THE POLICE HAD PROBABLE CAUSE TO ARREST THE DEFENDANT, WITHOUT A WARRANT, THREE DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING, BASED UPON THEIR INVESTIGATION WHICH INCLUDED VIEWING VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TAPES; AN ARREST IN A PUBLIC HALLWAY OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING DOES NOT VIOLATE “PAYTON;” TWO DISSENTERS WOULD HAVE AFFIRMED COUNTY COURT’S RULING THAT THE POLICE DID NOT HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing County Court’s suppression of a handgun, over a two-justice dissent, determined the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant without a warrant based upon video evidence showing the defendant entering the victim’s apartment with the victim, showing the defendant leaving the apartment and demonstrating no one else entered the apartment during the relevant period of time (when the victim was shot).. County Court’s ruling that the arrest in the common hallway of an apartment building was a Payton violation was rejected because the defendant had no expectation of privacy there:

The police “may arrest a person without a warrant when [they] ha[ve] probable cause to believe that such person has committed a crime” … . “Probable cause ‘does not require proof sufficient to warrant a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt but merely information sufficient to support a reasonable belief that an offense has been . . . committed’ by the person arrested” … . “When determining whether the police had probable cause to arrest, the inquiry is not as to [the person’s] guilt but as to the sufficiency for arrest purposes of the grounds for the arresting officer’s belief that [the person] was guilty” … . “[T]he basis for such a belief must not only be reasonable, but it must appear to be at least more probable than not that a crime has taken place and that the one arrested is its perpetrator” … . ” ‘[T]he legal conclusion [as to whether probable cause existed] is to be made after considering all of the facts and circumstances together’ ” … . “A synoptic evaluation is essential because ‘[v]iewed singly, these may not be persuasive, yet when viewed together the puzzle may fit and probable cause found’ ” … .

… [O]n January 24, 2024, the tenant who actually rented the victim’s apartment in Jamestown found the victim deceased in the apartment and then reported the discovery to a neighbor, who then accompanied the tenant back to the apartment and called 911 to report the discovery of the victim’s body. The police thereafter discovered that the victim had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head. As of that day and into the next, the murder weapon had not been located. During their investigation into the homicide, the police obtained security footage that depicted the hallway outside of the victim’s apartment. The security footage showed the victim and another male entering the victim’s apartment on January 22, 2024, but only the yet-to-be-identified male left the victim’s apartment later that same day. The investigative section commander with the investigating police department testified that, after obtaining a still photograph from the security footage and conducting further investigation, the police determined that defendant was the other male shown entering the apartment with the victim on January 22, 2024. Indeed, another officer recognized the other male—defendant—as the same person with whom he had a brief street encounter on January 22, 2024 in an alleyway on the backside of the victim’s apartment complex, i.e., defendant’s presence at the victim’s apartment complex was independently confirmed by a law enforcement source. Notably, during the street encounter that day, defendant partially misrepresented his name by giving his middle name as his surname. The police thus developed knowledge that defendant was the other male depicted leaving the victim’s apartment that same day. Based upon the police department’s review of the relevant duration of the security footage, however, no one else, including the victim, ever exited or entered the apartment from January 22, 2024 until January 24, 2024, i.e., the day that the victim’s body was discovered and the discovery was reported to the police. People v Kadenhead, 2026 NY Slip Op 04680, Fourth Dept 7-24-26

Practice Point: Here the Fourth Department determined the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant in the hallway of his apartment building, without a warrant, three days after the shooting.​