Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States
Dunaway v. New York
60 L. Ed. 2d 824
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1979-06-05
- Topic
- general
concluding that defendant’s confession should have been suppressed, as "[n]o intervening events broke the connection between [defendant’s] illegal detention and his confession” | concluding that defendant's confession should have been suppressed, as "[n]o intervening events broke the connection between [defendant's] illegal detention and his confession" | holding that probable cause was required where petitioner’s detention, though not styled as an arrest, “was in important respects indistinguishable from a traditional arrest” | holding that a voluntary statement must be suppressed under the exclusionary rule if it was causally connected to an illegal seizure | holding that the police may not seize an individual without probable cause in order to "embark[ ] upon [an] expedition for evidence in the hope that something might turn up" | holding that an interrogation conducted during an illegal detention violated the suspect's Fourth Amendment rights and that information gained from the interrogation could not be used to justify the initial seizure | holding that “detention for custodial interrogation ... intrudes so severely on interests protected by the Fourth Amendment as necessarily to trigger the traditional safeguards against illegal arrest” and to require probable cause | holding that "detention for custodial interrogation... intrudes so severely on interests protected by the Fourth Amendment as necessarily to trigger the traditional safeguards against illegal arrest" and to require probable cause | holding that police needed probable cause to take a person from a neighbor’s home to the police station for interrogation | holding that a suspect was arrested when he was taken by police car from a house to a police station interrogation room without probable cause | holding that probable cause is required for an arrest except in a case like Terry | holding that detention for over an hour without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment | holding that a detention where a suspect was "taken from a neighbor's home to a police car, transported to a police station, and placed in an interrogation room" "was in important respects indistinguishable from a traditional arrest" | holding that a detention where a suspect was "taken from a neighbor's home to a police car, transported to a police station, and placed in an interrogation room" "was in important respects indistinguishable from a traditional arrest" | holding that the police may not seize an individual without probable cause in order to "embark[ ] upon [an] expedition for evidence in the hope that something might turn up" | concluding that where petitioner was taken from neighbor’s home to police vehicle, transported to police station, and placed in interrogation room, detention was “indistinguishable” from traditional arrest and required probable cause or judicial authorization | holding that petitioner was "seized" when he was taken involuntarily to the police station | holding that an interrogation conducted during an illegal detention violated the suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights and that information gained from the interrogation could not be used to justify the initial seizure | holding that detention of defendant was indistinguishable from a traditional arrest | finding that "the treatment of petitioner, whether or not it is technically characterized as an arrest, must be supported by probable cause" | finding that an arrest occurred when the defendant was "picked up" and brought in for questioning about a murder | concluding that the defendant’s detention was an arrest, not a Terry stop, when “he was taken from a neighbor’s home to a police car, transported to a police station, and placed in an interrogation room” | finding that “the treatment of petitioner, whether or not it is technically characterized as an arrest, must be supported by probable cause” | concluding that the police violated the Fourth Amendment when, without probable cause, they seized the defenda
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delivered the opinion of the Court.
We decide in this case the question reserved 10 years ago in Morales v. New York, 396 U. S. 102 (1969), namely, “the question of the legality of custodial questioning on less than probable cause for a full-fledged arrest.” Id., at 106.
I
On March 26, 1971, the proprietor of a pizza parlor in Rochester, N. Y., was killed during an attempted robbery. On August 10, 1971, Detective Anthony Fantigrossi of the
At petitioner’s jury trial for attempted robbery and felony murder, his motions to suppress the statements and sketches were denied, and he was convicted. On appeal, both the
In compliance with the remand, the New York Court of Appeals directed the Monroe County Court to make further factual findings as to whether there was a detention of petitioner, whether the police had probable cause, “and, in the event there was a detention and probable cause is not found for such detention, to determine the further question as to whether the making of the confessions was rendered infirm
The County Court determined after a supplementary suppression hearing that Dunaway’s motion to suppress should have been granted. Although reaffirming that there had been “full compliance with the mandate of Miranda v. Arizona,” the County Court found that “this case does not involve a situation where the defendant voluntarily appeared at police headquarters in response to a request of the police . . . .” App. 117. The State’s attempt to justify petitioner’s involuntary investigatory detention on the authority of People v. Morales, 22 N. Y. 2d 55, 238 N. E. 2d 307 (1968)— which upheld a similar detention on the basis of information amounting to less than probable cause for arrest — was rejected on the grounds that the precedential value of Morales was questionable,3 and that the controlling authority was the “strong language” in Brown v. Illinois indicating “disdain for custodial questioning without probable cause to arrest.”4 The County Court further held that “the factual predicate in this case did not amount to probable cause sufficient to support the arrest of the defendant,” that “the Miranda warnings by themselves did not purge the taint of the defend
A divided Appellate Division reversed. Although agreeing that the police lacked probable cause to arrest petitioner, the majority relied on. the Court of Appeals’ reaffirmation, subsequent to the County Court’s decision, that “[l]aw enforcement officials may detain an individual upon reasonable suspicion for questioning for a reasonable and brief period of time under carefully controlled conditions which are ample to protect the individual’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights.” 61 App. Div. 2d 299, 302, 402 N. Y. S. 2d 490, 492 (1978), quoting People v. Morales, 42 N. Y. 2d 129, 135, 366 N. E. 2d 248, 251 (1977). The Appellate Division also held that even if petitioner’s detention were illegal, the taint of his illegal detention was sufficiently attenuated to allow the admission of his statements and sketches. The Appellate Division emphasized that petitioner was never threatened or abused by the police and purported to distinguish Brown v. Illinois,5 The Court of Appeals dismissed petitioner’s application for leave to appeal. App. 134.
