United States Department of Justice

“ To us, what the existing decisions [3] show is that the question whether a statement made at the time of an illegal entry or illegal arrest should or should not be deemed admissible cannot be settled by any fixed rule but must essentially represent a judgment, based on all the circumstances, as to whether the illegal government action or the voluntary act of the defendant is the primary motivating force behind the production or discovery of the evidence. ”

“ Where, at the time and place of an illegal arrest or an illegal search, a defendant makes statements which are themselves evidence or which lead to other evidence, the situation lies between those we have just discussed. On the one side, the illegal official action is still occurring and its effects may, to a greater or less degree, still be operative. On the other, the statements, if not coerced, do represent an independent intervening act of free will on the part of the defendant. ”

“ Human beings do normally have power to control their own speech, and, when they do choose to speak, their words, if voluntary, cannot be simply equated, without more, to intangible objects observed or discovered in the course of an illegal arrest or search. ”

“ And this "means less than evidence which would justify condemnation" or conviction, as Marshall, C.J., said for the Court more than a century ago in Locke v. United States, 7 Cranch 339, 348. Since Marshall's time, at any rate, it has come to mean more than bare suspicion: Probable cause exists where "the facts and circumstance within their [the officers'] knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information [are] sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that" an offense has been or is being committed. ”

“ There then occurred the action by Toy that forced upon the officer a split-second decision and supported the arrest as immediately necessary and lawful. Toy slammed the door shut and fled toward the rear of the laundry (the officer could see the flight through the glass in the door) . If Toy had narcotics on the premises he could conceal or destroy them in an instant. ”

“ In some cases, greater or less strength was to be found in the source of the information, and in others greater or less strength was to be found in the observations of the officers. In all the cases, of course, alternative innocent explanations of what was observed could have been hypothesized, e.g., the surreptitious handing over of an envelope could, of course, be innocent. But the mere possibility of an innocent explanation for what was observed is not the test of probable cause; innocence can be conjectured or devised for virtually any act or movement. ”

“ In Nueslein the admissions made by the taxicab owner were admissions of guilt as to the very act which prompted the officers to make the illegal entry; they were also made while the man appeared to be intoxicated, not in full possession of his faculties. Here, petitioner Toy, although knowing that the officers had found no narcotics in his house or on his person, deliberately sent them to Johnny Yee in order to divert suspicion from himself. Toy saw an opportunity to sidetrack the officers, and consciously chose to do so. ”

“ In the case of Toy, reasonable grounds for an immediate arrest without warrant arose from the combined impact of two elements: first, the specific designation of Toy as a source of supply of narcotics by a man deemed reliable by a federal narcotics agent, and, second, the flight by Toy when confronted with a narcotics agent's badge and identification. ”

“ United States, 358 U.S. 307, one of the elements which entered into the evaluation of probable cause was the fact that the informant had given specific information of the defendant's appearance and manner which observations by the officers could corroborate. [4] The courts have held that information given by persons under arrest or by their friends is entitled to credence so that when it is corroborated only slightly the total circumstances can and do amount to probable cause for an arrest. ”

“ One of the agents informed Toy of Hom Way's statement that Toy had sold him narcotics. Toy denied that he had sold narcotics but added that he knew someone who had—one "Johnny"—at whose house he had been the night before (R. 63) . Toy gave full details as to the appearance of the house, the location of "Johnny's" bedroom there, the amount of heroin in his possession, and the usual practice of "Johnny's" mother to come out of the house at about 8 a.m. with the children going to school. ”

“ It is not always easy to decide whether the statements are truly the product of the illegal government action or result from an intervening independent act of volition. But it seems clear to us that there should be no general rule barring all statements or admissions made in connection with or after an illegal arrest. ”

“ But the mistakes must be those of reasonable men, acting on facts leading sensibly to their conclusions of probability. The rule of probable cause is a practical, nontechnical conception affording the best compromise that has been found for accommodating these often opposing interests. ”

