Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/250/695.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 10:40:33+00:00

Document:
ROBERT ARMANDO PEREZ, Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE COUNTY, Respondent; THE PEOPLE, Real Party in Interest.
Frank L. Williams, Jr., Public Defender, and James R. Goff, Deputy Public Defender, for Petitioner.
Petitioner applies for a writ of prohibition to restrain prosecution under Health and Safety Code, section 11530 (possession of marijuana, a felony), contending the marijuana evidence upon which he was bound over for trial was found incident to an unlawful search of his automobile.
On December 3, 1966, a dark night, between 8:15 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., two deputy sheriffs observed an unlighted car parked near the rear of a partially fenced-in vacant lot. Putting a spotlight on the car from their car in the street, they saw the doors of the two-door car fly open, two persons jump out, run to the rear of the lot and disappear over the fence. The officers immediately drove to the car, got out and chased the fleeing persons without success. The lot was very muddy, with large puddles of water from recent rains. There were no direct lights in the area; only a glow from surrounding houses. It was abnormal for a car to be parked in the lot. One of the officers noticed empty beer cans outside the car. The circumstances aroused the suspicions of the officers and they searched the car to ascertain why the occupants had fled.
Opening the car doors, the officers saw several unopened beer cans on the front seat. One officer checked the sun visor, the glove compartment, the front and back seats and the floorboards. At that point, seeing a heater vent "directly over the transmission hump" he flicked it open and found a brown paper sack containing marijuana. He also observed "some wheat straw paper" which slipped back out of reach. The other officer found the car's registration slip. The petitioner, who was the registered owner of the vehicle, then came to the car and was arrested for possessing marijuana.
"Was the search of the automobile and the seizure of the paper sack containing marijuana a violation of the Petitioner's rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 19 of the California State Constitution?"
Carroll relies upon Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 [29 L. Ed. 746, 6 S. Ct. 524], and quotes therefrom for the basic language supporting a distinction between " 'A search for and seizure of a man's private books and papers for the purpose of obtaining information therein contained, or of using them as evidence against him.' " (Carroll, supra, 267 U.S. 132, 149 [69 L. Ed. 543, 550, 45 S. Ct. 280, 284, 39 A.L.R. 790].) and a search for and seizure of contraband, that which it is illegal to possess. In Carroll the stopping and search of an automobile and seizure of liquor being unlawfully carried, all without issuance of a warrant, was upheld. The court determined that an offer of sale to the arresting officers two months earlier, recognition of the automobile, and travel upon a known route from supply center to distribution center constituted reasonable cause for the seizure. Carroll thus establishes the rule of search and seizure with probable cause, but absent a warrant, to mobile properties, boats, wagons, automobiles and the like "where it is not practicable to secure a warrant because the vehicle can be quickly moved out of the locality or jurisdiction in which the warrant must be [250 Cal. App. 2d 698] sought." (Carroll, supra.) See also, Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160 [93 L. Ed. 1879, 69 S. Ct. 1302]; People v. Burke, 61 Cal. 2d 575, 579 [39 Cal. Rptr. 531, 394 P.2d 67]; People v. Terry, 61 Cal. 2d 137, 152 [37 Cal. Rptr. 605, 390 P.2d 381].
We are concerned with the validity of an investigative or exploratory search of an automobile incident to an equivocal situation which does not suggest the commission of a specific offense. The question must be answered in relation to the test of reasonableness under the circumstances. Instances approaching this problem are to be found in these cases: In People v. Molarius, 213 Cal. App. 2d 10 [28 Cal. Rptr. 541], burglary and disappearance of the burglars (in conjunction with detailed facts) was held to justify search of a vehicle abandoned at the rear of the burglarized store. In People v. Hilliard, 221 Cal. App. 2d 719 [34 Cal. Rptr. 809], police officers approached a known ex-felon on a public street who ran, entered a recessed area briefly and upon reappearance was apprehended; a search of the recessed area led to discovery of a pistol; the ex-felon was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon.
In People v. Grubb, 63 Cal. 2d 614 [47 Cal. Rptr. 772, 408 P.2d 100], the search, and seizure of a "billy" club, was upheld where a car was parked on the wrong side of the road projecting dangerously into the highway, with no registration slip visible. Affixed to the windshield was an unsigned note reciting mechanical difficulties and an intention to return for the car.
None of the cases cited by petitioner inhibit the view we take of the facts presented to us. People v. Martin, 46 Cal. 2d 106 [293 P.2d 52], cited by respondent gives strong support relative to the suspicion to be attached to flight, although there it was by car and not by foot. The case differs in that the finding of contraband was the result of an obvious attempted manual hiding of the paper container as it rested on the front seat.
Brown (Gerald), P. J., and Coughlin, J., concurred.

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