People v. Chandler

Frederick Rupert Chandler, defendant below, appeals from a judgment of conviction of armed robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) entered upon a jury verdict.

Insisting that his arrest and an ensuing search were without probable cause he contends error: (1) on the admission in evidence of a knife found in the search, (2) in the use of a tape recording of a conversation between defendant and an accomplice while alone in a police car after their arrest, and (3) in allowing the testimony of a juvenile accomplice who had shortly after the arrest incriminated himself and his companions. Each of these, he says, is “the fruit of the poisonous tree,” the illegal arrest.

Discussing the question of reasonable cause for arrest, our Supreme Court in People v. Ingle, 53 Cal.2d 407, 412 [ 2 Cal.Rptr. 14 , 348 P.2d 577 ], has said: “There is no exact formula for the determination of reasonableness. Each case must be decided on its own facts and circumstances. . . . Reasonable cause has been generally defined to be such a state of facts as would lead a man of ordinary care and prudence to believe and conscientiously entertain an honest and strong suspicion that the person is guilty of a crime. [Citations.]…