People v. Figueroa

122 Misc. 2d 631, 471 N.Y.S.2d 986, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2877
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 17, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 122 Misc. 2d 631 (People v. Figueroa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Figueroa, 122 Misc. 2d 631, 471 N.Y.S.2d 986, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2877 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Eve Preminger, J.

Is a lineup immediately following a warrantless arrest poisoned when the arrest violates the principles enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Payton v New York (445 US 573)? This question, which has yet to be addressed in this jurisdiction, compels an analysis of the effect of Payton violations upon subsequent police conduct.

FACTS

On November 25, 1982, Laurie Buehler was robbed by two persons unknown to her. The next day, after Detective Longobardi showed her a photo array, she identified defendant as one of the persons who robbed her.

The detective and a police officer in civilian clothes then went to defendant’s apartment, knocked on the door and announced “police officers”. After waiting a few moments and receiving no response, they repeated the announcement and knocked again, whereupon defendant’s mother opened the door. The police entered and told defendant to accompany them to the police station to speak to them about a robbery that had taken place on Thanksgiving. She was taken to the station house, placed in a lineup and identified by the complainant as the perpetrator of the robbery.

[632]*632While the People claim that defendant voluntarily left her home with the officers to go to the police station, it is evident from the officers’ testimony that her actions were no more than acquiescence to their authority (Schneckloth v Bustamonte, 412 US 218). As the officers candidly conceded, she was not free to refuse them. I find, therefore, that Ms. Figueroa was in custody and under arrest when she “accompanied” the officers to the precinct.

Defendant does not argue that the police lacked probable cause to arrest her; indeed, it is clear that once defendant was picked out of the photo array, probable cause did exist. Defendant nevertheless contends that the lineup evidence should be suppressed because the warrantless arrest which preceded it was illegal pursuant to Payton v New York (supra). Payton established that in the absence of exigent circumstances, an arrest warrant is required before the police can enter a home to take a suspect into custody. Even where, as here, there is probable cause to believe that an individual has committed a crime, the Supreme Court has declared that the “overriding respect for the sanctity of the home that has been embedded in our traditions since the origins of the Republic” (Payton v New York, supra, at p 601) forbids “needless intrusions” (p 586) into the home by the police to make arrests.

The arrest being defective, was the subsequent lineup tainted? Somewhat surprisingly, there is no case law on this question in New York,1 and cases from other jurisdictions are few (see People v Rembert, 89 Ill App 3d 371). The answer must depend upon the necessity, if any, of connecting the illegality of a warrantless home arrest to subsequent conduct. It could be argued that the effect of a violation of Payton should be confined to the suppression of any evidence seized at the home during the arrest. Once the police have removed a defendant from his residence, the illegal police activity has terminated, and the defen[633]*633dant is in an identical position to anyone in custody where there is probable cause to believe he has committed a crime. Qn the other hand, such reasoning would mean that violations of Payton would be treated differently from any other breach of the Fourth Amendment. The deterrent value sought to be derived from the rule would be, at the very least, diluted.

Although there have been no cases determining the admissibility of a lineup in the instant situation, there have been a number of New York cases dealing with the admissibility of statements obtained from a defendant after a warrantless home arrest. These cases indicate that the legal consequences of warrantless arrests in the home should not be treated differently from other Fourth Amendment violations. Traditional principles of attenuation should be applied to decide whether the challenged police conduct is sufficiently separate from the initial illegal behavior so as to dissipate any possible taint.

Just as physical evidence need not be suppressed where the connection between it and an illegal search or seizure has become “so attenuated as to dissipate the taint” (Nardone v United States, 308 US 338, 341), or where it is obtained from an independent source (Silverthorne Lbr. Co. v United States, 251 US 385), verbal evidence (admissions by defendant and testimony of matters observed during a search) is similarly admissible (Wong Sun v United States, 371 US 471).

Attenuation may be measured by several factors. The closer in time a confession follows an illegal arrest, the less likely it is to be attenuated (Brown v Illinois, 422 US 590). Also to be weighed is the nature and extent of the illegal police conduct. The more flagrant and purposeful the violation of an individual’s rights, the stronger the intervening factors necessary to cleanse the taint (Brown v Illinois, 422 US 590, supra; see 3 LaFave, Search and Seizure, § 11.4 [b], pp 628-638, and 1984 Pocket Part, pp 254-259). Finally, intervening factors which break the chain of events between arrest and confession may obliterate the taint.

Thus, if after arrest an individual has the opportunity to confer with counsel (State v Jones, 558 SW2d 233 [Mo]), is released from custody (Wong Sun v United States, supra), [634]*634is advised of his rights by a magistrate (Johnson v Louisiana, 406 US 356), or has volunteered information of his own free will (Sanders v State, 259 Ark 329), the taint may have dissipated sufficiently to allow the introduction of the secondary evidence.

Three appellate courts in New York have applied these principles to cases involving postarrest statements which followed warrantless home arrests.

In People v Matos (93 AD2d 772), defendant was the subject of a warrantless arrest. He then made a voluntary statement implicating himself in a homicide after being told his girlfriend had already revealed his participation in the killings. The court found defendant’s statement, given one and one-half hours after his arrest, to be free of taint under these circumstances. See, also, People v Benthall (94 AD2d 678), where the court directed that an attenuation hearing be held to determine the precise connection between the arrest and the statements.

In People v Graham (90 AD2d 198), the court found no exigent circumstances to justify the warrantless arrest of defendant in his home. In concluding that defendant’s subsequent confession was nonetheless admissible at trial, the court noted that the lack of flagrant police conduct and the fact that defendant had been advised of his Miranda rights four separate times, three in writing, before confessing hours later, attenuated the taint flowing from the arrest.

The court in People v Anthony (93 AD2d 892) suppressed statements by defendant outside of his apartment following his warrantless arrest in his home. The court rejected the prosecution’s argument that the statements were admissible because they were not made inside the apartment and that the arrest, based on probable cause, would have been lawful if not for the Payton problem. The court noted that the “ratio decidendi” (93 AD2d, at p 893) of

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Related

People v. Tatum
129 Misc. 2d 196 (New York Supreme Court, 1985)
People v. Minley
112 A.D.2d 712 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1985)
People v. Middleton
125 Misc. 2d 634 (New York Supreme Court, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
122 Misc. 2d 631, 471 N.Y.S.2d 986, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-figueroa-nysupct-1984.