People v. Purofoy

323 N.W.2d 446, 116 Mich. App. 471
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 20, 1982
DocketDocket 52122, 53292
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 323 N.W.2d 446 (People v. Purofoy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Purofoy, 323 N.W.2d 446, 116 Mich. App. 471 (Mich. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

Per Curiam.

On May 21, 1980, defendants, Malcolm C. Purofoy and Hardy Alison Walker, were convicted by a jury of armed robbery, in violation of MCL 750.529; MSA 28.797, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, in violation of MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2). Defendant Purofoy was sentenced to not less than 7 nor more than 15 years in prison on the armed robbery count. Defendant Walker was sentenced to not less than 6 nor more than 15 years in prison on the armed robbery count. Both defendants were sen[475]*475tenced to two years on the felony-firearm counts, to run consecutively with the armed robbery sentences. Defendants appeal as of right.

The record reveals that on the evening of March 8, 1980, the complainant, while in the hallway of his Southgate apartment, was approached by two black males, one of whom brandished a gun, the other a knive. As a result of the individual with the knife inquiring if he had any money, complainant gave him his wallet. Immediately after the men fled from the apartment complex, complainant telephoned the Southgate police, describing the age, size, gender and attire of his assailants.

A Wyandotte police officer, Charles Brown, testified that while he and his partner were on patrol duty on the evening of March 8, 1980, they received a radio broadcast from the Southgate police which requested all police vehicles in the vicinity to be on the lookout for two black males who had robbed a man at the Village Town Apartments in Southgate. The males were described as respectively wearing a tan cap and a leather hood.

Upon driving to the general area of the armed robbery, the officers observed a tan vehicle which contained two black males, one of whom was wearing a tan cap. The occupants of this vehicle appeared startled at the sight of the police vehicle, whereupon the officers, while following the tan vehicle, requested on the police radio further information concerning the robbery. The additional description related that the individual with the tan cap was wearing a denim jacket, the other man was wearing a brown leather hood, both men were in their twenties, and that one was taller than the other.

After noticing that the descriptions coincided with the two men in the tan vehicle, Officer Brown [476]*476and his partner stopped the automobile, asking the men to exit therefrom. A flashlight search of the automobile did not unearth any weapons or fruits of the alleged robbery.

The automobile in which defendants were occupants was turned over to Officer Larry Mylock of the Southgate police. At the direction of the South-gate police, Officer Brown and his partner transported the men to the scene of the robbery where complainant identified the two men as his assailants, while they were handcuffed and in the back seat of the patrol car.

The first issue that we address is one raised by both defendants and concerns the stopping of defendants’ automobile without a warrant. Defendants claim that the Wyandotte police officers lacked probable cause to stop and arrest them because defendants were not apprehended at the scene of the offense, their behavior was not suspicious, and the flashlight search of their automobile did not reveal any weapons or evidence of the crime.

The trial court ruled that the police officers had probable cause to stop the vehicle and arrest defendants based on the nearness of the location of the robbery to the area in which the police observed defendants, Officer Brown’s testimony that the street on which defendants’ automobile was traveling was a logical exit road from the location of the robbery, the startled expressions of defendants upon observing the police vehicle, and the officers’ observations of defendants’ clothing.

In People v Whalen,1 the Supreme Court delineated the standard applicable to the stopping, searching and seizing of motor vehicles and their contents:

[477]*477"1. Reasonableness is the test that is to be applied for both the stop of, and the search of moving motor vehicles.
"2. Said reasonableness will be determined from the facts and circumstances of each case.
"3. Fewer foundation facts are necessary to support a finding of reasonableness when moving vehicles are involved, than if a house or a home were involved.
"4. A stop of a motor vehicle for investigatory purposes may be based upon fewer facts than those necessary to support a finding of reasonableness where both a stop and a search is conducted by the police.”

Applying this standard, we find that the Wyandotte police officers’ stop of defendants’ vehicle was reasonable and justified under the circumstances. The general description of the assailants coincided with the occupants of the automobile.

MCL 764.15; MSA 28.874 governs arrests without a warrant and provides as follows:

"(1) A peace officer may, without a warrant, arrest a person in the following situations:
"(c) When a felony in fact has been committed and the peace officer has reasonable cause to believe that the person has committed it.
"(d) When the peace officer has reasonable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and reasonable cause to believe that the person has committed it.
"(f) When the peace officer has received positive information broadcast from a recognized police or other governmental radio station, or teletype, as may afford the peace officer reasonable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and reasonable cause to believe that the person has committed it.”

In reviewing defendants’ claim that the police [478]*478officers lacked probable cause to make the arrest without a warrant, it is the function of this Court to ascertain whether the facts available to the officers at the moment of the arrest would justify a fair-minded person of average judgment and intelligence in believing that the suspected persons had committed a felony.2

In the within matter, the Wyandotte police officers received an authorized police bulletin that a felony had been committed. This communication, when considered in conjunction with defendants’ similarity to the description transmitted over the radio, the proximity of defendants’ vehicle to the scene of the robbery and defendants’ reactions upon observing the police vehicle, justified the arrest of defendants.

Once a trial judge has found that the prosecution has satisfied the burden of establishing that an arrest without a warrant is supported by probable cause, his ruling will be reversed only if it constitutes an abuse of discretion.3 The trial judge herein did not abuse his discretion in determining that the officers had probable cause.

Defendants jointly contend that the complainant’s on-the-scene identification denied them due process, claiming that, once arrested, they had the right to counsel and to all required identification procedures. Alternatively, defendants assert that, even if they were not entitled to counsel at the on-the-scene identification, the procedure was unduly suggestive and denied defendants due process of law stemming from the identification made while they were handcuffed in the back seat of the patrol car.

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People v. Purofoy
323 N.W.2d 446 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)

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323 N.W.2d 446, 116 Mich. App. 471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-purofoy-michctapp-1982.