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State v. Ortiz6/10/2003
* * and must not be derived from evidence that a subsequent search might disclose." Kryla, 742 A.2d at 1182.
"The existence of probable cause to arrest without a warrant depends on whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the arresting officer possesses sufficient trustworthy facts and information to warrant a prudent officer in believing that the suspect had committed or was committing an offense." Guzman, 752 A.2d at 4; see also Kryla, 742 A.2d at 1182; Belcourt, 425 A.2d at 1227; Frazier, 421 A.2d at 550; State v. Duffy, 112 R.I. 276, 279, 308 A.2d 796, 798 (1973).
The probable-cause inquiry should focus on the arresting officer's general knowledge and experience, as well as information received by the arresting officer through official channels and via the collective knowledge of the police department. See Guzman, 752 A.2d at 4-5 (holding that the arresting officer had probable cause to arrest the defendant because, among other things, the officer knew that a crime had been committed, the defendant's appearance matched the police-radio broadcaster's description, the arrest took place within twenty minutes after the commission of the crime, and the police encountered the suspect within ten to twelve blocks or so from the murder scene); Kryla, 742 A.2d at 1183 (holding that probable cause existed to support the arrest because sufficient evidence existed for the police to conclude that someone had committed a homicide and various informants provided the police with substantial information implicating the defendant); Belcourt, 425 A.2d at 1227 (upholding a finding of probable cause to arrest the defendant based on the crime victims' detailed description of the defendant's physical appearance and clothing, which information the police transmitted to the arresting officer via a police-radio dispatcher); Duffy, 112 R.I. at 280-81, 308 A.2d at 799 (holding that, by relying on the police department's information transmitted via a radio message, the arresting officer was justified in stopping, questioning, and arresting the defendants).
Proof of probable cause to arrest does not require the same degree of proof needed to convict the defendant at trial. Belcourt, 425 A.2d at 1226. When considering the existence of probable cause, we deal in probabilities. These probabilities "are not technical; they are the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent [people], not legal technicians, act." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1310, 93 L.Ed. 1879, 1890 (1949). Thus, we review "a defendant's assertion that he or she was arrested without probable cause in light of 'the mosaic of facts and circumstances * * * viewed cumulatively "as through the eyes of a reasonable and cautious police officer on the scene, guided by his or her experience and training." ' " Guzman, 752 A.2d at 4 (quoting In re Armand, 454 A.2d 1216, 1218 (R.I. 1983)).
In this case, the trial justice denied defendant's motion to suppress for the following reasons:
"[Ortiz] was known to be an associate of a person who had very recently been killed in a very close proximity to where the defendant was found. The deceased was observed to have been severely battered and to have bled profusely. The defendant is even found to have wounds in the form of cuts and abrasions on or about his left wrist. Given that, this might be a close call. If the defendant's minimal deprivation of liberty at the time had been engaged with conducting a full-fledged arrest, added to the inventory of factors given to make up both articulable suspicion and probable cause at this stage the officers could add at the side what appeared to be blood on the defendant's sneakers,
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