“ In sum, Toy's action in fleeing, combined with Hom Way's accusation, constituted probable cause for the arrest of Toy at that moment. Toy's slamming of the door was no flight from a supposed robber. Toy made no claim of any such fear. [6] The admitted circumstances afford no explanation of the flight to the rear other than guilt. There was only a single agent, standing in daylight at the door of a laundry on a public street, with no weapons, and who had made no attempt to enter. ”

“ Things just happen. They are required as a matter of duty to act as reasonably prudent men would act under the circumstances as those circumstances happen. * * *
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[The] action [of an officer experienced in the narcotics traffic] is not measured by what might be probable cause to an untrained civilian passerby. When a peace officer makes the arrest, the standard means a reasonable, cautious and prudent peace officer. The question is what constituted probable cause in the eyes of a reasonable, cautious and prudent peace officer under the circumstances of the moment. ”

“ And, on the other hand, any responsible and competent person is at liberty to speak as against himself or against his own interests at any time or place or under any and all circumstances, so long as he freely and voluntarily does so. ”

“ Although the record does not contain the information, the fact is that petitioner Toy was arraigned before the Commissioner on June 4 and petitioner Wong Sun on June 5. Each was released on his own recognizance. On June 9, each of the petitioners was interviewed separately by an agent at the Bureau offices. [3] Each was told of his right not to answer questions or make a statement, of his right to counsel, and of the fact that any statement made could be used against him. Each was told that the agent could make no promises of immunity or leniency. ”

“ The court of appeals pointed out that he was trying to use the glassine envelope as a cover-up, and that, instead of characterizing his behavior as an admission, it was far more plausible to interpret it as an attempt to ingratiate so as to convince the agents that he was only a "small time user" and might well be released in exchange for a bribe. ”

“ This was a laundry which was due to open at 8, or possibly 8:30, o'clock (see R. 51, cf. R. 38) , and a community in which many businesses open at 8 o'clock. In judging the reasonableness of the officer's action it is also necessary to bear in mind that, in dealing with as easily concealable and as valuable a contraband as heroin, delay in the investigation could have serious consequences. Word of Hom Way's arrest or even of his disappearance from his ordinary haunts could travel quickly and lead to the hiding or destruction of the narcotics. ”

“ United States, 227 F. 2d 598 (C.A. 1) (cited by petitioners) . There is obviously a direct connection between the illegal entry and the officers' observations.
This Court also applied the "poisonous tree" doctrine in Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, holding that evidence would be inadmissible, not only if obtained directly from illegal wire-tapping, but also if obtained from leads or clues stemming from the wire-tapping. The Court indicated, however, that the connection between the illegal official conduct and the evidence must be direct and adequate. ”

“ Toy gave Wong Sun $450 and, after the latter obtained the heroin, Toy phoned Johnny, and Toy and Wong Sun drove to Johnny's house at about midnight. Toy gave the heroin to Johnny in a rubber contraceptive enclosed in a small brown bag. ”

“ They also seek to give fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community's protection. Because many situations which confront officers in the course of executing their duties are more or less ambiguous, room must be allowed for some mistakes on their part. ”

“ However, since the court of appeals upheld the convictions on the ground that they rested, not upon evidence seized in the arrests, but upon the actual finding of the heroin in Yee's house, and the voluntary statements and confessions of petitioners and Yee, we proceed now to discuss the validity of the judgment below upon that basis.
↑ Naples, a homicide case, involved information given by the defendant's brother. ↑ People v. Witt, 159 Cal. App. ”

“ Petitioners contend (Pet. Br. 9) that the absence of affirmative evidence that the officer stated his purpose to arrest Toy brought the case within the prohibition of Miller v. United States, 357 U.S. 301. The language of the Miller opinion itself answers this contention. This Court there noted decisions "holding that justification for noncompliance [with the requirement of statement of purpose] exists in exigent circumstances, as, for example, when the officers may in good faith believe * * * that the person to be arrested is fleeing or attempting to destroy evidence. People v. ”