We granted certiorari, 439 U. S. 979 (1978), to clarify the Fourth Amendment’s requirements as to the permissible grounds for custodial interrogation and to review the New York court’s application of Brown v. Illinois. We reverse.
II
We first consider whether the Rochester police violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when, without probable cause to arrest, they took petitioner into custody, transported
The Fourth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 (1961), provides: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause . . . .” There can be little doubt that petitioner was “seized” in the Fourth Amendment sense when he was taken involuntarily to the police station.6 And respondent State concedes that the police lacked probable cause to arrest petitioner before his incriminating statement during interrogation.7 Nevertheless respondent contends that the seizure of petitioner did not amount to an arrest and was therefore permissible under the Fourth Amendment because the police had a “reasonable suspicion” that petitioner possessed “intimate knowledge about a serious and unsolved crime.” Brief for Respondent 10. We disagree.
Before Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (1968), the Fourth
Terry for the first time recognized an exception to the requirement that Fourth Amendment seizures of persons must
Because Terry involved an exception to the general rule requiring probable cause, this Court has been careful to maintain its narrow scope. Terry itself involved a limited, on-the-street frisk for weapons.12 Two subsequent cases which applied Terry also involved limited weapons frisks. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U. S. 143 (1972) (frisk for weapons on basis of reasonable suspicion); Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U. S. 106 (1977) (order to get out of car is permissible “de minimis” intrusion after car is lawfully detained for traffic violations; frisk for weapons justified after “bulge” observed in jacket). United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S. 873 (1976), applied Terry in the special context of roving border patrols stopping automobiles to check for illegal immigrants. The investigative stops usually consumed
Respondent State now urges the Court to apply a balancing test, rather than the general rule, to custodial interrogations, and to hold that “seizures” such as that in this case may be justified by mere “reasonable suspicion.”14 Terry and its
In contrast to the brief and narrowly circumscribed intrusions involved in those cases, the detention of petitioner was in important respects indistinguishable from a traditional arrest. Petitioner was not questioned briefly where he was found. Instead, he was taken from a neighbor’s home to a police car, transported to a police station, and placed in an interrogation room. He was never informed that he was “free to go”; indeed, he would have been physically restrained if he had refused to accompany the officers or had tried to escape their custody. The application of the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of probable cause does not depend on whether an intrusion of this magnitude is termed an “arrest” under state law. The mere facts that petitioner was not told he was under arrest, was not “booked,” and would not have had an arrest record if the interrogation had proved fruitless, while not insignificant for all purposes, see Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U. S. 291 (1973), obviously do not make petitioner’s
The central importance of the probable-cause requirement to the protection of a citizen’s privacy afforded by the Fourth Amendment’s guarantees cannot be compromised in this fashion. “The requirement of probable cause has roots that are deep in our history.” Henry v. United States, 361 U. S. 98, 100 (1959). Hostility to seizures based on mere suspicion was a prime motivation for the adoption of the Fourth Amendment, and decisions immediately after its adoption affirmed that “common rumor or report, suspicion, or even ‘strong reason to suspect’ was not adequate to support a warrant for arrest.” Id., at 101 (footnotes omitted). The familiar threshold standard of probable cause for Fourth Amendment seizures reflects the benefit of extensive experience accommodating the factors relevant to the “reasonableness” requirement of the Fourth Amendment, and provides the relative simplicity and clarity necessary to the implementation of a workable rule. See Brinegar v. United States, supra, at 175-176.
