People v. Willis

• Decision Date: 03 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. S079245.,S079245.
• Citation: 120 Cal.Rptr.2d 105,46 P.3d 898,28 Cal.4th 22
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gary Wayne WILLIS, Defendant and Appellant.

120 Cal.Rptr.2d 105

28 Cal.4th 22

46 P.3d 898

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gary Wayne WILLIS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S079245.

Supreme Court of California.

June 3, 2002.

Carlo Andreani, San Francisco, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel J. Tokaji for ACLU of Southern California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson and David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Stan Cross and Patrick J. Whalen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

CHIN, J.

We granted review in this case to determine whether federal constitutional principles require the suppression of evidence discovered by a state parole officer and police during a search they conducted without a warrant under the erroneous belief that defendant Gary Wayne Willis was on parole and subject to a warrantless search condition. On the facts of this case, we agree with the Court of Appeal that the so-called good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply. Because the Court of Appeal found the evidence admissible and affirmed defendant's conviction under a legal theory that the Attorney General concedes is erroneous, we reverse the Court of Appeal's judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On March 27, 1996, while working out of the Bakersfield Police Department as part of the Kern County Narcotics Enforcement Team, Officer Joseph Mullins received a telephone call from an employee of a Bakersfield motel. The motel employee advised Mullins of "a high level of phone and foot traffic" involving room 221, which was registered to defendant. This information was significant to Mullins because he knew from experience that narcotics dealers commonly conduct transactions at rented motel rooms.

Mullins checked "department records," which indicated that defendant had several prior arrests and/or convictions involving narcotics. Mullins also checked "the local criminal justice information system," which indicated that defendant was required to register as a sex offender. Finally, Mullins "checked the parole book," or "parole listing," "in the Bakersfield Police Department," which indicated that defendant was on parole. According to Mullins, the "parole book" was "provided to the Police Department every month." The "listing" Mullins checked on March 27 was dated either March 6 or March 16. Mullins then conveyed all of this information to Diane Mora, a state parole officer from the California Department of Corrections (CDC), and showed her "the parole list." Mora told Mullins "the list indicated [that defendant] was on active parole," and she "directed" Mullins "to make a search" of defendant's motel room.

Mora and Mullins then went to the motel "to conduct a parole search," accompanied by Detective Hood of the Kern County Sheriffs Department and Officer Silvius of the Bakersfield Police Department. At the motel, Mullins confirmed from motel records that room 221 was registered to defendant and that there were "several phone calls in and out of that motel room." Hood knocked on the door of room 221. Defendant asked who was there. Hood replied, "[I]t's Bill." Defendant responded, "Bill who, fuck you." Hood replied, "[I]t's the police, open the door, please." Neither Hood nor anyone else announced their purpose. Defendant then opened the door.

When the door opened, Mullins saw "a large sheath knife" on defendant's belt, a hypodermic syringe on a dresser in the room (which he later determined was empty), and a woman named Kathleen Moye. Accompanied by Mullins and Silvius, Mora and Hood entered the room and announced their intention to conduct a parole search. Defendant did not invite them in or give them permission to search. He informed them he had been discharged from parole in June 1995, and that they could not do a parole search. He directed their attention to a certificate of discharge from the CDC, which correctly showed that he had, in fact, been discharged from parole nine months earlier, on June 29, 1995.

Because "the parole listing indicated [defendant] was on parole," Mullins did not consider the certificate to be "conclusive of [defendant's] parole status." Mullins asked Mora to use the telephone in the motel office to check defendant's parole status and he escorted defendant to a walkway outside of the room.¹ Mullins felt that Mora was the proper person for this task because she had been a parole officer for several years and was "better acquainted with the workings of the system and how to confirm through the [CDC] with their [sic] records in Sacramento the true status."

While Mullins and defendant were outside, Silvius, who had remained in the room with Hood and Moye, advised Mullins that Moye appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. Consistent with this information, Moye said that she had "used this afternoon," and she identified a briefcase in the room that she said contained "a speed pipe." Mullins then announced that he had enough information to obtain a search warrant and asked defendant to consent to a search "to save us the time and trouble of obtaining a search warrant." According to Mullins, defendant eventually admitted the briefcase contained methamphetamine and consented to a search of both the room and the briefcase. After defendant and Mullins reentered the room, Silvius broke the briefcase's combination lock, opened the briefcase, and inside found narcotics, syringes, spoons and a set of scales. Defendant was then arrested.

Defendant was subsequently charged by information with possession of a controlled substance for purpose of sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11378) and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia (Health & Saf.Code, § 11364).² Defendant moved to suppress the evidence discovered in his motel room, arguing that the warrantless search violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In opposition, the prosecution argued that the search was valid for numerous reasons, primarily consent. Alternatively, the prosecution argued that even if the search was not valid, because the police "acted in good faith reliance on Parole's representations," the evidence should not be excluded. After argument, the trial court denied the suppression motion by a minute order that stated no reasons. A jury subsequently convicted defendant of possessing a controlled substance for sale and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the initial entry into the motel room was unconstitutional because the officers did not have a search warrant, defendant was not on parole, and he did not consent to the entry. It also rejected the Attorney General's argument that even though the search was constitutionally invalid, the exclusionary rule does not apply because the police relied in good faith on the information that defendant was on parole. The court reasoned that the inaccurate information regarding defendant's parole status was "attributable to the police executing the search," because Mora was an "adjunct of the law enforcement team" in that she "actively participated in the search" and, as a state parole officer, is a "peace officer" under California law.

Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of the suppression motion, reasoning that the unconstitutional entry did not taint the police's subsequent reasonable actions that actually led to discovery of the evidence. According to the court, the police "were authorized to `freeze' the motel room" after the illegal entry while Mora investigated defendant's parole status, they obtained "additional information" from their interactions with defendant and Mora during the freeze that "amounted to probable cause" to obtain a search warrant, "were authorized to secure the room to prevent destruction of evidence until" they obtained a warrant, and received consent to search the room and the briefcase before they could take steps to obtain a warrant. Thus, the court concluded, the evidence "was not the fruit of an unlawful parole search, but instead of prudent lawful police work."

Both defendant and the People petitioned for rehearing. In the People's petition, the Attorney General repeatedly conceded that the police acted unconstitutionally in entering the motel room. However, he argued that the court erred in holding that the police's good faith reliance on the information regarding defendant's parole status did not render the exclusionary rule inapplicable. Defendant, in his petition, argued in part that the court's "freezing" theory was both procedurally improper—because the Attorney General had never raised it—and substantively incorrect. The court denied the petitions.

Defendant and the People petitioned for review. We granted both petitions.

DISCUSSION

Federal constitutional standards generally govern our review of claims that evidence is inadmissible because it was obtained during an unlawful search. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 28, subd. (d); People v. Woods (1999) 21 Cal.4th 668, 674, 88 Cal. Rptr.2d 88, 981 P.2d 1019.) The Attorney General concedes that under those standards, the initial entry into defendant's motel room "was unconstitutional" because there was no search warrant, no valid parole condition in effect, and no other applicable exception to the warrant requirement to justify the warrantless search. The Attorney General also concedes that the evidence recovered during the unconstitutional search is not admissible under the Court of Appeal's "freezing" theory. He explains that because "a Fourth Amendment violation occurred when the officers entered [the] motel room," "it is irrelevant" that the observations they made after the illegal entry "during the freezing period" may have established probable cause to support issuance of a search warrant. The Attorney General's explanation is...