Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/82/328.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 20:38:02+00:00

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THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ANGEL JURADO NEGRETE, Defendant and Appellant.
Paul Halvonik, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Charles M. Sevilla, Chief Assistant State Public Defender, Jonathan B. Steiner and James K. Stoddard, Deputy State Public Defenders, for Defendant and Appellant.
Defendant Angel Jurado Negrete was charged by information with possession of heroin for the purpose of sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351). After defendant's motion to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5 and his request that the court view the scene of the arrest were both denied, a jury found defendant guilty as charged. The court thereafter granted defendant's motion to reduce his conviction to simple possession of heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350), and judgment of imprisonment was entered thereon.
On this appeal, in which defendant's sole challenge is to the propriety of the denial of his suppression motion, the following related contentions are made: (1) the arresting officer failed to comply with the announcement and demand-for-entry provisions of Penal Code section 844; fn. 1 and (2) the arresting officer's version of the facts surrounding the arrest was inherently improbable. We conclude that defendant's contentions are without merit and, therefore, affirm the judgment.
The following statement of facts is limited to the evidence presented at the hearing on the section 1538.5 motion.
Upon receiving an anonymous scratch pad message (later destroyed) and a corroborating telephone call to the effect that defendant was selling [82 Cal. App. 3d 333] heroin from a motel located at 12215 San Fernando Road, John Applegarth, a narcotics officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for six years, and several fellow officers established a surveillance of the indicated location at approximately 8 p.m. on January 27, 1977. Officer Applegarth had seen defendant almost one hundred times in the past and had arrested defendant for heroin use five to ten times over the previous four-year period, including one arrest just two weeks earlier.
Shortly after the surveillance began, Officer Applegarth observed a known heroin addict, Hector DeAnda, drive up to the motel with a female passenger and get out of his car. When DeAnda left the motel shortly thereafter, he appeared to be under the influence of heroin, causing Officer Applegarth and another officer to follow him in their car. In the meantime, Applegarth had received a radio communication from his partner, Officer Peters, who had been stationed near the door of defendant's motel room; Peters reported that he had observed an apparent heroin transaction take place between DeAnda and an occupant of the room.
The two pursuing officers subsequently forced DeAnda to pull his car over after he ran a red light in an attempt to elude them. As the vehicles came to a stop, Officer Applegarth observed DeAnda hand a balloon-like object to his passenger, who then swallowed it. Applegarth asked DeAnda if he would aid the investigation by making another heroin purchase at the motel, but DeAnda refused. DeAnda and his female passenger were then placed under arrest.
After directing Officer Peters to cover the rear bathroom window of the suspect motel unit, Officer Applegarth approached the front door of the unit and observed that the ragged curtains on an adjacent window did not [82 Cal. App. 3d 334] completely cover each windowpane. By looking through a six- to ten-inch unobstructed portion of the window, Applegarth could see through the dimly lit front room into the lighted and open bathroom, where defendant was standing at a distance of approximately 12 feet from the officer's vantage point. Defendant was using a razor blade to cut or mix a mound of tannish powder which had been placed upon the surface of a hand-held mirror; based upon his experience as a narcotics officer, Applegarth concluded that defendant was "cutting heroin."
While continuing to observe through the window, Officer Applegarth knocked on the doorpost. In response, defendant placed the mirror with the powder on it out of view and approached the front door. When defendant was within a few feet of the window, he looked at Applegarth, did a "double take," and began running back toward the bathroom. At that point, Officer Applegarth broke through the locked front door and then forced his way through the bathroom door, which defendant had succeeded in getting "95 percent" closed. Before being subdued, defendant attempted to flip the tannish powder, which later proved to be heroin, into the toilet; although some of the powder attained its target, a great deal was scattered about the floor. Applegarth was followed into the motel room by several fellow officers, also in plain clothes.
Officer Applegarth subsequently recovered from the bathroom some of the heroin which had fallen to the floor, a portion of the mirror (which had broken in the scuffle), a narcotics "user" kit, a bag containing additional heroin, some balloons, a funnel, and a razor blade. All of the seized items were in plain view.
At the time of Officer Applegarth's entry, defendant's girl friend, Helen Carmona, was lying down on the bed in the front room of the motel unit.
