People v. Superior Court (Price)

• Citation: 186 Cal.Rptr. 734,137 Cal.App.3d 90
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent. Frederick Dortan PRICE, Real Party in Interest. Civ. 65444.
• Decision Date: 28 October 1982
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 734

186 Cal.Rptr. 734

137 Cal.App.3d 90

The PEOPLE, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent Frederick Dortan PRICE, Real Party in Interest.

Civ. 65444.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5, California.

Oct. 28, 1982.

Hearing Denied December 22, 1982.

John K. Van De Kamp, Dist. Atty. of Los Angeles County, Donald J. Kaplan and Arnold T. Guminski, Deputy Dist. Attys., for petitioner.

No appearance for respondent.

Ronald V. Skyers, Los Angeles, for real party in interest.

FEINERMAN, Presiding Justice.

The People, pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5(o ), seek a writ of mandate directing respondent superior court to vacate an order suppressing statements made by real party and photographs taken of him while he was in police custody. We issued an alternative writ and set the matter for hearing. We have concluded that the People are entitled to the writ they seek.

Real party is charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. The offenses were committed in the course of a street gang drive-by shooting. It is in that context that we must assess the reasonableness of the police conduct which led to the evidence which respondent court suppressed.

The evidence adduced at the hearing on the motion to suppress was as follows: ¹ The shooting occurred at about 4:10 p.m. at 112th and Broadway. Witnesses at the scene (who were amongst those shot at, but not hit) described the assailants as members of the Miller Gangsters. Miller Gangsters is identified in the record as a "blood gang." "Blood gangs" are described as rivals of the various Crips gangs. The victims of the subject shooting were members of a Crips affiliate which was frequently at war with the Miller Gangsters.

The assailants were riding in a white Toyota Celica hatchback. The shooting occurred through the open rear hatch. There were four or five young men in the car. Some witnesses thought that only two or three did the shooting; one thought as many as four had guns. Some of the car's occupants were wearing red clothing. One of the shooters wore dark clothing. One wore a cap with the letters MG on it, identifying the wearer as a Miller Gangster.

Randolph, one of the victims who was shot at but not hit, in talking to some of the officers at the scene, identified one of the shooters as a fellow known as Bolo. Another of the occupants of the car was described as light skinned with sandy hair. This information was significant to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Hodges, one of the officers at the scene. Hodges was assigned to a gang detail at the 77th Street Station. He was familiar with gang activity in the south central Los Angeles area. Miller Gangsters was a Black gang; however, Hodges knew an Emilio Lopez, aka Cheese, who was of Cuban descent, who was light skinned and sandy haired, and who ran with the Miller Gangsters. Lopez was the only light complected blood gang member known to Hodges.

Hodges believed the eyewitnesses' identification of the assailants as Miller Gangsters was accurate because he had learned through experience that gang members were extremely knowledgeable as to the identities of rival gang members and that "they're one of your better witnesses in a gang shooting."

The investigation at the scene continued past 7 p.m. At about that time a radio communique advised the officers at the scene that a white Celica hatchback had been found abandoned at 103rd and Figueroa. There were shell casings in the car, and it had been reported stolen.

At about the same time another radio communique was received at the scene advising of a "disturbing the peace, shots fired" incident at 120th and San Pedro. Officer Hodges went to that location. There he found two men in custody, one of whom (Wardlow) identified himself as an East Coast Crip and stated that five or six "bloods," wearing red colors were proceeding east on 120th. One was on a bicycle. The rest were on foot. An anonymous woman at the location told Hodges that she was afraid and did not want to get involved, but that she had seen a group of five or six Miller Gangsters walking east on 120th Street. Some of them had guns. She also mentioned their red clothing. She identified one of the group as the light skinned "Cheese."

