People v. North, Cr. 21842

• Citation: 629 P.2d 19,29 Cal.3d 509,174 Cal.Rptr. 511
• Decision Date: 15 June 1981
• Docket Number: Cr. 21842
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 629 P.2d 19 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Mark H. NORTH, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 511

174 Cal.Rptr. 511

29 Cal.3d 509, 629 P.2d 19

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Mark H. NORTH, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 21842.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

June 15, 1981.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing July 24, 1981.

Sheldon Portman, Public Defender, Michael A. Kresser and Kevin P. Morrison, Deputy Public Defenders, for defendant and appellant.

George Deukmejian, Atty. Gen., Robert H. Philibosian, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Edward P. O'Brien, Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert R. Granucci and Blair W. Hoffman, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

John K. Van De Kamp, Dist. Atty., Los Angeles, Harry B. Sondheim and John W. Messer, Deputy Dist. Attys., as amici curiae on behalf of plaintiff and respondent.

RICHARDSON, Justice.

Defendant Mark H. North pled guilty to second degree burglary (Pen.Code, §§ 459, 460; all further statutory references are to that code) following the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence (§ 1538.5) which had been discovered by the burglary victim in defendant's automobile. In affirming the conviction, we will examine the propriety of the victim's actions, and his status as a possible police agent.

During the early evening hours of September 23, 1978, Pamela Turner, the daughter of Robert Turner, returned to her parents' home in Santa Clara after being away for the weekend. She noticed that the yard sidegate and the backdoor of the house were open. When Robert returned he discovered that several bottles of liquor, some coins, a quart jar of nickels, a cigar box filled with pennies, and a pocket watch were missing. He called the police who dusted for fingerprints and made a report. After the police departed, the Turners discussed the robbery. Pamela, who had previously dated defendant and knew that he had recently returned to the area and was residing at his sister's home, suggested to her father that defendant was a possible suspect.

Robert and Pamela drove to the residence of defendant's sister where Pamela identified defendant's car which was parked on the street. Robert looked in the car, but his flashlight's beam was too dim to see the interior and he became nervous because lights were on in the residence near the parked car.

The Turners then went to the police station where they met Officer Dixon who had earlier responded to the call at their home. He agreed to return to the car with them, but told them that he could not enter the car without a search warrant although he could examine the interior of the car from the outside to see whether any of the stolen articles were in plain view.

Officer Dixon parked his police car some distance from defendant's vehicle and walked to defendant's car with the Turners. Using the officer's flashlight, the Turners and Officer Dixon could see lying on the rear floorboard two bottles of liquor, one identifiable as a bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey, similar to a bottle that had been removed from Robert's home. The officer stated that the presence of the liquor bottles provided an insufficient basis upon which to enter the car. As the three continued to survey the car's interior, Pamela mentioned that because of defendant's criminal record, she would not be surprised if the car had been stolen. Officer Dixon thereupon concluded that he would "run a check" on the car to ascertain its ownership. He handed the flashlight to Robert, saying "here," and turned and walked to his patrol car 60 to 70 feet away. His vehicle was parked facing away from the suspect automobile, and he sat in the front seat to place a radio call concerning the vehicle's registration. As he was receiving a response to his inquiry, Robert approached and informed him that he had entered the car and discovered his property. They returned to the car where, because Robert had folded a blanket back, the stolen items were fully visible from outside of the vehicle.

At his section 1538.5 hearing, defendant argued that Officer Dixon tacitly encouraged and approved Turner's entry into the car and that the latter's search of the car's contents was part of an improper "joint operation" by a private citizen and the police. While both Robert and Officer Dixon denied that transfer of the flashlight had been intended as an authorization by the officer to Robert to enter the vehicle, Pamela apparently did so interpret it because the officer walked away from the car. The trial court denied the suppression motion after stressing that Robert indicated "that he did not take the giving of the flashlight as some sort of tacit approval to search the car. He states he would have searched the car in any event whether the officer was present or not, having discovered that the Wild Turkey was there." This appeal followed.

Defendant generalizes that evidence must be suppressed whenever it is obtained by a private citizen who is involved in a joint operation with the police, or when the evidence is obtained by a citizen's search with the police standing idly by. Defendant contends the search before us was invalid under either circumstance. We disagree.

In People v. Lawler (1973) 9 Cal.3d 156, 160, 107 Cal.Rptr. 13, 507 P.2d 621, we expressed the standard to be applied in appellate review of a section 1538.5 hearing: "In such a proceeding the power to judge the credibility of the witnesses, resolve any conflicts in the testimony, weigh the evidence and draw factual inferences, is vested in the trial court. On appeal all presumptions favor the exercise of that power, and the trial court's findings on such matters, whether express or implied, must be upheld if they are supported by substantial evidence. The trial court also has the duty to decide whether, on the facts found, the search was unreasonable within the meaning of the Constitution.... Of course, if ... review is ... sought, it becomes the ultimate responsibility of the appellate court to measure the facts, as found by the trier, against the constitutional standard of reasonableness." (Italics added.) It follows that section 1538.5 review encompasses a two-step process. We must first determine whether the trial court's findings of fact, implicit or explicit, are supported by substantial evidence. We must then decide whether, in reaching its decision, the trial court properly applied constitutional standards to those facts.

The findings before us both implicitly and explicitly reject defendant's contention that there was a tacit agreement between Officer Dixon and Robert under which the officer would absent himself in order to permit Turner to search the vehicle. There was substantial contrary evidence supporting the trial court's determination: the officer expressly stated to Robert that he (the officer) could not enter the car; he did not advise Robert that he (Robert) could enter the car or request him to do so; the officer's return to his own vehicle was a perfectly reasonable response to Pamela's remark that the car could have been stolen, and was not an obvious subterfuge; the officer was fully aware that Robert had previously avoided entering the car in Dixon's absence; and there was no indication that the flashlight was necessary for the entry because, as the officer testified, it could be assumed that the interior car light would illumine the inside of the car if and when the unlocked car door was opened. Although a contrary conclusion might have been reached, the trial court's findings were amply supported by evidence and clearly rejected Pamela's interpretation of the interaction between Dixon and Robert. We decline to review the facts de novo.

Our conclusion that the motion to suppress was properly denied is fully consistent with our previous holdings. Historically, courts have consistently held that the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure does not apply to searches by private citizens. (Stapleton v. Superior Court (1968) 70 Cal.2d 97, 100, 73 Cal.Rptr. 575, 447 P.2d 967.) However, certain searches by private individuals, when performed in conjunction with, or cloaked in the authority of, the state, have been considered sufficiently "under color" of law to require application of Fourth Amendment standards. A substantial line of our own cases has described the standards by which to measure the propriety of a particular search by a private citizen.

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