition, there was the imprint from the sole of a corrugated boot found in the pool of blood at the scene of the stabbing.

Despite the overwhelming proof of guilt at trial the record of the suppression hearing indicates that at the time defendant was taken into custody the limited information the police possessed which connected the defendant to the murder did not constitute probable cause for an arrest.

The evidence at the suppression hearing revealed that following the discovery of Linda Jack's body in the alleyway, Detective Edward Zigo sought leads by canvassing bars and restaurants in the area inquiring whether the victim, who at the time of her death had a blood alcohol level of .18%, had been seen the night before. Detective Zigo learned that she had been seen at that time in the company of a person described only as "Ritchie", a young white male, approximately 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches and weighing 200 pounds, with a pock-marked face. In addition the detective was informed that "Ritchie" had a girlfriend whose brother worked at "a frozen food outfit in Brooklyn."

The next day, the officers sought out the brother, whose name they had been told was Paul. When the officers arrived at the frozen food establishment Paul was out and the officers decided to wait. After a time they heard a woman's voice say "'Ritchie', Paul is not here." Concluding that the person to whom the remark was addressed met the general description of the person last seen with the murder victim, the officers took "Ritchie" into custody without any preliminary inquiries to determine his possible connection to the crime.

Of course, at the time the police confronted the defendant they could, acting on reasonable suspicion, have stopped him long enough to make inquiries concerning his possible involvement in the crime (see People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562). It is clear that no such inquiries were made, and, by Detective Zigo's own account of the facts, the defendant was peremptorily arrested. ^* Therefore, since it can be said as a matter of law that at the time of the arrest there was no probable cause (cf. People v. Brnja, 50 N.Y.2d 366, 429 N.Y.S.2d 173, 406 N.E.2d 1066), a period of illegal detention began.

However, it must be emphasized that the Constitution does not require a person illegally detained be forever granted immunity from prosecution or conviction (United iStates v. Crews, 445 U.S. 463, 474, 100 S.Ct. 1244, 1251, 63 L.Ed.2d 537). Indeed, the defendant himself does not make such a claim here, but contends only that certain statements he made subsequent to his illegal arrest should have been suppressed as the products of the illegal detention (cf. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441).

The defendant was not immediately questioned when he was taken to the police station. Instead, the officers left to speak to defendant's girlfriend who they found at the frozen food establishment still waiting for her brother. Upon inquiry by the officers, she mentioned that although defendant rented an apartment across the street from hers, he frequently stayed with her, her brother and her mother at their apartment. The detectives requested that they be permitted to examine the clothes which the defendant kept at her apartment and she consented. A pair of the defendant's boots apparently covered with blood were found.

Approximately three hours after defendant's arrest and after advising defendant of his rights, Detective Zigo began the interrogation. In doing so he confronted defendant with the boots as well as with a bloody shirt discovered by the police at the scene of the crime. Defendant admitted owning the boots, but denied that the shirt was his. He then stated that he did not wish to undergo further questioning without first speaking to his brother, who was a police officer. The brother was called, and after defendant conversed with him privately, defendant gave two more statements which, like the first, were used by the People at trial. Defendant argues on this appeal that all three statement resulted directly from exploitation of the illegal arrest and therefore should have been suppressed.

While it is generally recognized that statements derived from an illegal detention will be suppressed and cannot be used at trial (Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, supra), it is equally true that the exclusionary rule is not automatic, and will not be applied if the impact of the illegal arrest does not closely touch upon the challenged evidence (see Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 341, 60 S.Ct. 266, 267, 84 L.Ed. 307). Although the prosecution will be denied the "poisoned fruit" from the "poisoned tree", at some point the chain of causation leading from the illegal activity to the challenged evidence may become so attenuated that the "taint" of the original illegality is removed (United States v. Crews, 445 U.S. 463, 471, 100 S.Ct. 1244, 1250, 63 L.Ed.2d 537, supra; Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, supra). Those situations in which the detrimental impact of the illegal police action on the challenged evidence becomes so minute as to no longer justify the penalty of suppression under the exclusionary rule (see People v. Martinez, 37 N.Y.2d 662, 670, 376 N.Y.S.2d 469, 339 N.E.2d 162), have been commonly grouped by the...