State v. Brennan, 86-99-C

• Decision Date: 03 June 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-99-C,86-99-C
• Parties: STATE v. Michael BRENNAN. A.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 483

526 A.2d 483

STATE v. Michael BRENNAN.

No. 86-99-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 3, 1987.

James E. O'Neil, Atty. Gen., Thomas Dickinson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Providence, for plaintiff.

John A. MacFayden, 3rd, Providence, for defendant.

OPINION

MURRAY, Justice.

The defendant was convicted of felony murder and appeals. We affirm.

Detectives responding to a call to investigate a homicide at an apartment at 17 Deborah Street in Providence on the morning of January 18, 1984, found the body of eighty-one-year-old Lawrence Bello on the floor. Mr. Bello had been beaten, battered, tortured, and murdered. A pipe had been stuffed down his throat; its bowl protruded from his lips. A bloody knife and a roll of twine lay next to Mr. Bello's body; the word "kill" had been written in what appeared to be blood on the wall. The entire apartment had been ransacked; a table was tipped over, drawers lay empty on the floor, the mattress had been turned upside down, holes had been punched in the wall. There were no signs of forced entry, however--no pried locks, broken doors or broken windows. Detectives speculated that robbery had been the motive and that Mr. Bello may have known the perpetrator(s).

An autopsy revealed that Mr. Bello had sustained numerous contusions, cuts and abrasions about the face, a split lip and a fractured nose. His eyes were black and swollen. There were several parallel, shallow incisional wounds running across Mr. Bello's neck which, in the state medical examiner's opinion, had been carefully drawn. Mr. Bello's chest was collapsed; it had been crushed in. All the ribs were broken. There were very deep stab wounds in the center of his neck, chest and stomach. Bruising of the front neck muscle and a fractured hyoid bone indicated manual strangulation.

There were no eyewitnesses to the murder, but relying on an accumulation of circumstantial evidence, police arrested defendant, Michael Brennan, and his brother, Thomas Brennan, both of whom lived with their mother in the apartment just behind Mr. Bello's. The brothers were tried separately.

Based on circumstantial evidence, along with evidence of incriminating statements defendant had made to several persons (including Raymond Furtado and Edward Peckham, two inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions) after the murder, a jury convicted defendant of felony murder, with robbery as the underlying felony.

I DEFENDANT'S ARREST

The defendant first contends that statements and other evidence derived from his arrest should not have been admitted into evidence because the police did not have probable cause to arrest him.

The central concern of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is to protect the liberty and privacy interests of individuals from the arbitrary and oppressive interference of government officials. United States v. Ortiz, 422 U.S. 891, 895, 95 S.Ct. 2585, 2588, 45 L.Ed.2d 623, 628 (1975). The Rhode Island Constitution offers similar protection to those in Rhode Island through article I, section 6. State v. Timms, 505 A.2d 1132, 1137 n. 7 (R.I. 1986). Both Constitutions protect against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Id.

The federal exclusionary rule, which prohibits the introduction at trial of evidence seized in violation of a person's constitutional rights, "was fashioned as a sanction to redress and deter overreaching governmental conduct prohibited by the Fourth Amendment." Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 724, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 1396, 22 L.Ed.2d 676, 679 (1966). This exclusionary rule, which was made applicable to the states in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 655, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 1691, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 1090 (1961), as one of the due-process protections contained in the Fourteenth Amendment, is buttressed by Rhode Island's statutory exclusionary rule, G.L. 1956 (1985 Reenactment) § 9-19-25. Timms, supra. These rules, which both bar the introduction of fruits of an unlawful arrest, see Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484, 83 S.Ct. 407, 416, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 453 (1963); State v. Eddy, 519 A.2d 1137, 1141 (R.I. 1987), effectively deter the police from "subject[ing] unlimited numbers of innocent persons to the harassment and ignominy incident to involuntary detention." Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. at 726, 89 S.Ct. at 1397, 22 L.Ed.2d at 680-81.

