People v. $241,600 U.S. Currency

• Decision Date: 16 November 1998
• Docket Number: No. E017825,E017825
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 11,732, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 8463 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. $241,600 UNITED STATES CURRENCY, Defendant; Anthony Anderson, Sr., Defendant and Appellant.

Page 588

79 Cal.Rptr.2d 588

67 Cal.App.4th 1100, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 11,732,

98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 8463

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. $241,600 UNITED STATES CURRENCY, Defendant Anthony Anderson, Sr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. E017825.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 2, California.

Nov. 16, 1998.

Milton C. Grimes, Brian A.S. Waite, Newport Beach, and J. Hawkins Low, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Jeffrey J. Koch, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

GAUT, J.

Anthony Anderson, Sr. (claimant) appeals summary judgment and entry of judgment of forfeiture of $241,600 (the money), in favor of the People of the State of California (the People). Claimant contends the trial court erred in granting the People's summary judgment based on the finding claimant lacked standing to oppose the People's forfeiture action. Claimant asserts he had a legal and equitable possessory interest in the money as the finder of lost or abandoned property. Even though claimant signed waivers and disclaimers of any interest in the money, claimant contends the waivers and disclaimers were invalid because he did not do so knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Claimant further contends the Blythe Police Department seized the money pursuant to an illegal detention, search, and seizure; and, therefore, the trial erred in denying claimant's motion to suppress the money and related evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5.

We conclude triable issues of material fact exist as to whether claimant had standing to oppose the People's forfeiture action and as to whether claimant "knew or should have known of facts which made the property subject to forfeiture pursuant to Section 11470...." (Health & Saf.Code, former § 11488.5, subd. (h), repealed by Stats.1994, ch. 314, § 14. ¹ ) Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's ruling granting summary judgment.

1. Facts and Procedural Background

Claimant and the People relied on the same evidence attached to the People's summary judgment motion, which included the declarations of Blythe Police Officers Jason Green (Green) and Patrick Streit (Streit). The following statement of facts is derived primarily from these declarations. ²

On January 25, 1993, at 2:47 a.m., Green heard on his radio a report from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) stating that a white Cadillac had just been involved in a hit-and-run accident and was headed westbound on Interstate 10 (I-10). Shortly after this report, Green heard a second report stating a white Cadillac with major front-end damage had just passed through the border checkpoint without stopping. The DPS requested the Blythe Police patrol to assist in locating the vehicle.

On the way to a surveillance location to watch for the vehicle, Green observed a white Cadillac, with Alabama tags and front-end damage, parked in an unlit area in front of a closed business. Green observed claimant sitting in the driver's seat talking on a cellular telephone. Green asked claimant if he had been involved in a traffic collision 11 miles east of the border, in Arizona. Claimant said, "Yes." Claimant showed Green his driver's license and a photocopy of the bill of sale for the car which listed Ruby Pace as the purchaser of the car.

Green notified the dispatcher that he had located the white Cadillac. The dispatcher told Green the car was registered to George Whitlow. When Green told claimant an Arizona DPS officer was in route to their location, claimant became very nervous and irritated and began pacing. Green explained it was necessary to wait for a DPS officer because claimant had left the scene of the collision in Arizona without waiting for the police.

While waiting, Green asked claimant various questions. Claimant told Green the accident was caused by a truck which forced him off westbound I-10, causing him to crash into a guard rail. Claimant left the scene, intending to find a telephone to call and report the accident. He drove to the present location, which was the first well-lit place he could find to call the police. When asked who claimant was talking to when Green arrived, claimant said he was not talking to the police. When asked why he did not simply call on his cellular phone, claimant said it was difficult to use the phone in mountain areas. Green asked him why he did not pull into one of the two service stations across the street, rather than parking by an unlit closed business. Claimant said he needed to use the phone booth. Green noted he saw claimant using a cellular phone. Claimant became irritated.

Green inquired as to who Ruby Pace was, and claimant said he met "a guy" in Los Angeles who asked him to drive the car from Alabama to Los Angeles. Green could not remember the "guy's" name and did not know where in Los Angeles he was to deliver the car. Claimant said he had known the guy for only a couple days and had trusted the guy to pay him back for his airfare to Alabama. Claimant said he had an airline ticket receipt to prove this, but then said he had lost it.

