People v. Lopez

Decision Date29 May 1986
Citation181 Cal.App.3d 842,226 Cal.Rptr. 714
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
PartiesThe PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Duvan LOPEZ, Defendant and Respondent. G002037.

Cecil Hicks, Dist. Atty., Orange County, Michael R. Capizzi, Asst. Dist. Atty., William W. Bedsworth and Jan J. Nolan, Deputy Dist. Attys., for plaintiff and appellant.

Schulman & McMillan and Marshall M. Schulman, Santa Ana, for defendant and respondent.

CROSBY, Associate Justice.

Must evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant be suppressed where the affiant officer essentially bases his opinion as to the reliability of the informant on a "track record" supplied by other officers? No.

I

In this narcotics prosecution, Huntington Beach Officer Carl Vidano presented an affidavit in support of a search warrant to a magistrate on November 19, 1983, seeking to search an individual and residence for cocaine. In the affidavit Vidano described himself as a sergeant who has worked in narcotics enforcement for a total of 10 years and has "participated in hundreds of arrests of persons for violations of controlled substance laws and ... testified as an expert in this field ... on over 75 occasions."

Vidano stated he was contacted by a confidential reliable informant the same day who told him a male Colombian living in Yorba Linda was a "major dealer in cocaine." The suspect was identified as Julian Jaramillo, also known as Danny Lopez. Jaramillo and his girlfriend Lucy recently moved to Yorba Linda from Long Beach; and within the past six days the informant had observed a large clear plastic bag of the freezer variety containing high quality Colombian cocaine in their home. In addition Jaramillo had another kilo of cocaine in a brown paper bag. Jaramillo told the informant he had additional kilos for sale at $1,500 an ounce and $20,000 a pound.

The critical language of the affidavit with respect to this appeal is the following: "I state that [the informant] is a reliable informant due to the fact that I contacted Special Agent Rex McMillan, Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Detective Larry LeRay, Orange County Sheriff's Department and ascertained that during the past three years, [the informant] has supplied information to these investigators on at least three occasions which resuled [sic ] in the arrest of at least ten individuals, the seizure of multi-pounds of cocaine, quantities of heroin and methqualone, and convictions on these cases in federal or the state courts. [p] I state that [the informant] has prior felony convictions, no monetary compensation is being given, but that [the informant] is receiving consideration of [sic ] a pending felony investigation which has not been filed with the courts at this time."

The affidavit closed, "I state that, based on my experience and expertise, the information supplied to me by [the informant], and corroboration of this information, I believe that there are additional quantities of cocaine on the premises to be searched as described above, along with packaging materials, scales, records of sales and money from those sales, and that the quantity of cocaine believed to be on the premises constitutes a felony." Because Vidano had only met the informant the day the affidavit was prepared and gave his opinion that he was reliable based solely on facts related to him in the unsworn statements of other officers, the superior court determined the affidavit itself was essentially unsworn in a critical aspect and granted the defense motion to quash.

II

The order must be reversed. Under the "totality of the circumstances" test of Illinois v. Gates (1983) 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, the magistrate had sufficient cause to issue the warrant. Vidano swore to the information he received from the other officers and named them. He also described the criminal background of the informant and his consideration for cooperating. Finally, based on all the information he had received, Vidano personally vouched for the reliability of the informant. No suggestion is made that the information itself, if believed, was otherwise inadequate to demonstrate probable cause.

We need not decide whether the warrant could have met the two-pronged Aguilar-Spinelli test overturned in Gates (Spinelli v. United States (1969) 393 U.S 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637; Aguilar v. Texas (1964) 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723); but we believe so. Aguilar-Spinelli required proof of personal knowledge on the part of the informant and evidence of his reliability. But an officer may generally depend on information received in official channels to develop probable cause either for a search warrant affidavit or a search or arrest without warrant. (See, e.g., People v. Ruster (1976) 16 Cal.3d 690, 702, 129 Cal.Rptr. 153, 548 P.2d 353, disapproved on another point in People v. Jenkins (1980) 28 Cal.3d 494, 504, fn. 9, 170 Cal.Rptr. 1, 620 P.2d 587; People v. Terry (1970) 2 Cal.3d 362, 394, 85 Cal.Rptr. 409, 466 P.2d 961.)

If an officer can infer facts going to probable cause from the observations of other...

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7 cases
  • People v. Mayer
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • January 22, 1987
    ...The reliability of an informant may be established by information provided by other officers to the affiant. (People v. Lopez (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 842, 845, 226 Cal.Rptr. 714.) Appellant's challenge to the reliability of the informant, on the face of the affidavit, is devoid of Appellant a......
  • People v. Rogers
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • December 9, 1986
    ...the United States Constitution. (In re Lance W., supra, 37 Cal.3d at p. 879, 210 Cal.Rptr. 631, 694 P.2d 744; People v. Lopez (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 842, 844-845, 226 Cal.Rptr. 714; People v. Love (1985) 168 Cal.App.3d 104, 107, 214 Cal.Rptr. 483; People v. Aho (1985) 166 Cal.App.3d 984, 991......
  • People v. Brown
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • October 2, 1990
    ...People v. Hansborough (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 579, 584, 245 Cal.Rptr. 115), or by resulting convictions (cf. People v. Lopez (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 842, 844-846, 226 Cal.Rptr. 714); (3) factual details of sufficient verisimilitude (Rochen, supra, 203 Cal.App.3d 684, 688, 250 Cal.Rptr. 73; Peop......
  • People v. Patton, F050368 (Cal. App. 7/13/2007)
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • July 13, 2007
    ...can depend on information received in official channels to develop probable cause for a search warrant affidavit. (People v. Lopez (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 842, 845.) Independent police corroboration of information from an anonymous tipster demonstrates his or her reliability just as interlock......
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