People v. Gutierrez

• Citation: 230 Cal.Rptr.3d 915,21 Cal.App.5th 1146
• Decision Date: 29 March 2018
• Docket Number: F074601
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Reynaldo Gonzalez GUTIERREZ, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals

21 Cal.App.5th 1146

230 Cal.Rptr.3d 915

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Reynaldo Gonzalez GUTIERREZ, Defendant and Appellant.

F074601

Court of Appeal, Fifth District, California.

Filed March 29, 2018

J. Peter Axelrod, Santa Rosa, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Lewis A. Martinez and Jennifer Oleksa, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

SMITH, J

Following the denial of his suppression motion, Reynaldo Gonzalez Gutierrez pleaded no contest to charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person. On appeal, Gutierrez challenges only the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained by the police, after detaining him in connection with the probation search of a third party. Gutierrez argues the detention was unreasonable under the federal Constitution's Fourth Amendment, requiring exclusion of evidence that was a product of the detention. We agree and reverse the judgment. We will remand the matter for further proceedings in the trial court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Gutierrez was charged by an information filed in the Kern County Superior Court with possession of methamphetamine for sale (count 1; Health & Saf. Code, § 11378 ) and possession of ammunition, i.e., a "20-gauge shotgun live round," by a prohibited person (count 2; Pen. Code,¹ § 30305, subd. (a)(1) ). Gutierrez filed a motion to suppress evidence related to both counts. (§ 1538.5.) After the trial court denied the suppression motion, the parties reached a plea agreement. Pursuant to the agreement, Gutierrez pleaded no contest to both counts and received a stipulated sentence of two years in prison.²

FACTS ³

At approximately 7:00 p.m. on June 4, 2015, Kern County sheriff's deputies arrived at the residence of Timothy Beltran in Shafter. The deputies came to conduct a probation search of Beltran based on his probation terms (which are not reflected in the record). The record discloses no evidence that Beltran had violated or was suspected of violating, the terms of his probation; rather, it appears the deputies were conducting a routine, random probation compliance search of Beltran. Gutierrez, who did not live at Beltran's house, was visiting him at the time.

Testimony of Sheriff's Deputy James Simmons

The People called Sheriff's Deputy James Simmons as a witness. Simmons was one of the deputies who responded to Beltran's house that evening, at "approximately 7:00 p.m." Simmons testified that "three to four other deputies" had "actually arrived first and made contact first." Simmons "went there to assist" them, bringing up the rear. Simmons took up a "perimeter position" from which he "had a view of the front door," but he could not see inside the house. He saw the other deputies go up to the front door and speak to someone, whereupon Beltran and Gutierrez "exited the front of the house." Simmons explained: "The other deputies had [Gutierrez] step out, so at that point I broke my perimeter spot and went over and they had him and [Beltran] detained." Simmons testified that Gutierrez "was detained" on account of the probation search relating to Beltran. Simmons could not say whether, prior to being directed to step out in front of the house, Gutierrez had been detained inside the house for any period.

Simmons "conduct[ed] a pat-down search" of Beltran and Gutierrez on the front porch or in the front yard, for purposes of officer safety. Simmons did not detect any type of weapon during the patdowns. Thereafter, "as [the other deputies] searched the house," Simmons "stood outside" with Gutierrez and Beltran. Gutierrez was directed to sit on the front porch. Simmons noted: "[The other deputies] were coming in and out. I believe they were talking to [Beltran], asking him questions and stuff." Simmons acknowledged the deputies had no information or basis to suspect that Gutierrez was involved in illegal activity.

Sometime later, perhaps ten minutes or so after the patdown search, Simmons "gathered [identifying] information from [Gutierrez]" and then "conducted a want and warrant check and probation check [on him] through ... dispatch via ... radio." Simmons said it was possible that Beltran's probation search started at 7:16 p.m. but the record check on Gutierrez was not requested until 7:48 p.m. Simmons testified: "A short time later, [dispatch] gave me a return of basically that [Gutierrez] was on PRCS, which is Post-Release Community Supervision and a form of parole at the county level." Simmons "then conducted a more thorough search of [Gutierrez's] person" and found a wad of cash in one of his front pockets.⁴ A car that Gutierrez identified as his was also searched by other deputies.⁵

Simmons testified that he had heard of instances when deputies requesting records checks were told by dispatch that the subject was on PRCS, when in fact that was not the case. Simmons had not personally had this experience previously.

