OPINION OF THE COURT
O’BRIEN, Justice.
This appeal is from an order of the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, denying relief on a Post Conviction Hearing Act petition filed by appellant, Joseph Frank Mitchell.
Appellant was convicted by a jury of murder of the first degree for the 1966 slaying of Doris Shenk. Post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment. On direct appeal, we affirmed the judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 445 Pa. 461, 285 A.2d 93 (1971).
[277]*277In June of 1975, appellant filed a pro se Post Conviction Hearing Act petition. Counsel was appointed, and in November, 1975, an amended petition was filed. Following a March, 1976 hearing, the court below denied appellant’s petition in June, 1976. This appeal followed.
Appellant first claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel for a number of reasons. In Com. ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 604-05, 235 A.2d 349, 352 (1967), we stated:
“ . . . our inquiry ceases and counsel’s assistance is deemed constitutionally effective once we are able to conclude that the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests. The test is not whether other alternatives were more reasonable, employing a hindsight evaluation of the record. Although weigh the alternatives we must, the balance tips in favor of a finding of effective assistance as soon as it is determined that trial counsel’s decisions had any reasonable basis.” (Emphasis in original.)
We have also held that counsel is not ineffective for failing to raise baseless or frivolous issues. Commonwealth v. Rice, 456 Pa. 90, 318 A.2d 705 (1974). With this standard in mind, we will discuss appellant’s claims concerning his trial counsel’s effectiveness.
Appellant first claims that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to file a suppression motion related to his confession as the fruit of an illegal arrest. We do not agree.
The facts as found at the suppression hearing are as follows. The victim’s nude body was discovered in a vacant house on East Boston Street on October 15, 1966. Police suspected that the victim may also have been sexually assaulted. During their investigation, the police found out that the victim had been seen alive on Thursday evening, October 13, with appellant and four other people. After interviewing some of these witnesses, police discovered that the victim was last seen drinking wine with appellant and Thomas Burns, walking in the direction of East Boston Street. Police were sent out at approximately 10:00 p. m. on [278]*278October 15 to ask both appellant and Burns to go to the police station for questioning.
Detective James Melley was sent to find appellant while other officers picked up Thomas Burns for questioning. In a statement given between 11:20 p. m. and midnight, Bums told police he had left appellant and the victim alone in the house where the victim’s body was discovered. Detective Melley, however, was not informed of Burns’ statement before picking up appellant. After going to the home of appellant’s parents, Melley learned that appellant was visiting friends in Aston, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour from Philadelphia. Melley and two other officers drove to Aston, where they met the Aston Township police chief, who went with the Philadelphia officers to the house where appellant was visiting. The officers arrived shortly before midnight. Appellant was asked to return to Philadelphia to discuss his drinking with Ms. Shenk. Appellant was neither informed of his constitutional rights nor told that police wanted to question him about a homicide. Appellant was not told that he was under arrest. He arrived at the Police Administration Building at approximately 1:00 a. m. on October 16. After .being placed in an interrogation room and advised of his constitutional rights, appellant gave an inculpatory statement within fifteen minutes of the commencement of questioning.
Appellant argues that he was arrested and that his arrest was illegal since it was made without probable cause. Further, appellant argues that his confession was a “fruit of the illegal arrest.” Appellant thus believes that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to advance this theory in his motion to suppress the confession. We disagree, because we believe that if appellant was arrested,1 the arrest was based on probable cause, thus negating appellant’s fruit of the poisonous tree argument.
In Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 468 Pa. 599, 364 A.2d 677, 680-81 (1976), we stated:
[279]*279“Probable cause has been defined as those facts and circumstances available at the time of the arrest which would justify a reasonably prudent man in the belief that a crime has been committed and that the individual arrested was the probable perpetrator. . . . The test is not one of certainties but rather one of probabilities dealing with the considerations of everyday life. It is not equivalent to the ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard applied at trial. . . . Necessarily the test for probable cause is the same whether or not a warrant is present, since an arresting officer must be aware of information sufficient for the issuance of a warrant at the moment he makes an arrest.” (Citations omitted.) (Emphasis added.)
