PEOPLE OF MI V RICKY LEE FARMER
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
September 6, 2007
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 271217
Muskegon Circuit Court
LC No. 05-051642-FH
RICKY LEE FARMER,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Cavanagh, P.J., and Donofrio and Servitto, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Following a bench trial, defendant was convicted of possession with intent to deliver less
than 50 grams of cocaine, MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iv). The trial court sentenced defendant as an
habitual offender, fourth offense, to a prison term of 30 months to 30 years. He appeals as of
right. We affirm. This appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR
7.214(E).
Defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress the
cocaine that fell from his pants during a search and his statement to the police, as a fruit of the
poisonous tree. He challenges the court’s determination that there was probable cause to arrest
him based on the information supplied by an informant. This Court reviews a trial court’s
factual findings in a suppression hearing for clear error. People v Jenkins, 472 Mich 26, 31; 691
NW2d 759 (2005). Because the application of constitutional standards by the trial court is not
entitled to the same deference as factual findings, this Court reviews de novo the trial court’s
ultimate ruling on a motion to suppress. Id.; People v Williams, 472 Mich 308, 313; 696 NW2d
636 (2005).
At the hearing on the motion, Sergeant Lewkowski testified that on April 8, 2005, he
received a phone call from a confidential informant at approximately 5:30 p.m. advising him that
defendant, identified by name, would be arriving within a half hour in a gray Chevrolet at 1080
Terrace and would be in possession of crack cocaine. The informant did not indicate that she
had actually seen defendant with cocaine and did not state the basis for her belief that defendant
would have cocaine. The area was “consistent with drug sales.” Lewkowski provided the
information to Sergeant Fine.
The West Michigan Enforcement Team, a task force that investigated drug complaints in
Muskegon County, had worked with the informant on three previous occasions to purchase drugs
in controlled buys where the informant identified the target. The third buy led to a search
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warrant and a felony arrest. She had also provided information leading to the arrest of a fugitive.
The informant was paid for providing some of the information.
Lewkowski was familiar with defendant and was aware that he had prior convictions for
drugs and weapons, that he had recently been released from prison, and according to his parole
agent, had recently tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.
For the purposes of the motion, the parties stipulated that, on April 8, 2005, at about 6:00
p.m., police officers observed a gray Chevrolet with defendant as a passenger arrive at 1080
Terrace. Shortly after 6:00 p.m., Fine advised Lewkowski that the police had located defendant
and found crack cocaine. Lewkowski was not in the vicinity at the time of the arrest.
A police officer may arrest an individual without a warrant if the officer has probable
cause to believe that a felony has been committed and that the suspect committed it. MCL
764.15; People v Champion, 452 Mich 92, 115; 549 NW2d 849 (1996). “Probable cause to
arrest exists where the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge and of which he
has 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.” Id. (citation
omitted).
With respect to information supplied by informants, before Illinois v Gates, 462 US 213;
103 S Ct 2317; 76 L Ed 2d 527 (1983), the analysis consisted of a two-pronged test requiring a
determination of the basis of the informant’s knowledge and a determination that the informant
was credible or the report was reliable. This test was abandoned by the United States Supreme
Court in favor of a “totality of the circumstances” analysis in Gates. People v Levine, 461 Mich
172, 179; 600 NW2d 622 (1999). The consideration of an informant’s veracity, reliability, and
basis of knowledge are not separate and independent requirements but are intertwined issues to
be considered in assessing probable cause. Id. at 180. Corroboration of an informant’s tip
remains an important consideration. See Id. at 180-185.
The facts of the present case may be compared to those in People v Walker, 401 Mich
572; 259 NW2d 1 (1977). Although Walker was decided under the former two-pronged test,
“[t]here is no question that, having survived rigid application of the Aguilar-Spinelli test, the
circumstances in Walker would satisfy the flexible Gates test.” Levine, supra at 184 n 10. In
Walker, the police received an anonymous tip in which the caller reported that the defendant was
traveling from Benton Harbor to Detroit to purchase drugs and would be returning to a particular
residence with drugs in about five hours accompanied by two women. The caller stated that he
would be driving either a four-door bronze-colored Cadillac with Indiana plates or a four-door
black-over-yellow Oldsmobile with Michigan plates. The records indicated that an owner of a
1969 Oldsmobile lived at the specified address. The police observed a bronze-colored Cadillac
in the garage. The police stopped a 1969 black-over-yellow Oldsmobile with a Michigan license
as it approached Benton Harbor and ordered the occupants out of the car. The defendant
discarded heroin, which the police confiscated. The Court concluded that the tip contained
“sufficient detail so that the police could reasonably infer that they were relying on ‘something
more than a casual rumor’ or information based on ‘an offhand remark heard at a neighborhood
bar’.” Walker, supra at 581 (citation omitted). There was “sufficient self-verifying detail to
warrant an inference that the informant obtained his information in a reliable manner.” Id. at
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582. The corroboration of the details allowed the police to reasonably conclude that the
informant was reliable. Id. at 584.
In both the present case and in Walker the informant predicted the arrival of the
defendant in a particular location within a particular time frame. In both cases, the informant
provided the correct description of the vehicle. The description in the instant case, a gray
Chevrolet, was not quite as detailed as in Walker, but the informant additionally provided
information identifying defendant by name as a passenger. The tip in the present case did not
include information concerning other occupants of the car, and the police did not link the type of
vehicle reported in the tip to the address as they did in Walker. But in the present case, unlike in
Walker, the informant was known by the police and had previously supplied accurate
information leading to controlled buys, a search warrant, a felony arrest, and the apprehension of
a fugitive. The totality of the circumstances provided a sufficient basis for the officers to
reasonably conclude that defendant was in possession of cocaine. Because the arrest was
supported by probable cause, the search was valid as a search incident to the arrest. The motion
to suppress was correctly denied.
Affirmed.
/s/ Mark J. Cavanagh
/s/ Pat M. Donofrio
/s/ Deborah A. Servitto
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