State v. Ingram

484 N.E.2d 227, 20 Ohio App. 3d 55, 20 Ohio B. 58, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 12534
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 6, 1984
DocketCA83-09-104
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 484 N.E.2d 227 (State v. Ingram) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Ingram, 484 N.E.2d 227, 20 Ohio App. 3d 55, 20 Ohio B. 58, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 12534 (Ohio Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Jones, J.

On April 16, 1983, between the hours of 5:00 and 5:30 p.m., Detective Bobby Sparks of the Monroe Police Department received a telephone call from Detective William Kingston of the Dayton Police Department. Kingston informed Sparks that defendant-appellant, Larry E. Ingram, and one Jimmy Stelts would be in Monroe that evening for the ostensible purpose of committing burglaries in the Monroe area. Kingston also informed Sparks that the duo would be driving a dark brown or maroon 1977 Cadillac owned by Ingram bearing Ohio license plates AKN 969. In addition, Sparks was informed that Ingram had previously been convicted of burglary and that Kingston knew Stelts personally, having arrested him for burglary approximately ten to twelve years earlier. Kingston told Sparks that Ingram and Stelts were capable of performing burglaries and that the two would probably be armed. Kingston explained to Sparks that this information had come from a confidential informant, who, on several occasions in the past, had given reliable information to Kingston. Kingston further informed Sparks that the informant knew of Ingram’s and Stelts’ activities as a result of personal knowledge.

Upon receiving this information, Sparks contacted several other Monroe police officers and an investigation was commenced. The police discovered that Ingram had been convicted in the early 1970s for a burglary committed in the Brittany Heights neighborhood of Monroe, wherein Ingram had parked his vehicle and traveled on foot into Brittany Heights where the burglary was committed.

The Monroe police initiated a search for the Ingram vehicle, and at approximately 7:30 p.m., they discovered the Cadillac parked on Ohio Avenue just south of State Route 63. The Brittany Heights area is located directly north of the highway, approximately one-half to three-quarters of a mile walking distance from the location on Ohio Avenue where the Cadillac was parked. Several Monroe officers began a surveillance of the subject vehicle. At 9:42 p.m., a burglary was reported at 155 Winston Lane in the Brittany Heights neighborhood. Officers responding to the scene found that several items of jewelry had been taken from the home.

At approximately 10:50 p.m., police watching the vehicle parked on Ohio Avenue observed two men, one carrying an athletic racquetball bag in his hand, approaching the vehicle. The two individuals entered the car, whereupon the police converged on the vehicle, and ordered the individuals out. The two individuals, Ingram and Stelts, alighted from the vehicle and were arrested. The police immediately searched Ingram and Stelts and the passenger compartment of the car, and recovered two loaded *57 handguns and several jewelry items. Subsequent to the arrest of Ingram and Stelts, three additional burglaries were found to have been committed in the Brittany Heights area.

Ingram was indicted on four counts of aggravated burglary with a firearm specification and one count each of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of criminal tools, receiving stolen property, and having a weapon under disability.

On June 28, 1983, Ingram filed a motion to suppress. The first branch of Ingram’s motion sought to suppress the fruits of the search and seizure conducted on Ingram and his automobile. The second part of the motion sought an order dismissing the indictment, claiming that Ingram was subjected to an illegal stop and arrest made without probable cause. The motion came on for hearing on July 8,1983, and was denied by the trial court.

On July 11,1983, Ingram pleaded no contest to the four counts of aggravated burglary and the remaining counts of the indictment were dismissed. Ingram was found guilty on all four counts of aggravated burglary contrary to R.C. 2911.11(A)(3) and was duly sentenced by the trial court.

Ingram filed a timely notice of appeal, and as his first assignment of error asserts the following:

“The trial court erred to the prejudice of the defendant-appellant in overruling his motion to suppress the fruits of the search and seizure for the reason that they were the fruits of an illegal arrest and seizure in violation of the United States Constitution.”

Appellant contends that the failure of law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant and the lack of any exigent circumstances which would justify a war-rantless arrest or search renders appellant’s arrest and the subsequent search of his person and automobile invalid. Appellant claims that there was ample time in which police could obtain a warrant inasmuch as appellant’s car was discovered at 7:30 p.m. but it was not until three hours later that appellant was arrested.

Cases construing the Fourth Amendment have held that a police officer is permitted to make a warrantless arrest for a felony not committed in his presence if there were reasonable grounds for making the arrest. United States v. Watson (1976), 423 U.S. 411; United States v. Santana (1976), 427 U.S. 38. An arrest without a warrant is permitted where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a felony. Thus, the question becomes one of whether there was probable cause for making the arrest. See Henry v. United States (1959), 361 U.S. 98. “The necessary inquiry, therefore, [is] not whether there was a warrant or whether there was time to get one, but whether there was probable cause for the arrest.” (Emphasis added.) Watson, supra, at 417. Accordingly, if probable cause exists, an arresting officer is not required to obtain a warrant in order to apprehend a suspected felon in a public place. Steagald v. United States (1981), 451 U.S. 204; see, also, State v. Timson (1974), 38 Ohio St. 2d 122 [67 O.O.2d 140]; State v. Allen (1981), 2 Ohio App. 3d 441.

The probable cause needed to make a warrantless arrest constitutionally valid requires that the arresting officer, at the moment of the arrest, have sufficient information, based on the facts and circumstances within his knowledge or derived from a reasonably trustworthy source, to warrant a prudent man in believing that an offense had been committed by the accused. Beck v. Ohio (1964), 379 U.S. 89. See, also, Gerstein v. Pugh (1975), 420 U.S. 103; State v. Calhoun (1981), 2 Ohio App. 3d 472; State v. Wilson (1978), 57 Ohio App. 2d 11 [11 O.O.3d 8]. We are therefore required to determine whether there was probable cause, in terms of the existence *58

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Keefer
2019 Ohio 2419 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Freeman
2011 Ohio 5651 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2011)
State v. Taylor, 22501 (12-19-2008)
2008 Ohio 6737 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Etherington
876 N.E.2d 1285 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. Miles, Unpublished Decision (10-27-2004)
2004 Ohio 5687 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2004)
State v. Paladin
548 N.E.2d 263 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Cavanaugh
545 N.E.2d 1325 (Akron Municipal Court, 1988)
State v. Carter
501 N.E.2d 1219 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
484 N.E.2d 227, 20 Ohio App. 3d 55, 20 Ohio B. 58, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 12534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ingram-ohioctapp-1984.