In effect, respondent urges us to adopt a multifactor balancing test of “reasonable police conduct under the circumstances” to cover all seizures that do not amount to technical arrests.15 But the protections intended by the Framers could all too easily disappear in the consideration and balancing of the multifarious circumstances presented by different cases, especially when that balancing may be done in the first instance by police officers engaged in the “often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime.” Johnson v. United States, 333 U. S. 10, 14 (1948). A single, familiar standard is essential to
Moreover, two important decisions since Terry confirm the conclusion that the treatment of petitioner, whether or not it is technically characterized as an arrest, must be supported by probable cause. Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U. S. 721 (1969), decided the Term after Terry, considered whether fingerprints taken from a suspect detained without probable cause must be excluded from evidence. The State argued that the detention “was of a type which does not require probable cause,” 394 U. S., at 726, because it occurred during an investigative, rather than accusatory, stage, and because it was for the sole purpose of taking fingerprints. Rejecting the State’s first argument, the Court warned:
“[T]o argue that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the investigatory stage is fundamentally to misconceive the purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Investigatory seizures would subject unlimited numbers of innocent persons to the harassment and ignominy incident to involuntary detention. Nothing is more clear than that the Fourth Amendment was meant to prevent wholesale intrusions upon the personal security of our*215 citizenry, whether these intrusions be termed ‘arrests’ or ‘investigatory detentions.’ ” Id., at 726-727.
The State’s second argument in Davis was more substantial, largely because of the distinctions between taking fingerprints and interrogation:
“Fingerprinting involves none of the probing into an individual’s private life and thoughts that marks an interrogation or search. Nor can fingerprint detention be employed repeatedly to harass any individual, since the police need only one set of each person’s prints. Furthermore, fingerprinting is an inherently more reliable and effective crime-solving tool than eyewitness identifications or confessions and is not subject to such abuses as the improper line-up and the ‘third degree.’ Finally, because there is no danger of destruction of fingerprints, the limited detention need not come unexpectedly or at an inconvenient time.” Id., at 727.
In Davis, however, the Court found it unnecessary to decide the validity of a “narrowly circumscribed procedure for obtaining” the fingerprints of suspects without probable cause— in part because, as the Court emphasized, “petitioner was not merely fingerprinted during the . . . detention but also subjected to interrogation.” Id., at 728 (emphasis added). The detention therefore violated the Fourth Amendment.
Brown v. Illinois, 422 U. S. 590 (1975), similarly disapproved arrests made for “investigatory” purposes on less than probable cause. Although Brown’s arrest had more of the trappings of a technical formal arrest than petitioner’s, such differences in form must not be exalted over substance.17
“The impropriety of the arrest was obvious; awareness’ of the fact was virtually conceded by the two detectives when they repeatedly acknowledged, in their testimony, that the purpose of their action was 'for investigation’ or for 'questioning.’ . . . The arrest, both in design and in execution, was investigatory. The detectives embarked upon this expedition for evidence in the hope that something might turn up.” Id., at 605.
See also id., at 602.
These passages from Davis and Brown reflect the conclusion that detention for custodial interrogation — regardless of its label — intrudes so severely on interests protected by the Fourth Amendment as necessarily to trigger the traditional safeguards against illegal arrest. We accordingly hold that the Rochester police violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when, without probable cause, they seized petitioner and transported him to the police station for interrogation.
Ill
There remains the question whether the connection between this unconstitutional police conduct and the incriminating statements and sketches obtained during petitioner’s illegal detention was nevertheless sufficiently attenuated to permit the use at trial of the statements and sketches. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U. S. 471 (1963); Nardone v. United States, 308 U. S. 338 (1939); Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U. S. 385 (1920).
The New York courts have consistently held, and petitioner does not contest, that proper Miranda warnings were given and that his statements were “voluntary” for purposes of the Fifth Amendment. But Brown v. Illinois, supra, settled that
“If Miranda warnings, by themselves, were held to attenuate the taint of an unconstitutional arrest, regardless of how wanton and purposeful the Fourth Amendment violation, the effect of the exclusionary rule would be substantially diluted. . . . Arrests made without warrant or without probable cause, for questioning or 'investigation/ would be encouraged by the knowledge that evidence derived therefrom, could well be made admissible at trial by the simple, expedient of giving Miranda warnings.” Id., at 602.