Green asked claimant for consent to search the car for drugs. Claimant refused and became more nervous, continuing to pace back and forth. When Arizona DPS Officer Farmer (Farmer) arrived, Farmer also requested claimant to consent to search the car, and claimant again refused. Farmer and Green waited for the arrival of DPS Officer Bynaker (Bynaker), who was assigned to investigate the accident. When Bynaker arrived, he spoke to claimant and completed a traffic accident investigation. Green then requested a canine officer.

Upon arrival of Canine Officer McDonald (McDonald) and his dog, McDonald and his dog walked around the car. McDonald observed after-market compartments under the trunk area. The dog stopped at the trunk area and began barking and scratching the trunk area. Green handcuffed claimant and asked claimant what was in the trunk. Claimant said he did not know and "Whatever it is, I have nothing to do with it." Green opened the trunk and found a briefcase. The dog began barking and scratching the briefcase violently. When asked if the briefcase was his, claimant said, "I told you, I don't know anything about that case. I don't know how it got in the trunk or who put it there. It's not mine." Claimant said he did not have a key to the briefcase, so Green opened it with a screw driver. Inside was $241,620 in United States currency, consisting of 21 packages wrapped in green plastic and heavy-duty tape. ³ Green impounded the money.

At 4:30 a.m. that same morning, Blythe Police Investigator Streit was called out to the scene and, upon arrival, conducted an investigation and then drove claimant to the Blythe police station and interviewed claimant. Claimant told him he flew to Alabama and met Maurice, who asked him to drive the car to Los Angeles and deliver it to Maurice's mother. Claimant said he could not remember Maurice's telephone number and did not know Maurice's mother's address or telephone number. The Birmingham, Alabama Police Department told Streit Maurice's full name was Reginald Maurice Rash, and he was not believed to be involved in any illegal activity. Streit learned from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Alabama that the car had in fact been sold to Ruby Pace, who was Maurice's mother.

Claimant told Streit he found the briefcase full of money at a rest stop off the westbound I-10, about five miles from the California border. The briefcase was in an empty rest room stall with the key laying on top of the briefcase. Claimant opened the briefcase, saw money in it, and took the briefcase to his car. About two miles from the rest stop, he was forced off the road by a pickup truck. Claimant could not explain why he then drove to Blythe without stopping and said that, when he was contacted by Green, he was using his cellular phone to report the accident and call his employer.

Claimant told Streit the money was not his, and he could not explain why a narcotics dog had "hit" on the money. Claimant then signed a disclaimer form as to any interest in the money. Claimant signed another disclaimer form and a waiver form on October 27, 1993.

On February 4, 1993, claimant filed a claim opposing forfeiture, and on September 28, 1993, and October 13, 1993, the People filed a complaint and amended complaint for forfeiture of the $241,600 found in claimant's car. By letter dated December 28, 1993, to the Riverside District Attorney, claimant stated that he was withdrawing his disclaimers because he had not knowingly and voluntarily signed them.

Claimant filed a motion to suppress and return the money pursuant to former section 11488.4 and Penal Code section 1538.5 on September 29, 1994. The trial court denied the motion on the basis of a lack of evidence of standing. Claimant filed a petition for writ of mandate seeking return of the money, which was summarily denied. The People then filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted on the grounds (1) claimant did not have standing to oppose forfeiture, and (2) the evidence established probable cause that the money was possessed, acquired, used, and intended for use as a result of drug transactions.

2. Triable Issue As to Standing

Claimant contends he has standing to seek return of the money because he has an interest in the money even though he signed disclaimers and waivers of his right to the money. Claimant argues the waivers and disclaimers do not defeat his standing because they were not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made.

Standing is a threshold legal issue in proceedings initiated under the California forfeiture statutes. (People v. $28,500 United States Currency (1996) 51 Cal.App.4th 447, 467, 59 Cal.Rptr.2d 239.) The claimant bears the burden of...