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State v. Werner6/5/2003
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The defendant argues eloquently to this Court that the trial justice erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence found in Apartments 14A and 14B Brookside Avenue on the ground that defendant had been arrested illegally inside a dwelling house in which he had a reasonable expectation of privacy. He contends that this arrest was illegal pursuant to the principles enunciated in Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). In that case, a New York policeman arrested the defendant in his home in March 1974 for two armed robberies that he had committed in 1971. Id. at 578, 100 S.Ct. at 1376, 63 L.Ed.2d at 646. The officers were acting pursuant to a New York statute that purported to authorize an arrest within a dwelling, without a warrant, if the police had probable cause to arrest. Id. In Payton, Justice Stevens, speaking for the Court, held that an arrest without a warrant in a dwelling was a violation of the Fourth Amendment and further declared that the fruits of such an arrest (evidence seized in the dwelling) should have been suppressed. Id. at 590, 100 S.Ct. at 1382, 63 L.Ed.2d at 653. The Court stated that a warrantless arrest inside the suspect's dwelling would be valid only in the event of exigent circumstances. Id. The New York prosecutorial authorities did not raise the issue of exigent circumstances in that case, since they were relying solely on statutory authorization. The New York statute, together with twenty-four similar statutes of other states, was declared to be invalid. Id. at 599-603, 100 S.Ct. at 1386-88, 62 L.Ed.2d at 658-61.
In the case at bar, defendant was not arrested inside the dwelling house. As we noted earlier in the statement of facts, the police traced defendant to the apartment building at Brookside Avenue after talking to his sister very early on the morning of May 15, 1988, and thereafter through checking the records of a traffic offense that referred to defendant as residing at that address. The shootings of the victims occurred shortly after midnight. The police located the Mercury Monarch automobile a brief time thereafter. Items inside the automobile led them to the home of Werner's sister, who suggested that her brother was living with Dennina Prefontaine. She did not know his exact address but suggested that it was in the vicinity of Brookside Avenue in West Warwick. Sergeant Appollonio associated Werner with the address at 14B Brookside Avenue by checking the records of the traffic division at the West Warwick Police Department as soon as it opened. The police arrived at 14 Brookside Avenue at about 10 a.m. The officers knocked loudly on the front door of the apartment building and announced their presence. Ms. Prefontaine appeared at a window and was ordered to come outside. She did so and was accompanied by Norman Ducharme, whom she had met the night before. The officers asked Ms. Prefontaine whether Werner was in the building. She answered in the negative.
Almost simultaneously, Det. Santos saw Werner open a window and lean out. Detective Santos believed that Werner intended to escape through the window. He ordered Werner to halt. Werner ducked back inside the building, and shortly thereafter came to the front door. He was ordered outside by Sgt. Appollonio. He was arrested as he emerged from the building, was handcuffed, and taken into custody. The trial justice in this case found as a fact that the arrest took place outside the dwelling. He therefore did not reach the question concerning whether there were exigent circumstances that justified the arrest assuming it took place inside the dwelling. The defendant cites a number of decisions in which federal appellate courts determined that the Payton doctrine a
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