People v. Alvarez

Following his indictment for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, as an incident to his arrest as an illegal alien without a warrant by a New York City policeman, the defendant Alberto Alvarez moved this court to suppress two glassine packets of cocaine obtained from a pocket of a coat hanging in the closet of defendant’s hotel room. The issues raised on the motion are three-fold: (1) whether the arrest without a warrant was lawful; (2) whether the visit by the police immediately after defendant’s arrest to his room was a violation of his constitutional rights…