People v. Baca
| Decision Date | 18 September 1967 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 12326 |
| Citation | 254 Cal.App.2d 428,62 Cal.Rptr. 182 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Viola BACA, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Frank C. Morales, Los Angeles, for defendant and appellant.
Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Edward A. Hinz, Jr., and Anthony S. Dick, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.
Defendant was arrested as a fugitive and for possession of heroin for sale. A preliminary examination was held; an information was filed accusing defendant with violating 11500.5 of the Health and Safety Code; a motion under Penal Code section 995 was made and denied; defendant pled not guilty. Defendant personally, and all counsel, waived a jury trial and the cause was submitted on the testimony contained in transcripts of the proceedings at the preliminary hearing, together with exhibits there received. Defendant was found guilty; motion for new trial was argued and denied; probation was denied; defendant was sentenced for the term prescribed by law. Defendant appeals.
State Narcotics Agent Manuel Diaz received information from the fugitive detail of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office that defendant failed to appear in a superior court trial and that a warrant had been issued for her arrest. Agent Diaz also had personal knowledge that defendant failed to appear and that a bench warrant was issued. He also received information from a woman named Terry Camarado that defendant moved from Stillwell's Motel to a friend's residence at 2707 Pomeroy, apartment number 18.
Sergeant Sanchez and McCarville, together with Agent Diaz, went to the new address, talked to the manager, went to apartment 18, knocked on the door, and heard noises but no answer. The agent got the key from the manager and Sergeant Sanchez and McCarville entered with the key.
Agent Diaz testified as to the circumstances of the ensuing arrest and search as follows:
'I proceeded to the bathroom and behind a door in the bathroom I observed the defendant. I immediately placed the defendant under arrest as a fugitive. I told her to come out from behind the door. I then went behind the door, and on the floor I observed a piece of paper containing numerous white objects. I examined the objects, and they contained eleven condoms, each containing a white powder resembling heroin. I then arrested the defendant for possession of heroin with intent to sell, advised her of her constitutional rights; she had a right to an attorney, a right to remain silent, and anything she said could be used against her, and I asked her if she understood, and she said, 'Yes."
On cross-examination, the officer clarified the sequence of events, as follows:
'Q Upon gaining entry into the apartment, you say you first observed the defendant in the bathroom?
'A Yes.
'Q You could see her in the bathroom?
'A Yes.
'Q And you asked her to come out of the bathroom?
'A Yes.
'Q She did not come out of the bathroom?
'A Pardon?
'Q She did not come out of the bathroom?
'A Yes, she did.
'Q She did come out of the bathroom?
'A Yes.
'Q And the bathroom exits into what room?
'A A bedroom.
'Q Is that where you placed her under arrest?
'A Yes.
'Q Then you went into the bathroom yourself?
'A Yes.
'Q Then you found the items that you have just described, which are marked for identification as People's 1 collectively?
'A Yes.'
Defendant raises only two issues:
(1) Defendant asserts that the officers had no reasonable or probable cause to believe defendant was in apartment 18 and therefore the entry and search was unlawful.
(2) Defendant asserts that the search of the bathroom was not incidental to defendant's arrest and that the evidence obtained was a product of an unlawful search and seizure and inadmissible.
Defendant's argument that the search of the bathroom was improper is well taken. When an arrest is lawful, it is proper to make a reasonable search, and evidence found is admissible, even though it relates to a crime that is different from the one for which the arrest is made. (See People v. Reed (1962) 202 Cal.App.2d 575, 20 Cal.Rptr. 911, and People v. Nebbitt (1960) 183 Cal.App.2d 452, 7 Cal.Rptr. 8.) In People v. Kraps (1965) 238 Cal.App.2d 675, 48 Cal.Rptr. 89, it was held that a search which was not connected with an offense stated in an outstanding traffic warrant against defendant did not render illegal the seizure of marijuana from defendant's pocket, since the police are entitled to make a search for weapons. (Also see People v. Stewart (1961) 189 Cal.App.2d 176, 10 Cal.Rptr. 879.) However, 'an exploratory search, using one alleged crime as a subterfuge, is illegal.' (Witkin Cal. Evidence (2d ed. 1966) § 113, p. 112.) In the case of People v. Mills (1957) 148...
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People v. Superior Court
...does the arrest give him reasonable grounds to believe, without more, that the vehicle contains contraband. (Cf. People v. Baca (1967) 254 Cal.App.2d 428, 62 Cal.Rptr. 182 (probable cause to arrest defendant on charge of being a fugitive does not justify a search of the premises, as there i......
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People v. Edwards
...the right to search incident to arrest and held unlawful exploratory searches which occur following the arrest. (People v. Baca, 254 Cal.App.2d 428, 430--431, 62 Cal.Rptr. 182; People v. Mills, 148 Cal.App.2d 392, 398, 306 P.2d 1005; see People v. Vasquez, 256 Cal.App.2d 342, 346, 63 Cal.Rp......
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...later turns up. (People v. Brown, 45 Cal.2d 640, 643, 290 P.2d 528.) The factual situation here is similar to that in People v. Baca, 254 Cal.App.2d 428, 62 Cal.Rptr. 182, where a warrant had been issued for the arrest of the defendant for failure to appear in court. The police went to defe......