Police officers, of course, may legally arrest a suspect without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe the suspect has committed an offense. State v. Belcourt, 425 A.2d 1224, 1226 (R.I. 1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 842, 102 S.Ct. 154, 70 L.Ed.2d 127 (1981). The requirement of probable cause is what makes the arrest a "reasonable" seizure under the State and Federal Constitutions. Probable cause to arrest exists if, at the time of the arrest, the arresting officer had knowledge of facts and circumstances, based on reasonable and trustworthy information, sufficient to cause a prudent officer to believe that the suspect had committed or was committing a crime. State v. Pacheco, 481 A.2d 1009, 1022 (R.I. 1984); Belcourt, 425 A.2d at 1226. "[P]robable cause is a fluid concept--turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts." Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 232, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2329, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, 544 (1983).

In reviewing a claim of illegal arrest we independently examine the record to determine whether the "mosaic of facts and circumstances" on which the arresting officer relied in arresting the defendant--viewed cumulatively through the eyes of a reasonable, cautious police officer guided by his or her experience and training--established probable cause. Pacheco, 481 A.2d at 1022. This "mosaic" may reflect the collective knowledge of the police department, as long as the arresting officer relied on that knowledge. Id.

At the suppression hearing Providence Police Detective Henry P. Roy testified that at about 7 a.m. on Wednesday, January 18, 1984, he went to an apartment at 17 Deborah Street where he observed the bruised and battered victim lying dead on the floor, a bloody knife lying nearby, and the word "kill" written in a dark, dry substance on the wall. Although the apartment had been ransacked, there were no signs of a breaking and entering.

Detective Donald A. Alberico testified that he was also at the murder scene that morning and that it was brought to his attention that Thomas and Michael Brennan resided at 19 Deborah Street, which was at the end of the driveway of 17 Deborah Street. He went to 19 Deborah Street, where he spoke with defendant's mother. Mrs. Brennan told Detective Alberico that she hadn't seen her two sons since the previous morning and that it was unusual for the boys not to have come home. She also told the detective that she had given Thomas $1.40 bus fare the previous morning so that he could go see his parole officer, and that two weeks earlier Thomas had stayed a couple of days at the house of a girlfriend who Mrs. Brennan knew only as Marguerite. The detective also learned that both Brennan boys had been present when, four days earlier, Mr. Bello (who was Mrs. Brennan's landlord) had a disagreement with Mrs. Brennan over some money that she owed him.

Darlene Alemida, who lived in the apartment below Mrs. Brennan's, told Detective Alberico that the Brennan boys were creatures of the night who had tried to gain entrance to her apartment at two o'clock one morning. She also told the detective it was common neighborhood knowledge that Mr. Bello, who owned several nearby apartments and preferred to be paid rent in cash, kept quantities of money in his house.

The investigation of the crime scene revealed the probable motive as robbery, and the association between the Brennan family and Mr. Bello indicated to Detective Alberico that the Brennan boys were probably familiar with the fact that Mr. Bello collected rents and, on certain days of the month, would have cash on hand. Mr. Bello had also told a tenant the day before he was killed that he was quite concerned about the fact that Mrs. Brennan was behind in her rent and utility bills and also that although he had originally rented the apartment to Mrs. Brennan and her daughter, the Brennan boys and another man were now living there. The tenant suggested to Mr. Bello that he begin eviction proceedings.

Detective Alberico learned from the medical examiner that Mr. Bello had died between 2 and 4 a.m. The detective also found, by checking with the Bureau of Criminal Identification, that Michael Brennan had outstanding arrest warrants issued by the Department of Natural Resources and by the Warwick police department. He also learned that both brothers were convicted felons with extensive criminal records, that both had been arrested for robbery in the past, and that Thomas had previously been charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter. The detective learned from several informants that Marguerite's last name was Napolitano, and from an arrest book that her last known residence was 1400 Douglas Avenue, North Providence. One informant said that if Thomas Brennan were "on the run," he would go to Napolitano. North Providence police told Detective Alberico that Napolitano had an outstanding bench warrant against her for shoplifting.

Detective Steven H. Hall, who assisted Detective Alberico in his investigation, testified that on Thursday, January 18, he and Detective Alberico spoke to witnesses in a downtown bar called the Safari Lounge. John Clarke, a Safari patron who later testified at defendant's trial, told the detectives that he had seen the Brennan brothers in the Safari Tuesday, just before the homicide, and had seen Michael Brennan there on Wednesday, just after the homicide. Clarke told the detectives that on Tuesday Michael had no money but that on Wednesday he appeared nervous and was spreading a lot of money around. Michael had told Clarke about "making a score," and Clarke told Detectives Hall and Alberico that the...