Source: http://ca.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20131007_0007461.CA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 20:48:44+00:00

Document:
NICHOLAS DEMARCO LESTER, Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County No. FSB1002367 J. David Mazurek, Judge.
Eric R. Larson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Michael T. Murphy and James D. Dutton, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
A jury convicted defendant, Nicholas Lester, of possessing cocaine for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351) and possessing marijuana for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11359). The jury further found that defendant had suffered three strike priors (Pen. Code, § 667, subds. (b)-(i)), four prior convictions for which he served prison terms (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)) and a prior drug conviction (Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.2, subd. (a)). He was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life, plus 6 years. He appeals, claiming his motion to suppress should have been granted. In supplemental briefing, he also asserts that he is entitled to be resentenced to twice the term for his conviction of possessing cocaine for sale, with a concurrent sentence of twice the term for possessing marijuana for sale. We reject both of his contentions and affirm, while directing the trial court to correct an error in the abstract of judgment.
The facts of this case are not relevant to the appeal.
At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the first officer to arrive at defendant’s apartment testified that he was dispatched at 3:45 a.m. on June 10, 2010 for a disturbance between subjects which the 911 caller believed were going to have a physical fight and there were four to five female subjects near a red car who were yelling and screaming and possibly going to engage in a physical fight. The 911 caller was at 1105 “F” Street, which was a two unit apartment. When the officer arrived after some delay,  he saw that there was no red car outside. As the officer and five others walked up to the building, defendant and the codefendant walked out of the more eastern of the two apartments, which turned out to be 1103 “F” Street and which was attached to the apartment at 1105 “F” Street, and walked towards the officers in the driveway. The officer asked the men what was going on. The codefendant said, “There is a problem with my baby mama, but it’s all right now.” The defendant and codefendant were detained by two of the five other officers and sat down at the curb, because it was suspected that they were involved in the disturbance that caused the 911 call. The officer spoke to the 911 caller, who told him that “a large fight had taken place next door at 1103[, ]” but she did not want to say anything else. The officer knocked on the door at 1103, to see if any of the females involved in the disturbance were there, but there was no answer. The officer opened the door, which was not locked, and announced himself, then entered in order to find the females and ensure that there was not a physical fight and they were not injured. He immediately detected the strong smell of marijuana. No one was inside. However, he saw, in plain sight, suspected marijuana and cocaine. The officer returned to the curb, where he overheard defendant tell another officer that defendant was on parole and the apartment at 1103 was his apartment. The officer and another re-entered the house to search due to defendant’s parole status and because contraband had been seen in plain sight.
Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the People had not carried their burden of demonstrating that the circumstances created an objectively reasonable basis for believing that a person within the house is in need of immediate aid. (Michigan v. Fisher (2009) 588 U.S. 45 [130 S.Ct. 546, 549]; Brigham City v. Stuart (2006) 547 U.S. 398, 400, 403; People v. Troyer (2011) 51 Cal.4th 599, 606 [Troyer].) “‘“‘There is no ready litmus test for determining whether such circumstances exist, and in each case the claim of an extraordinary situation must be measured by the facts known to the officers.”’”’ (Troyer, at p. 606.) However, we must approach each case with at least some measure of pragmatism and we recognize that “the police must make split second decisions as to whether someone is in need of immediate aid....” (Ibid.) In making his assertion, defendant merely compares the facts of this case with those of Fisher and Brigham City, wherein the entries were deemed to be reasonable. This is not particularly helpful, as the facts of those cases differed from the instant facts. Far more helpful is a discussion of cases in which the facts are closer to those here.

References: § 11351
 § 11359
 § 667
 § 667
 § 11370
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