Consequently, although a confession after proper Miranda warnings may be found “voluntary” for purposes of the Fifth Amendment,18 this type of “voluntariness” is merely a “threshold requirement” for Fourth Amendment 'analysis, 422 U. S., at 604. Indeed, if the Fifth Amendment has been violated, the Fourth Amendment issue would not have to be reached.
Beyond this threshold requirement, Brown articulated a test designed to vindicate the “distinct policies and interests of the Fourth Amendment.” Id., at 602. Following Wong Sun, the Court eschewed any per se or “but for” rule, and identified the relevant inquiry as “whether Brown’s statements were obtained by exploitation of the illegality of his arrest,” 422 U. S., at 600; see Wong Sun v. United States, supra, at 488. Brown’s, focus on “the causal connection between the illegality and the confession,” 422 U. S., at 603, reflected the two policies behind the use of the exclusionary rule to effec
Brown identified several factors to be considered “in determining whether the confession is obtained by exploitation of an illegal arrest [: t]he temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession, the presence of intervening circumstances, . . . and, particularly, the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct.... And the burden of showing admissibility rests, of course, on the prosecution.” Id., at 603-604.19 Examining the case before it, the Court readily concluded that the State had failed to sustain its burden of showing the confession was admissible. In the “less than two hours” that elapsed between the arrest and the confession “there was no intervening event of significance whatsoever.” Ibid. Furthermore, the arrest without probable cause had a “quality of purposefulness” in that it was an “expedition for evidence” admittedly undertaken “in the hope that something might turn up.” Id., at 605.
The situation in this case is virtually a replica of the situation in Brown. Petitioner was also admittedly seized without probable cause in the hope that something might turn up, and confessed without any intervening event of significance.20 Nevertheless, three members of the Appellate Division purported to distinguish Brown on the ground that the police did not threaten or abuse petitioner (presumably putting aside his illegal seizure and detention) and that the police
Reversed.
Me. Justice Powell took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.See opinion in People v. Dunaway (Monroe County Ct., Mar. 11, 1977), App. 116-117. An informant had reportedly told the other detective that one James Cole had said that he and someone named “Irving” had been involved in the crime. The informant did not know “Irving’s” last name, but had identified a picture of petitioner Dunaway from a police file. After hearing this information, Fantigrossi interviewed Cole, who was in jail pending an indictment for burglary. Cole denied any involvement in the crime, but stated that he had been told about it two months earlier by another inmate, Hubert Adams. According to Cole, Adams had mentioned that his younger brother, Ba Ba Adams, had told him that he and a fellow named “Irving,” also known as “Axelrod,” had been involved in the crime.
See 61 App. Div. 2d 299, 301, 402 N. Y. S. 2d 490, 491 (1978). The first statement was made within an hour after Dunaway reached the police station; the following day he made a second, more complete statement.
We granted certiorari in Morales and noted that “[t]he ruling below, that the State may detain for custodial questioning on less than probable cause for a traditional arrest, is manifestly important, goes beyond our subsequent decisions in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (1968), and Sibron v. New York, 392 U. S. 40 (1968), and is claimed by petitioner to be at odds with Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U. S. 721 (1969).” Morales v. New York, 396 U. S. 102, 104-105 (1969). Nevertheless, inadequacies in the record led us to remand for further development and to reserve the issue we decide today for a record that “squarely and necessarily presents the issue and fully illuminates the factual context in which the question arises.’’ Id., at 105. On remand, the New York courts determined that Morales had gone to the police voluntarily. People v. Morales, 42 N. Y. 2d 129, 137-138, 366 N. E. 2d 248, 252-253 (1977).
App. 118; see Brown v. Illinois, 422 U. S., at 602, 605.
61 App. Div. 2d, at 303-304, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 493. Two of the five members of the court dissented on this issue. Id., at 304, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 493 (Denman, J., concurring); id., at 305, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 494 (Cardamone, J., dissenting).
“It must be recognized that whenever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his freedom to walk away, he has 'seized’ that person.” Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 16 (1968). Respondent contends that petitioner accompanied the police voluntarily and therefore was not “seized.” Brief for Respondent 7-9. The County Court found otherwise, App. 117, quoted supra, at 205; and the Appellate Division treated the case as an involuntary detention justified by reasonable suspicion. See 61 App. Div. 2d, at 302-303, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 492. See also ALI, Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure § 2.01 (3) and commentary, p. 91 (Tent. Draft No. 1, 1966) (request to come to police station “may easily carry an implication of obligation, while the appearance itself, unless clearly stated to be voluntary, may be an awesome experience for the ordinary citizen”).