Hodges knew that the Miller Gangsters' territory was the 900 block of East 120th Street, an area east of 120th and San Pedro. Based upon his familiarity with the territories of the various gangs in the area and his experience with the behavior of gang members, Hodges believed that if the group of Miller Gangsters involved in the shooting had abandoned the vehicle at 103rd and Figueroa, and were on foot, they would have attempted to return to their own neighborhood by a route which avoided the territories of rival and hostile gangs. He concluded that the most logical route for them to have followed consistent with that objective would have been to walk south on Figueroa all the way to 120th Street and then proceed east to their own territory. Such a route would have taken them through the territories of other friendly gangs except for the short distance around San Pedro where they had to traverse East Coast Crip territory. Hodges believed that the route which he postulated would have brought them to the area of 120th and San Pedro at about the time of the shooting incident at that location.

Hodges drove to the 900 block of East 120th Street. There he found several young black males, some of whom were wearing red clothing and dangling red handkerchieves from their back pockets. Wearing red in this fashion was common practice for Miller Gangsters during shooting raids, but not otherwise.

Real party was in the group on East 120th Street. He was wearing a red plaid shirt and a black cap. Hodges and his partner commenced an investigation and attempted to complete field identification cards on the individuals. Hodges asked one fellow his name and was told it was Robert Smith. Hodges then asked real party his name. Real party identified himself as Frederick Price. Hodges went back to "Robert Smith" and again asked his name. This time he was told it was James Smith. Hodges then asked real party if he knew "Smith." Real party identified him as James Crawford, alias Bolo. (At this point in time Hodges did not know that Bolo had been identified as one of the assailants.) One of the other persons Hodges found at the scene identified himself as Charles Topps, but Hodges knew him as Charles Jennings from a prior arrest. Hodges was not familiar with real party and did not know if he had correctly identified himself or not.

Hodges felt that a group of four young men, which included real party, who were congregating together, stood out as gang members. Upon hearing the name discrepancies, and taking into consideration the other information he had compiled in the course of his investigation, Hodges formed the opinion that they were quite likely suspects in the murder and assault at 112th and Broadway. Hodges knew that the crime scene had been cleared of witnesses by that time. He decided to take four suspects--real party, Bolo, Jennings (Topps) and one Bates--to 77th Street Station to confirm their identities, if possible, through the gang files located there. He also wanted to get off the street out of fear for his safety because of the potential danger of a retaliatory drive-by shooting, because a crowd was forming, and because officers had previously been shot at and attacked with thrown bottles at that particular location. The suspects were transported to 77th Street Station, handcuffed for the officers' safety.

As soon as they arrived at 77th Street, Hodges received a call from Detectives Wilder and Tapley, who were at Southeast station where the homicide investigation was continuing. They asked if Hodges had anything in his files on a Bolo and told him that Bolo had been identified as one of the murder suspects. Hodges said that he had Bolo at 77th Street along with three other suspects. Wilder asked Hodges to bring all four suspects to Southeast. Hodges immediately did so.

Hodges had confronted the suspects on 120th Street at about 7:30 p.m. He arrived at 77th Street with them at about 7:45 p.m., and arrived at Southeast with them at about 8 p.m. Eyewitnesses to the murder were still at Southeast being interviewed. As soon as the suspects arrived at Southeast, they were photographed by the investigating officers at Southeast. A gunshot residue test was also performed on real party to determine if he had recently fired a weapon. The results were inconclusive.

The suspects, who were all juveniles, were asked how their parents could be contacted so that they could be notified of the suspects' whereabouts. Real party gave two phone numbers for his mother. The numbers were called but the persons who answered stated that she was unknown to them. Real party was asked for an address at which his mother could be located but he did not provide one.

Shortly after the arrival of the group at Southeast, Officer Hodges learned from one of the suspects that Lopez (Cheese) had been hiding in the bushes when the officer first found the suspects on 120th Street.

After photographing the suspects and trying unsuccessfully to contact real party's mother, Detective Wilder (who had taken charge of the investigation) and several of his colleagues resumed interviewing the eyewitnesses. Other officers compiled four separate photographic lineups--one of each of the suspects. Randolph, the eyewitness who had earlier named Bolo as one of the assailants, identified Bolo's photograph. The officers could not remember at the hearing on the motion to suppress if photographs of the other three suspects were shown to Randolph on the night of the homicide. Randolph identified real party's photo shortly before the hearing commenced on real party's motion to suppress.

Wilder completed taking Randolph's...