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People v. Cappelli11/18/1996
EN BANC
CHIEF JUSTICE VOLLACK
In this interlocutory appeal, the People seek review of an order entered by the Jefferson County District Court finding no probable cause for the arrest of the respondent, Jason Cappelli (Cappelli). We reverse the trial court's ruling.
I.
On March 12, 1996, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Sergeant Stephen White (Sergeant White) of the Lakewood Police Department responded to a dispatch for a grass/brush fire located in a drainage area of open space in the Green Mountain area. Upon arriving at the site, Sergeant White, Agent Mike Monn (Agent Monn), and Agent Richard Halpin (Agent Halpin) found a grass fire which they were able to extinguish. Sergeant White characterized the fire as suspicious in origin because there had been no lightning storms in the area and there were no other obvious causes of the fire. At the same time, another small fire was in progress to the north of the drainage area. That fire was contained and extinguished by members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
While extinguishing the fire in the drainage area, Sergeant White and the other agents heard a person yelling obscenities at them. The person yelled statements such as "You stupid [expletive] cops" and "You [expletive] will never catch me." These statements caused Sergeant White to believe that the fire had been deliberately set by the person making the statements. The person continued to yell at the agents, with his voice coming from different locations at different times. Agent Monn, who had previous contact with Cappelli, thought that the voice sounded like that of Cappelli. Although Agent Monn attempted to establish a dialogue with the person by calling out Cappelli's name, the person did not respond.
Additionally, Sergeant White and the other agents had become familiar with Cappelli's name at their roll call earlier that day, when they were informed that Cappelli had been arrested in connection with other fires and that Cappelli was known to have threatened to cause fires. Sergeant White testified that Cappelli's name came to his mind while he was extinguishing the fire and that he knew Cappelli lived approximately one-half to three-quarters of a mile from the fire. The agents thus aired information that Cappelli was a suspect in this potential arson.
After Sergeant White and the other agents extinguished the fire, they began to search for the person who continued yelling at them. Agent Mike Greenwell (Agent Greenwell) joined in the search effort with a trained K-9 tracker. The agents searched for approximately two hours without success. The yelling became sporadic, and they lost contact with the voice completely for approximately one hour. The K-9 tracker lost the scent and the agents engaged in "sweeps" of the ravines and gullies in the area in the last hour of their search.
While the agents were searching on the mountain, other law enforcement units established a perimeter below. One or more units had established surveillance of Cappelli's home, but no one observed Cappelli pass through the perimeter. During their last minutes on the mountain, the agents received radio information that a suspicious party had been seen in the back yard of a residence located within one-half to three-quarters of a mile from the search area.
Agent Carol Rosenoff (Agent Rosenoff) testified that she and another agent responded to the radio call of the suspicious person in the back yard of the residence. When she and the other agent came around the corner of a residence at 71 Wright Court, a person jumped up from behind a planter and ran away. The person had dark brown hair and was wearing a brown l
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