Both the County Court and the Appellate Division'found that the police lacked probable cause, and respondent does not question those findings here. See 61 App. Div. 2d, at 302, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 492; App. 120, citing Spinelli v. United States, 393 U. S. 410 (1969); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U. S. 108 (1964).
See, e. g., Warden v. Hayden, 387 U. S. 294 (1967) (hot pursuit); United States v. Watson, 423 U. S. 411 (1976) (felony arrests in public places).
“Probable cause exists where ‘the facts and circumstances 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 [by the person to be arrested].” Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160, 175-176 (1949), quoting Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 162 (1925). See generally 2 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment 436-480 (1978).
See Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U. S. 103, 111-112 (1975); Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23 (1963).
The Court stressed the limits of its holding: the police officer’s belief that his safety or that of others is in danger must be objectively reasonable — based on reasonable inferences from known facts — so that it can be tested at the appropriate time by “the more detached, neutral scrutiny of a judge,” 392 U. S., at 21, 27; and the extent of the intrusion must be carefully tailored to the rationale justifying it.
Terry specifically declined to address “the constitutional propriety of an investigative 'seizure’ upon less than probable cause for purposes of 'detention’ and/or interrogation.” Id., at 19 n. 16. Mr. Justice White, in a concurring opinion, made these observations on the matter of interrogation during an investigative stop:
“There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents a policeman from addressing questions to anyone on the streets. Absent special circumstances, the person approached may not be detained or frisked but may refuse to cooperate and go on his way. However, given the proper circumstances, such as those in this case, it seems to me the person may be briefly detained against his will while pertinent questions are directed to him. Of course, the person stopped is not obliged to answer, answers may not be compelled, and refusal to answer furnishes no basis for an arrest, although it may alert the officer to the need for continued observation.” Id., at 34.
“[B] ecause of the importance of the governmental interest at stake, the minimal intrusion of a brief stop, and the absence of practical alternatives for policing the border, we hold that when an officer’s observations lead him reasonably to suspect that a particular vehicle may contain aliens who are illegally in the country, he may stop the car briefly and investigate the circumstances that provoke suspicion.” 422 U. S., at 881.
The factors that respondent would consider relevant in its balancing test, and the scope of the rule the test would produce, are not completely clear. The Appellate Division quoted two apparently different tests from the Court of Appeals opinion in People v. Morales, 42 N. Y. 2d 129, 366 N. E. 2d 248 (1977):
“£[L]aw enforcement officials may detain an individual upon reasonable suspicion for questioning for a reasonable and brief period of time under carefully controlled conditions which are ample to protect the individual’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights’ (42 NY2d, at p. 135). '“[A] policeman’s right to request information while discharging his law enforcement duties will hinge on the manner and intensity of the interference, the gravity of the crime involved and the circumstances attending the encounter” ’ (42 NY2d, at p. 137, quoting from People v. De Bour, 40 NY2d 210, 219).” 61 App. Div. 2d, at 302, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 492.
Then, in characterizing the ease before it, the Appellate Division suggested yet a third “test”:
“[T]his case involves a brief detention for interrogation based upon reasonable suspicion, where there was no formal accusation filed against defend*212 ant and where great public interest existed in solving a brutal crime which had remained unsolved for a period of almost five months.” Id., at 303, 402 N. Y. S. 2d, at 492.
See n. 14, supra.
While the rule proposed by respondent is not entirely clear, the Appellate Division cited with approval a test that would require an officer to weigh before any custodial interrogation “the manner and intensity of the interference, the gravity of the crime involved and the circumstances attending the encounter.” See n. 14, supra.
The officers drew their guns, informed Brown that he was under arrest, and handcuffed him. But Brown, unlike petitioner, was not a teenager; and the police had a report that he possessed a pistol and had used it on occasion, 422 U. S., at 594. The police in this case would have resorted to similar measures if petitioner had resisted being taken into custody. App. 117.
But see Westover v. United States, 384 U. S. 436, 494-497 (1966) (decided with Miranda v. Arizona).
See generally, 3 LaFave, supra n. 9, at 630-638; Comment, 25 Emory L. J. 227, 239-244 (1976); Comment, 13 Houston L. Rev. 753, 763-770 (1976).
The cases are even parallel in that both Brown and petitioner made subsequent statements, see n. 2, supra; Brown v. Illinois, 422 U. S., at 595-596, which in each case were “clearly the result and the fruit of the first.” Id., at 605, and n. 12.
Comment, 25 Emory L. J. 227, 238 (1976).