OH2: Delay of 3 mo. in arresting and then without an arrest warrant voided search incident on arrest

Defendant’s arrest months after an offense, timed to protect the identity of an informant, was without a warrant, and there was no justification for doing without one. The prior offense was used as the reason for the current stop, and the product of that arrest is suppressed. State v. VanNoy, 2010 Ohio 2845, 188 Ohio App. 3d 89, 934 N.E.2d 413 (2d Dist. 2010):

[*P26] According to the record, Detective Bell’s testimony at the suppression hearing established that VanNoy was stopped in order to effectuate an arrest for drug trafficking offenses that had occurred several months before. Although Bell further testified that the delay was necessary to protect the identity of his confidential informant, nothing in Bell’s testimony explains why the detective did not obtain an arrest warrant once he decided that he could arrest VanNoy without endangering his informant. Although VanNoy was the subject of an on-going investigation, Bell indicated that three months elapsed between the last alleged criminal activity and the stop. There was no suggestion that VanNoy’s immediate, warrantless arrest on July 31, 2008, was necessary to protect the informant, to prevent VanNoy’s fleeing, or for some other urgent reason.

Defendant was accosted by officers as a trespasser on housing authority property and he fled. He was not seized when he fled under Hodari D. State v. Roark, 2010 Ohio 2841, 2010 Ohio App. LEXIS 2328 (2d Dist. June 18, 2010).*