State v. Roach
| Decision Date | 19 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 474-,s. 474- |
| Citation | 259 A.2d 119,106 R.I. 280 |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. Ernest Louis ROACH (two cases). ex.&c., 475-Ex.&c. |
These are two criminal complaints which charge the defendant with the unlawful possession of lottery tickets-a violation of G.L.1956, § 11-19-5. The cases were consolidated in the Superior Court where a justice of that court found the defendant guilty as charged in both cases. The defendant is before us on his bill of exceptions. We, too, have consolidated both cases.
A pretrial hearing was held on defendant's motion to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the police did not have probable cause to arrest him. The motion was denied, and an exception taken. This is the only exception being pressed by defendant. We shall consider whether defendant's arrest was in violation of § 12-7-3 and the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The pertinent portion of § 12-7-3 provides that a peace officer may arrest a person for a misdemeanor without a warrant whenever 'The officer has reasonable ground to believe that a misdemeanor has been or is being committed in his presence and that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing it.' The term 'probable cause' as it is used in the Fourth Amendment and the term 'reasonable ground' as it is found in our statute are practically synonymous. State v. McWeeney, 100 R.I. 394, 216 A.2d 357. Hereafter we shall use the phrase 'probable cause.'
The sole witness at the hearing on the motion to suppress was Detective Anthony J. Mancuso, a member of the Rhode Island State Police. He testified that at approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 14, 1967, he received a telephone call from an informant whose past accurate information had established his reliability. The informer told the officer that defendant was selling football pool tickets which were based on the results of forthcoming collegiate and professional games. The officer was told that his caller had purchased some tickets from Roach earlier that week. Roach, the informer reported, kept the tickets in a brown paper bag which was kept in defendant's pocket. The officer further stated that his informant said that he had seen defendant that day with the tickets in the paper bag. The defendant at that time was in the company of a known bookie. The informer then said that he 'thought' Roach and the bookie were going to the backstretch section of Lincoln Downs Race Track because this was where defendant's companion, the bookie, was conducting his business. The detective was also told that the two men would be in a certain specified automobile. Lincoln Downs is an oval track. To those who are not followers of the so-called sport of kings, the backstretch is the straightaway portion of the track that lies the furthest distance from the spectators. As will be seen, defendant and the bookie were not found on the track proper but were on a portion of the track property which runs along the so-called backstretch of the track's racing surface.
The officer then told the trial judge that he arrived in the backstretch area of Lincoln Downs at approximately 3 p.m. and began his surveillance of defendant. The defendant was seated in the back seat of the car described earlier by the informant. The bookie sat in the front seat on the driver's side and a third unknown man occupied the passenger's side of the front seat. Two men approached the car and talked to the bookie and the other individual in the front seat. At about 5 p.m., all five men went up to a fence which ran alongside the racing surface. There they all watched the running of the third race. Shortly thereafter, the trooper saw the bookie exchange money with one of the men who had earlier approached the car. Subsequent to this transaction, the men ran back to the car and left Lincoln Downs at what the trooper said was 'a high rate of speed for the place they were in * * *.'
The officer and his partner pursued the vehicle and stopped it on the Old Louisquisset Pike. The defendant was arrested. Following his arrest, defendant was ordered to empty out his pockets and to put everything he had on the hood of the police car. The last item placed on the hood was the brown paper bag inside of which were found the lottery slips. It is conceded that at no time during the period of surveillance did the trooper observe defendant perform any overt illegal act.
In denying defendant's motion to suppress, the trial justice cited the case of Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 79 S.Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327, and remarked that the arresting...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Soroka
...342, 21 L.Ed.2d 317 (1968); Beck v. Ohio, supra; Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964); State v. Roach, 106 R.I. 280, 259 A.2d 119 (1969); State v. LeBlanc, 100 R.I. 523, 217 A.2d 471 (1966). Neither did it furnish Sergeant Hawksley with the probable cause whi......
-
State v. Burns, 79-520-C
...238, 245 (1979); Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 479, 83 S.Ct. 407, 413, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 450 (1963); State v. Roach, 106 R.I. 280, 283-84, 259 A.2d 119, 122 (1969). The only narrow exception to the requirement that Fourth Amendment seizures of persons must be based on probable cause......
-
State v. Cofone
...85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965); Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 79 S.Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959); State v. Roach, 106 R.I. 280, 283, 259 A.2d 119, 122 (1969). Cofone argues, however, that the withholding of the informant's identity was a sufficient ground to require suppressio......
-
State v. Ricci
...523 (1975); State v. Nerney, 110 R.I. 364, 292 A.2d 882 (1972); State v. Cannon, 110 R.I. 246, 292 A.2d 219 (1972); State v. Roach, 106 R.I. 280, 259 A.2d 119 (1969).3 The "two-pronged test" of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), essentially required a show......