Colorado Court of Appeals People v. Novitskiy 10CA2023

Decision here.

   Novitskiy paid for some gas and a lotto ticket with a counterfeit $20 bill, and the manager immediately called the police.  Novitskiy was still there when the police showed up, and the manager told them "That guy gave me a fake 20."  An officer ordered Novitskiy to produce any money on his person, and found more fake money.  Novitskiy was arrested, and eventually convicted of forgery.  Novitskiy appealed his conviction, arguing that the scope of the search exceeded what was permissible during an investigative detention, and arguing that the police lacked probable cause to arrest.

   The Court of Appeals noted that where the identity of an informant is known, they may generally be presumed credible.  In cases where the informant provides information that relies on special expertise (such as identifying fake money), that expertise can sometimes be inferred from the circumstances (such as where the informant works with cash for a living, and probably knows how to spot a fake bill).  Therefore, even though all the police had was a cashier pointing out the defendant and saying "That guy gave me a fake 20," that information was enough to establish probable cause to arrest.  The officer's demand that Novitskiy produce all his money was justified as a search incident to arrest.

   The decision also explains that probable cause is not based on mathematical probability, but just on common sense and reasonable grounds.  Novitskiy's conviction was affirmed.