Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/202/425.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 02:17:07+00:00

Document:
Dirck Newbury, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
John K. Van de Kamp, Attorney General, Steve White, Chief Assistant Attorney General, John H. Sugiyama, Assistant Attorney General, Ronald E. Niver and Clifford K. Thompson, Jr., Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
[1a] We hold that a bench warrant may be endorsed for night service when the court records show that a defendant has repeatedly failed to appear or to obey the court process.
Defendant Jesse Alan Ramirez pleaded guilty to four counts of first degree burglary. (Pen. Code, § 459.) fn. 1 He filed a motion to suppress his extrajudicial statements (§ 1538.5), claiming that the nighttime arrest [202 Cal. App. 3d 427] pursuant to a misdemeanor bench warrant was unlawful. The motion was denied. We affirm.
Shortly after 3 a.m., Police Officer Barry Delavan was dispatched to defendant's apartment following a report by a citizen that two men were fighting inside the apartment. En route, he received a radio report that someone else had called to say that the fighting had stopped. Officer Delavan continued to the apartment where the lights were on and two men were talking. When a police backup unit arrived moments later, the lights were quickly extinguished and the conversation immediately ceased. Based on his review of "beat copies" of issued bench warrants, Officer Delavan was aware that defendant had numerous outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrants stemming from his failure to appear in court, and that at least one of the warrants authorized night service. The officer confirmed the existence of these warrants immediately following the arrest. One of the night service warrants was issued following defendant's failure to appear for an arraignment on a charge of misdemeanor burglary. Another night service warrant authorized defendant's arrest for violating his written promise to appear on a Vehicle Code section 14601 violation (driving with a suspended or revoked license). (See § 853.6.) Officer Delavan identified himself, announced his purpose and demanded entry. After a brief delay, an officer stationed in the rear of the apartment shouted that defendant was coming out the rear window. Defendant was arrested. Defendant was taken to the station where he waived his Miranda (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974]) rights and incriminated himself on several outstanding charges. In his suppression motion, defendant argued that there was no good cause to justify night service and the officers did not comply with the knock-notice requirement of section 1531.
[1b] There is nothing to support defendant's argument that the issuing magistrate simply gave a blanket endorsement for nighttime service. To the contrary, the record establishes that at the time the magistrate issued the bench warrant defendant had 11 outstanding bench warrants for violating his promise to appear on other misdemeanors and infractions. This alone is sufficient reason to authorize the officers to immediately arrest defendant.
The record establishes that Officer Delavan acted in good faith reliance on the warrant, and the deterrent purpose underlying the exclusionary rule has no application in this context. (United States v. Leon (1984) 468 U.S. 897, 918-922 [82 L. Ed. 2d 677, 695-698, 104 S. Ct. 3405]; People v. Swan (1986) 187 Cal. App. 3d 1010, 1018-1019 [232 Cal. Rptr. 288].) The officer relied on a beat copy of the warrant which he had seen within the week of the arrest. An abstract of an arrest warrant is sufficient to support an arrest. (§ 850; see Hewitt v. Superior Court (1970) 5 Cal. App. 3d 923, 929-930 [85 [202 Cal. App. 3d 429] Cal.Rptr. 493].) There is nothing to indicate that the officer did not have reasonable grounds for believing the information in the beat copy was accurate or that the warrant was invalid on its face. (See United States v. Leon, supra, at p. 923.) The arrest was performed in good faith by the executing officers, and the extrajudicial statements are not suppressible on this ground.
To protect the defendant's rights and to provide a more thorough appellate review, magistrates should indicate their reasons for authorizing night service. This could be done in the court's minutes or on a form for that purpose attached to the bench warrant.
FN 1. All references are to the Penal Code.

References: § 459
 § 853
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