Testimony of Sheriff's Dispatcher Cheryl Longwith

The prosecution also called as a witness Cheryl Longwith, a sheriff's dispatcher who was on duty at 7:00 p.m. on June 4, 2015. Longwith testified that she was in communication with the deputies executing a probation search at Beltran's house. Longwith created, in the dispatch system, an "event chronology" or log related to this particular undertaking. The event chronology began at 7:15 p.m., when deputies informed Longwith that they had "stopped a person" or detained someone. Longwith testified, with reference to the event chronology, that at 7:48 p.m., a deputy gave her Gutierrez's "date of birth" and "requested that [she] check this subject" by running him through the "national crime information database." Longwith eventually informed the deputies that Gutierrez was on active PRCS. The time when Longwith responded was not reflected in the event chronology, but she testified it would have taken her no more than a "[c]ouple minutes" to run the check and give the deputies the relevant information.

During cross-examination, defense counsel showed Longwith a "CJIS" (Criminal Justice Information System) record showing that Gutierrez's PRCS was dismissed in September 2013 (the record was admitted into evidence), almost two years before June 2015, when the probation search of Beltran occurred. Longwith testified that the dispatch system had pulled up a different type of record, not a CJIS record. Longwith was unable to identify the agency or database that generated the record accessed by dispatch. Longwith did not manually crosscheck the record pulled up by the dispatch system against the corresponding CJIS record.

Longwith noted she had no reason to manually check the CJIS database because, at the time, the dispatch system was set up do to that automatically. She testified: "In our computer system, they tried to streamline things so that you're not checking five and six different [databases] for the information. So they have the computers communicate together and they bring it up into one screen. I was always able to depend on that information." Longwith acknowledged that the system broke down at some point, although she did not specify when that occurred. Specifically, "computer support ... determined that the [relevant] systems were no longer communicating with each other." In particular, at that point, the dispatch system was not communicating with CJIS, the database used by the probation department to maintain probation and PRCS records. Dispatchers were subsequently instructed—for purposes of improving accuracy when a person's probation or PRCS status was at issue—to manually access CJIS in order to confirm any probationary or PRCS status reflected in the dispatch system.

Regarding the record search for Gutierrez, Longwith explained: "I went solely off of [the automated system]. I did not [manually] double check it through CJIS. Had I double checked it through CJIS, I would have seen what you saw and knew that [Gutierrez] was no longer on PRCS." Longwith knew of another dispatcher who had encountered the same problem, in that the dispatch system had generated inaccurate information regarding an individual's PRCS status and the dispatcher had not double checked it through CJIS.

Testimony of Probation Officer Artemio Pineda

Kern County Probation Officer Artemio Pineda testified that he had supervised Gutierrez while Gutierrez was on PRCS. Pineda confirmed that Gutierrez was not on PRCS on June 4, 2015; his PRCS was dismissed in September 2013. Pineda clarified that any changes to a supervisee's PRCS status were entered by the probation department directly into the CJIS system, the system used by the probation department to maintain its records.

Pineda was aware of mistakes made by dispatch in ascertaining people's probationary or PRCS status. For example, Pineda had another former supervisee (not Gutierrez) who was also incorrectly identified by dispatch as being on probation when he was not; like Gutierrez, that former supervisee was searched on the basis of the inaccurate information provided by dispatch as well. Pineda stated the wrongful search of his other supervisee had occurred in the 2013-2014 period. Pineda promptly alerted his supervisor about the situation, because he was concerned that mistakes by dispatch were leading to wrongful searches and seizures.

DISCUSSION

I. Constitutionality of Gutierrez's Initial Detention

Gutierrez argues his detention from the inception of Beltran's probation search until the point dispatch told the deputies Gutierrez was on PRCS, was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment to the federal Constitution. He contends the subsequent searches of his person and his car were, in turn, illegal. He argues the evidence obtained as a result of those searches must be suppressed as the product of his unconstitutional detention....