At the time Detective Melley was sent to find appellant, he or his superior officer2 knew that a thorough police investigation had revealed that the victim was last seen alive with appellant and Burns. The trio was last seen drinking wine walking towards East Boston Street. The victim’s body was discovered in a vacant house on East Boston Street with alcohol in her blood. The police further suspected that the victim had been sexually assaulted. As probable cause requires only probabilities and not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we believe Detective Melley could have effectuated a valid warrantless arrest in Aston. Since we find a legal arrest, appellant’s ineffectiveness of counsel claim is without merit.
Appellant next claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to attempt to have his confession suppressed as the product of illegally seized evidence. We disagree.
The facts are as follows. While Detective Melley went to pick up appellant and return with him to Philadelphia, another set of detectives obtained a search warrant for appellant’s residence. During the search officers seized a pair of appellant’s undershorts. Appellant claims that dur[280]*280ing his interrogation, he was confronted with these shorts and confessed for this reason.
Testimony was given by a Commonwealth witness, however, that appellant was never confronted with the shorts seized at his residence; rather, appellant’s confession was based on a desire to clear his conscience. Appellant’s claim is thus based on his credibility. In light of the Commonwealth’s evidence to the contrary, and this court’s scope of review3
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OPINION OF THE COURT
O’BRIEN, Justice.
This appeal is from an order of the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, denying relief on a Post Conviction Hearing Act petition filed by appellant, Joseph Frank Mitchell.
Appellant was convicted by a jury of murder of the first degree for the 1966 slaying of Doris Shenk. Post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment. On direct appeal, we affirmed the judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 445 Pa. 461, 285 A.2d 93 (1971).
[277]*277In June of 1975, appellant filed a pro se Post Conviction Hearing Act petition. Counsel was appointed, and in November, 1975, an amended petition was filed. Following a March, 1976 hearing, the court below denied appellant’s petition in June, 1976. This appeal followed.
Appellant first claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel for a number of reasons. In Com. ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 604-05, 235 A.2d 349, 352 (1967), we stated:
“ . . . our inquiry ceases and counsel’s assistance is deemed constitutionally effective once we are able to conclude that the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests. The test is not whether other alternatives were more reasonable, employing a hindsight evaluation of the record. Although weigh the alternatives we must, the balance tips in favor of a finding of effective assistance as soon as it is determined that trial counsel’s decisions had any reasonable basis.” (Emphasis in original.)
We have also held that counsel is not ineffective for failing to raise baseless or frivolous issues. Commonwealth v. Rice, 456 Pa. 90, 318 A.2d 705 (1974). With this standard in mind, we will discuss appellant’s claims concerning his trial counsel’s effectiveness.
Appellant first claims that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to file a suppression motion related to his confession as the fruit of an illegal arrest. We do not agree.
The facts as found at the suppression hearing are as follows. The victim’s nude body was discovered in a vacant house on East Boston Street on October 15, 1966. Police suspected that the victim may also have been sexually assaulted. During their investigation, the police found out that the victim had been seen alive on Thursday evening, October 13, with appellant and four other people. After interviewing some of these witnesses, police discovered that the victim was last seen drinking wine with appellant and Thomas Burns, walking in the direction of East Boston Street. Police were sent out at approximately 10:00 p. m. on [278]*278October 15 to ask both appellant and Burns to go to the police station for questioning.
Detective James Melley was sent to find appellant while other officers picked up Thomas Burns for questioning. In a statement given between 11:20 p. m. and midnight, Bums told police he had left appellant and the victim alone in the house where the victim’s body was discovered. Detective Melley, however, was not informed of Burns’ statement before picking up appellant. After going to the home of appellant’s parents, Melley learned that appellant was visiting friends in Aston, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour from Philadelphia. Melley and two other officers drove to Aston, where they met the Aston Township police chief, who went with the Philadelphia officers to the house where appellant was visiting. The officers arrived shortly before midnight. Appellant was asked to return to Philadelphia to discuss his drinking with Ms. Shenk. Appellant was neither informed of his constitutional rights nor told that police wanted to question him about a homicide. Appellant was not told that he was under arrest. He arrived at the Police Administration Building at approximately 1:00 a. m. on October 16. After .being placed in an interrogation room and advised of his constitutional rights, appellant gave an inculpatory statement within fifteen minutes of the commencement of questioning.
