Penn v. Commonwealth

Full title: GEORGE DENNIS PENN, III v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Court: Supreme Court of Virginia

Date published: Sep 18, 1992

244 Va. 218 (Va. 1992)

420 S.E.2d 713

Opinion

48025 Record No. 920043

September 18, 1992

Present: Carrico, C.J., Compton, Stephenson, Whiting, Lacy, and Hassell, JJ., and Poff, Senior Justice

The Court of Appeals did not err in refusing to suppress evidence seized during a search made pursuant to an unlawful misdemeanor arrest. The judgment upholding the conviction for possession of cocaine is affirmed.

Criminal Law — Evidence — Suppression of Evidence — Illegal Arrests — Code Sec. 19.2-81

As set forth in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, 13 Va. App. 399, 412 S.E.2d 189 (1991), a police officer was observing an area through binoculars when he saw the defendant throw a bottle into a parkway. He radioed the information to an officer who approached the defendant and told him that he was going to receive a summons for littering. The defendant said he had no identification. The officer placed him under arrest and patted him down, finding a small packet containing cocaine in the process. The defendant argues that the cocaine seized during the search should have been suppressed as the result of an unlawful arrest because his warrantless arrest for littering violated Code Sec. 19.2-81 in that the misdemeanor offense was not committed in the presence of the arresting officer. While the Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that the arrest was invalid under Code Sec. 19.2-81, it held that such a violation of state law does not warrant application of the exclusionary rule to suppress the cocaine discovered in the search. The defendant appeals.

1. The Court of Appeals' judgment is affirmed for the reasons set forth in its opinion.

Appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Affirmed.

William R. Light for appellant.

Eugene Murphy, Assistant Attorney General (Mary Sue Terry, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

PER CURIAMPage 219

We granted the petition for appeal in this case to consider whether the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that the trial court did not err in refusing to suppress evidence seized during a search made pursuant to an unlawful misdemeanor arrest.

We have considered the question, and, for the reasons stated in the opinion of the Court of Appeals reported in 13 Va. App. 399, 412 S.E.2d 189 (1991), we will affirm its judgment.

Affirmed.