People v. Chandler

• Decision Date: 21 May 1968
• Docket Number: Cr. 6089
• Citation: 262 Cal.App.2d 350,68 Cal.Rptr. 645
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Frederick Rupert CHANDLER, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 645

68 Cal.Rptr. 645

262 Cal.App.2d 350

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Frederick Rupert CHANDLER, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 6089.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

May 21, 1968.

Hearing Denied July 17, 1968.

George E. McKerrow, San Jose, for appellant (Under appointment of Court of Appeal).

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen. of State of California, Robert R. Granucci, Joyce F. Nedde, Deputy Attys. Gen., San Francisco, for respondent.

ELKINGTON, Associate Justice.

Frederick Rupert Chandler, defendant below, appeals from a judgment of conviction of armed robbery (Pen.Code, § 211) entered upon a jury verdict.

Insisting that his arrest and an ensuing search were without probable cause he contends error: (1) on the admission in evidence of a knife found in the search, (2) in the use of a tape recording of a conversation between defendant and an accomplice while alone in a police car after their arrest, and (3) in allowing the testimony of a juvenile accomplice who had shortly after the arrest incriminated himself and his companions. Each of these, he says, is 'the fruit of the poisonous tree,' the illegal arrest.

Discussing the question of reasonable cause for arrest, our Supreme Court in People v. Ingle, 53 Cal.2d 407, 412, 2 Cal.Rptr. 14, 17, 348 P.2d 577, 580, has said: 'There is no exact formula for the determination of reasonableness. Each case must be decided on its own facts and circumstances. * * * Reasonable cause has been generally defined to be such a state of facts as would lead a man of ordinary care and prudence to believe and conscientiously entertain an honest and strong suspicion that the person is guilty of the crime. (Citations.) Probable cause has also been defined as having more evidence for than against; supported by evidence which inclines the mind to believe, but leaves some room for doubt.'

We proceed to a discussion of the evidence introduced at the trial relating to the issue of probable cause for defendant's arrest.

On the early morning of July 14, 1966, a team of two police officers received successive reports of service station robberies. Each was reported as perpetrated by a single individual who was armed with a knife. The getaway car of the second robbery was described as a 'light colored station wagon.' At 4:45 a.m., while in a coffee shop on Winchester Road with their radio 'walkie talkie,' the officers received a report that another service station robbery had just occurred at Central and Hamilton Avenues. The perpetrator was described as a male Caucasion and the vehicle as a light colored sedan which was last seen proceeding north on Central Avenue. The officers ran to their vehicle where they almost immediately received a message that the robbery car was now described as a 'light colored compact station wagon, possibly a Dodge Dart.' Winchester Road is approximately 3 blocks west of Central Avenue. These streets run north and south and parallel to each other. At the time of the latest report the officers were 3 or 4 blocks from Hamilton Avenue and about 6 or 7 blocks from the robbery location. They knew that proceeding north on Central Avenue the getaway car could not turn east because of a freeway. It would necessarily have to continue straight ahead or turn west on a cross street toward Winchester Road. The first and second cross streets north of Hamilton Avenue were respectively David Avenue and Payne Avenue. To intercept the robbery car the officers drove south on Winchester Road and then chose to turn east on Payne Avenue toward Central Avenue. As they turned they saw headlights of an approaching automobile. They stopped and as the other car drove by they observed that it was a 'light colored compact station wagon' occupied by three men. The officers stopped the car and arrested the occupants, one of whom was the defendant here. At the scene the car was searched, disclosing a knife.

Defendant relies upon the frequently cited case of People v. Mickelson, 59 Cal.2d 448, 30 Cal.Rptr. 18, 380 P.2d 658. We do not think that case is here applicable. There the police did not know that the robbers had an automobile, and the car which they stopped was being driven Toward the scene of the crime a considerable time after its commission. And in considering the totality of circumstances of Mickelson it is significant to note that after the arresting policeman 'had talked to (the car's occupants) he was satisfied that they had not been involved in the robbery.' (P. 454, 30 Cal.Rptr. p. 22, 380 P.2d p. 662.) Nevertheless the car was thereafter searched. Such a search of an automobile, after the officer's suspicion had vanished, was clearly not reasonable.

People v. Schader, 62 Cal.2d 716, 44 Cal.Rptr. 193, 401 P.2d 665, presents a factual situation similar to that of the case before us. A policeman received a radio report of a robbery and murder. The suspects were reported as heading out of the city in a 'late model * * * Cadillac.' The officer parked on a freeway off-ramp on the culprits' suspected line of travel. A 'late model * * * Cadillac' appeared. In addition the officer stated that he believed that the youthful appearance and informal dress of the driver of the car presented a suspicious circumstance. Also the speed of the Cadillac was reduced when the officer began following it. The court stated that the officer 'was under no compulsion to investigate further before making an arrest. His immediate duty was to arrest the driver of the suspect vehicle, disarm him of any weapons, with a minimum of risk to his own personal safety, and proceed with his investigation.' (P. 723, 44 Cal.Rptr. p. 197, 401 P.2d p. 669; emphasis added.)

Defendant emphasizes that the robberies were reported as perpetrated by one person while the 'light colored compact station wagon' contained three men. We consider this of no significance. It is common knowledge that frequently, perhaps more often than not, where an automobile is used as a robbery getaway car, one or more persons remain in the vehicle. It might be noted that in People v. Schader, supra, 62 Cal.2d 716, 44 CalRptr. 193, 401 P.2d 665, the officer had a report of Robbers escaping in an automobile while, as the suspected car drove by, only one person, the driver, was visible. (Pp. 720--721, 44 Cal.Rptr. 193, 401 P.2d 665.)

We conclude that the officers had probable cause for the arrest of the occupants of defendant's car, and for its incidental search. The evidence here--an armed robbery a few blocks away in the early morning hours, with defendant's car answering the reported description being seen by the police minutes, possibly seconds, later, traveling away from the robbery on one of the nearest available exists from Central Avenue--would, we believe, lead a man of ordinary care and prudence to believe and conscientiously entertain an honest and strong suspicion that the car's occupants had been involved in the robbery. The arrest being valid, and the search of the automobile being reasonably incidental thereto (see People v. Webb, 66 Cal.2d 107, 56 Cal.Rptr. 902, 424 P.2d 342), defendant's three principal assignments of error are without merit.

It is further urged that the juvenile's...