Helen Carmona testified that on January 27, 1977, she and her two children were living with defendant in his motel room. At approximately 8:30 or 9 p.m., as she was preparing for bed, Ms. Carmona heard a loud noise as the front door was knocked down and then observed several men enter the room; she did not hear a knock on the door. Ms. Carmona did not know that the men who entered were police officers and did not remember if they had identified themselves as such. After the officers entered, they walked around the kitchen area for a few seconds and then pushed open the bathroom door, which had been closed. Ms. Carmona [82 Cal. App. 3d 335] also testified that it was not possible to see through the front windows as the drapes were completely drawn.
Defendant, testifying in his own behalf, denied hearing any knock on the door and disclaimed any knowledge that the police were outside. He asserted that he had been in the bathroom with the door closed for about five to ten minutes when he heard the "bang" of the front door being knocked down; the police entered the bathroom approximately five to seven seconds later. According to defendant, the drapes in the front room were drawn and could not be seen through. Defendant admitted that he could recognize Applegarth on sight based upon his previous contacts with the officer.
[2b, 6c] Defendant's contention that minimal compliance with section 844 was required because of Helen Carmona's presence in the motel room is likewise without merit; that section does not require that the police give notice to all persons on the premises to be searched. (People v. Baldwin, supra 62 Cal. App. 3d 727, 742; see People v. Murphy (1974) 42 Cal. App. 3d 81, 88 [116 Cal. Rptr. 889]; Beckers v. Superior Court (1970) 9 Cal. App. 3d 953, 960 [88 Cal. Rptr. 602].) The cases cited by defendant are inapposite as they pertain to restrictions on the right of the police to enter closed, inner rooms without prior notice (Young v. Superior Court (1976) 57 Cal. App. 3d 883 [(129 Cal. Rptr. 422]; see Greven v. Superior Court, supra 71 Cal. 2d 287, 295) or to enter a dwelling to [82 Cal. App. 3d 339] arrest its occupants after arresting one of their number outside (People v. Buckner (1973) 35 Cal. App. 3d 307, 315 [111 Cal.Rptr. 32]). There were no similar facts in the case at bench. Furthermore, defendant's argument on this point must be rejected for the additional reason that it makes the propriety of an unannounced entry on exigent circumstances grounds dependent upon whether the dwelling happens to be occupied by someone other than the suspect at the time, a fact which in many cases cannot be determined until after the entry.
 As alluded to previously, any conflicts in the testimony at the suppression hearing were to be resolved by the superior court judge sitting as the trier of fact and sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses. (People v. Superior Court (Peck), supra, 10 Cal. 3d 645, 649; People v. Gale (1973) 9 Cal. 3d 788, 792 [108 Cal. Rptr. 852, 511 P.2d 1204].) [9a] Nevertheless defendant contends that the court's implied findings should be rejected because Officer Applegarth's version of the facts was inherently improbable.
[9b] Applying the stated test to Officer Applegarth's testimony, we cannot conclude that it was inherently improbable. First, contrary to defendant's assertions, the fact that the front room of the motel unit was dimly lit should have made it easier, not more difficult, for Applegarth to see into the lighted bathroom and for defendant to observe the officer standing outside. Second, Applegarth's ability to determine from a distance of approximately 12 feet that defendant was cutting heroin must be judged with reference to the officer's 6 years' experience in the investigation of narcotics matters.
The gravamen of defendant's argument on this point, however, is that, given defendant's head start, it was physically impossible for Officer Applegarth to have broken down the front door, crossed the room, and forced his way into the bathroom before defendant had the opportunity to flush the heroin away. But there is nothing in the evidence to suggest that the breaking down of the front door took more than a few seconds, and the size of the front room (approximately 10 feet in length) certainly posed no great obstacle for the officer. Furthermore, defendant's concern with closing the bathroom door and keeping Applegarth out was no doubt largely responsible for his inability to dispose of the contraband.
FN 1. Hereinafter, all section references are to the Penal Code.
"To make an arrest ... a peace officer, may break open the door or window of the house in which the person to be arrested is, or in which they have reasonable grounds for believing him to be, after having demanded admittance and explained the purpose for which admittance is desired."
"I thought it was obvious that he was in the act of cutting heroin. The heroin had been placed -- it was in a powder form, no container, could easily be disposed of especially when I thought it was right on the toilet.
"It was obvious that Mr. Negrete had no intention of coming to the door and opening it and allowing me to address him. He was in fact fleeing directly towards the contraband.
"Any delay would allow that easily disposed of contraband to disappear."

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