OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE EAGEN, July 2, 1970:
Jack R. Dussell was convicted of burglary and other related offenses after a nonjury trial in Philadelphia. Post-trial motions were denied, and a prison sentence was imposed. On appeal the Superior Court affirmed the judgment. We granted allocatur and now reverse, because we conclude that evidence was admitted at trial
The relevant facts may be briefly summarized as follows: On December 18, 1967, at approximately 9:15 p.m. two police officers on routine patrol in the city of Philadelphia observed a 1954 Chevrolet automobile proceed through an intersection in violation of a red (stop) light. The officers pursued the car and stopped it a block away. The driver of the automobile identified himself as William Price and produced a driver's license and other identification. The passengers identified themselves as Jack Dussell and Frederick Zemaitatis. Price was unable to produce the owner's registration card and a search of the body of the car for such by the occupants proved fruitless. Price told the police that he was using the automobile with the permission of the owner whom he identified as a man named Mr. Lane — "a fellow he had met in a restaurant on Elmwood Avenue."
The Commonwealth does not, nor could it, contend that because the driver of the automobile was criminally liable for two violations of The Vehicle Code (Act of April 29, 1959, P.L. 58, 75 P.S. § 101 et seq.), i.e., proceeding through a red light and failing to have in his possession the owner's automobile registration card, that this, without more, permitted a warrantless search of the automobile.
Clearly the evidence in the present case was insufficient as a matter of law to establish probable cause on the part of the officers that the occupants of the automobile had committed a burglary, and that evidence thereof or weapons were concealed in the trunk of the vehicle. Cf. Commonwealth v. Harris, 429 Pa. 215, 239 A.2d 290 (1968). Nor are we persuaded that the circumstances were sufficient to establish probable cause on the part of the officers that the automobile was a stolen vehicle.
The automobile was fourteen years old. It was not listed on any "hot sheet." The keys were in the ignition. The driver was in possession of a valid operator's
We recognize that the evidence required to establish "probable cause" need not amount to that required to convict (Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 80 S.Ct. 168 (1959)); however, it must be more than that which gives rise to a mere suspicion. "[T]he general requirement that a search warrant be obtained is not lightly to be dispensed with, and `the burden is on those seeking [an] exemption [from the requirement] to show the need for it . . . .'" Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2039 (1969). This burden has not been met here.
The order of the Superior Court and the judgment of the trial court are reversed and a new trial is granted.
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