Thе central issue in this appeal by the state is whether the handwriting exemplar was the product of an invalid arrest and thus inadmissible. Related issues raised by defendant in the Court of Appeals are whether the exemplar was coerced, whether its admission in evidence violаted defendant’s Fifth Amendment priv
As to the latter issue, whether a warrant should have been obtained, in State v. Woodards (1966),
“Under certain circumstances, a warrant need not be obtained in order to render an arrest valid. The arresting officer must have probable cause to believe that a felony was cоmmitted by defendant, and the circumstances must be such as to make it impracticable to secure a warrant. Johnson v. United States,333 U. S. 10 ; Jones v. United States,357 U. S. 493 , 499, 500; Chapman v. United States,365 U. S. 610 , 615.”
The circumstances surrounding the warrantless arrest here are that when the police left the police station they had information from the informer that defеndant and the others intended to leave town and at the time defendant was arrested this information had been buttressed by discovery of the fаct that one of defendant’s alleged accomplices had already fled.
We are of the opinion that in such circumstances the police were justified in proceeding without a warrant. The holding in Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971),
We turn now to the principal issuе: Was there probable cause for the warrantless arrest?
Whether a warrantless arrest is 1 ‘ * * * constitutionally valid depends * * * upon whether, at the moment the arrest wаs made, the officers had probable cause to make it — -whether at that moment the facts and circumstances
In its reversal of defendant’s conviction here the Court of Appeals relied upon Aguilar v. Texas (1964),
The holding in Aguilar was characterized in Spinelli v. United States (1969),
In Spinelli, the court cited Draper v. United States (1959),
“While Draper involved the question whether the police had probable cause for an arrest without a warrant, the analysis required for an answer to this question is basically similar to that demanded of a magistrate when he considers whether a search warrаnt should issue.”
Concerning Draper, the court said:
“The detail provided by the informant in Draper v. United States,358 U. S. 307 (1959), provides a suitable benchmark. While Hereford, the government’s informer in that case, did not state the way in which he had obtained his information, he reported that Draper had gone to Chicago the day before by train and that he would return to Denver by train with three ounсes of heroin on one of*157 two specified mornings. Moreover, Hereford went on to describe, with minute particularity, the clothes thаt Draper would be wearing upon his arrival at the Denver station. A magistrate, when confronted with such detail, could reasonably infer that the informant had gained his information in a reliable way. * * *
“ * * * Independent police work in that case [Draper'] corroborated much more than one small detail that had been provided by the infоrmant. There, the police, upon meeting the inbound Denver train on the second morning specified by informer Hereford, saw a man whosе dress corresponded precisely to Hereford’s detailed description. It was then apparent that the informant had not been fabricating his report out of whole cloth; since the report was of the sort which in common experience may be recоgnized as having been obtained in a reliable way, it was perfectly clear that probable cause had been established.”
We are of the opinion that this case falls within the ambit of Draper. Here, as there, independent police work “corroborated much morе than one small detail that had been provided by the informant.” Police knowledge of theft of the checkwriter and checks from the Alcraft Company, that some of those checks had been passed in the vicinity of defendant’s residence and that defendant was chаrged in Bedford with burglary and theft of the I. B. M. machines served to establish the trustworthiness of the informer’s tip and provided police with a firmer foundatiоn than “suspicion,” “belief” or “mere conclusion” upon which to base probable cause for defendant’s arrest. When this information, independently obtained by police investigation, came to light it was “then apparent that the informant had not been fabricating his report out of whole cloth,” and it “was perfectly clear that probable cause had been established.”
Inasmuch as we have dеtermined that there was probable cause for defendant’s arrest without a warrant, defendant’s argument that the exemplar was the product of an illegal arrest is without merit. Davis v. Mississippi
Defendаnt’s assertion that the admission in evidence of his handwriting exemplar constituted a denial of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination is also baseless. Gilbert v. California (1967),
“* * * A mere handwriting exemplar, in contrast to the content of what is written, like the voice or body itself, is an identifying physical chаracteristic outside its [Fifth Amendment privilege] protection.”
Nor do we find any merit to defendant’s claim that the exemplar was coеrced. Defendant was being detained lawfully and was told when released that he might be rearrested. This falls short of either threats or promisеs which might support a claim of duress.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas is affirmed.
Judgment reversed.