Appellant argues that he was arrested and that his arrest was illegal since it was made without probable cause. Further, appellant argues that his confession was a “fruit of the illegal arrest.” Appellant thus believes that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to advance this theory in his motion to suppress the confession. We disagree, because we believe that if appellant was arrested,1 the arrest was based on probable cause, thus negating appellant’s fruit of the poisonous tree argument.
In Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 468 Pa. 599, 364 A.2d 677, 680-81 (1976), we stated:
[279]*279“Probable cause has been defined as those facts and circumstances available at the time of the arrest which would justify a reasonably prudent man in the belief that a crime has been committed and that the individual arrested was the probable perpetrator. . . . The test is not one of certainties but rather one of probabilities dealing with the considerations of everyday life. It is not equivalent to the ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard applied at trial. . . . Necessarily the test for probable cause is the same whether or not a warrant is present, since an arresting officer must be aware of information sufficient for the issuance of a warrant at the moment he makes an arrest.” (Citations omitted.) (Emphasis added.)
At the time Detective Melley was sent to find appellant, he or his superior officer2 knew that a thorough police investigation had revealed that the victim was last seen alive with appellant and Burns. The trio was last seen drinking wine walking towards East Boston Street. The victim’s body was discovered in a vacant house on East Boston Street with alcohol in her blood. The police further suspected that the victim had been sexually assaulted. As probable cause requires only probabilities and not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we believe Detective Melley could have effectuated a valid warrantless arrest in Aston. Since we find a legal arrest, appellant’s ineffectiveness of counsel claim is without merit.
Appellant next claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to attempt to have his confession suppressed as the product of illegally seized evidence. We disagree.
The facts are as follows. While Detective Melley went to pick up appellant and return with him to Philadelphia, another set of detectives obtained a search warrant for appellant’s residence. During the search officers seized a pair of appellant’s undershorts. Appellant claims that dur[280]*280ing his interrogation, he was confronted with these shorts and confessed for this reason.
Testimony was given by a Commonwealth witness, however, that appellant was never confronted with the shorts seized at his residence; rather, appellant’s confession was based on a desire to clear his conscience. Appellant’s claim is thus based on his credibility. In light of the Commonwealth’s evidence to the contrary, and this court’s scope of review3, it was reasonable to not pursue appellant’s theory at the suppression hearing. Trial counsel was not ineffective on this theory.
Appellant next contends that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to attempt to suppress a pair of undershorts. Appellant claims that the shorts were those seized during the illegal search of his residence and thus suppressible. The record indicates, however, that these shorts were never introduced into evidence. Counsel was not ineffective for failing to pursue a frivolous issue. Commonwealth v. Rice, supra.
Appellant raises numerous other issues concerning effectiveness of trial counsel. These points were not raised in the counseled amended Post Conviction Hearing Act petition. Appellant raised these specific issues for the first time in his brief which was submitted after the post conviction hearing. We believe these claims are waived, because appellant, by waiting until after the hearing, denied the Commonwealth an opportunity to defend against assertions raised at such a late date. We thus refuse to consider [281]*281anything not raised in a counseled petition. See Pa.R. Crim.P. 1506(4).
Appellant finally contends that he is entitled to retroactive application of our decision in Commonwealth v. Rose, 457 Pa. 380, 321 A.2d 880 (1974), where we held it was error to charge the jury that a defendant had to prove certain defenses by a preponderance of the evidence. Appellant’s claim, however, is meritless. In its charge to the jury, the court stated:
“Now, the defendant comes before you, as you have heard it said before, which is true, presumed to be innocent of the crimes with which he is charged. The fact that he has been indicted for these crimes is no evidence of his guilt. This means that the law doesn’t place upon him, the defendant, the burden of proving that he is innocent of the crimes with which he has been charged or for which he is standing trial. On the contrary, the law places on the Commonwealth the burden of proving that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis added.)
Appellant raised two defenses at trial — his own intoxication and the bad reputation of the victim.4 When discussing these defenses, the trial court never placed any burden of proof on appellant. The court’s charge thus complied with Rose, even though appellant’s trial predated that decision by six years.
Order affirmed.
ROBERTS, J., files a dissenting opinion.
MANDERINO, J., files a dissenting opinion.
NIX, J., dissents.