Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/8/77.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 17:22:21+00:00

Document:
George H. Chula and Keith C. Monroe for Petitioner.
Cecil Hicks, District Attorney, Michael R. Capizzi, Assistant District Attorney, and Oretta D. Sears, Deputy District Attorney, for Respondent and for Real Party in Interest.
This case illustrates some of the procedural barriers confronting criminal defendants when a search warrant is issued primarily on information supplied by an unidentified informant. On February 4, 1971, the Municipal Court for the South Judicial District of Orange County issued a warrant authorizing a search of a house at 1267 Fairywood Lane, Laguna Beach. The warrant was issued on the basis of affidavits by Officer Celmer of the Los Angeles Police Department and by an undisclosed informant, and an in-chambers examination of the informant by the issuing magistrate.
Under the authority of the search warrant, several officers entered the unlocked house and discovered no one inside. During the search for occupants, one of the officers observed a room secured by two padlocks and one standard bolt affixed to the door. Peering through a window into the room, the officers saw what they believed to be contraband. They remained in the house "to see if any of the occupants showed up." Shortly thereafter, three boys, between 9 and 11 years of age, entered the house and were placed in a bathroom by the officers. A few minutes later defendant entered the house by using a key to the front door. A search of defendant produced three keys which fit the locks to the closed room. Subsequent search of the closed room resulted in the seizure of, among other items, 10 kilograms of marijuana and 1,708 pieces of paper, each of which was impregnated with approximately 10 dots of LSD.
Defendant was charged with violating Health and Safety Code sections 11530 (possession of marijuana), 11530.5 (possession of marijuana for the purpose of sale), 11910 (possession of restricted dangerous drugs), and 11911 (possession of restricted dangerous drugs for the purpose of sale). At a combined preliminary examination and hearing under Penal Code section 1538.5, subdivision (f), defendant moved both to quash the warrant on the ground it was issued in reliance, in part, on unreported oral testimony, and to require disclosure of the identity of the informant on the [8 Cal. 3d 83] ground he would be a material witness on the issue of defendant's guilt. Both motions were denied.
Defendant also sought to inquire into the truth of the matters contained in the affidavits which supported issuance of the search warrant. Although witnesses were present for that purpose pursuant to defendant's subpoena, the magistrate refused to allow defendant to question them. The magistrate further ruled that Officer Celmer could not be called for an examination into the truth of the contents of his affidavit.
After defendant was held to answer in superior court, his motions under Penal Code sections 995 and 1538.5 were denied. He now seeks a writ of mandate or prohibition. (Pen. Code, §§ 999a, 1538.5, subd. (i).) In support thereof, defendant urges the following contentions: (1) the magistrate improperly relied, in part, on unsworn and unreported statements in issuing the search warrant; (2) the magistrate erroneously failed to order the prosecution to disclose the identity of the confidential informant; (3) defendant should have been permitted to controvert the factual allegations contained in the affidavits of the officer and the informant; and (4) inquiry into the legality of the informant's arrest should have been permitted.
The warrant was issued on the basis of affidavits submitted by the undisclosed informant and by Officer Celmer, the latter essentially repeating the statements of the former. The informant's affidavit in substance is as follows: On or about February 3, 1971, he went to 1267 Fairywood Lane, a white single-story plaster house with red trim and redwood siding, surrounded on three sides by a six-foot wood fence. He was taken to the west bedroom of the house and there observed a pile of marijuana bricks, two feet high by three feet wide by one foot (one brick) deep, containing 20 to 50 bricks. A white male, 22 to 27 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches in height, weighing 170 pounds, with dark curly hair, whose name he did not know, gave him two and a half bricks weighing approximately five pounds. The informant was to return to Laguna Beach within two weeks with $300 for the marijuana. He was also given three pills by the described subject and was told one of the pills was LSD.
"Then I will relate to you the gist of the conversation as I reported it in my handwriting, handwritten notes, and I am going to exclude therefrom anything that I think would indicate in detail the identity of the informant.
" ... The first thing is, 'lived in,' and then, 'blank' as a city, which was given to me. Then comes the statement about where he sleeps. The next question and answer have to do with his place of birth. The next question had to do with his father's occupation. To all of these, he responded to them.
"The next one had to do with the place he last worked for and where.
"The place he last worked or the persons he last worked for and where. And next his marital status.
"For the record, those were considered by me as preliminary questions so that I could watch him and see his reactions. Questions were asked and answers given to determine his honesty or lack thereof, or competence or lack thereof.
"Then he was sworn in to speak only the truth.
"Then he described a meeting with a person he named and identified. Then he related to me, in response to my question, that he had been made no promise, except that he wanted to co-operate.
"That is the gist of two or three questions and answers.
"Then the question was asked and answered by him as to when and where he first smoked marijuana.
"Then questions and answers of his medical history and questions concerning his personal history. And then the questions concerning -- the questions and answers concerning any credit sale of marijuana kilos.
"Now, all of those questions and answers for your information or for the record, whatever you wish, were asked by me and the answers were recorded by me to show what happened. But the purpose in asking the questions was to determine from the nature and kind of response he was making not whether those things were true or important, but generally what his demeanor was. And I considered none of those things as having any importance on the affidavit which he signed or having any importance on the issuance of a warrant, save and except they aided me in determining that he was -- I am trying to think of an appropriate word. He was reasonably straight-forward and reasonably honest insofar as that is capable of being done in a ten to 15 minute interview. ..."
 Defendant's first contention is that the magistrate issued the search warrant without complying with the mandatory provisions of Penal Code section 1526. fn. 2 Section 1525 of the code makes clear that a search warrant [8 Cal. 3d 86] cannot be issued other than on affidavit. fn. 3 Section 1526, subdivision (a), permits a magistrate to examine orally and under oath the person seeking the warrant and any witnesses who might be produced. It does require, however, that an affidavit or affidavits be taken. Under section 1526, subdivision (b), an oral statement, if properly recorded and transcribed, is deemed to be an affidavit. Here, the magistrate conducted an oral examination of the undisclosed informer; more importantly, the informer and Officer Celmer each submitted to the court a written affidavit. Defendant has not urged that the affidavits on their face are defective. fn. 4 Thus, Dunn v. Municipal Court (1963) 220 Cal. App. 2d 858, 873-874 [34 Cal. Rptr. 251] is not helpful. There the court held that the affidavit in question was insufficient and that the oral examination of the witness was also insufficient to support the issuance of the warrant.
In the case at bar, the magistrate exercised his discretion to examine the undisclosed informant orally. This examination did not produce an oral statement properly recorded and transcribed within the meaning of section 1526, subdivision (b). Hence, the fruits of the examination cannot be considered an affidavit. However, the magistrate did in fact take affidavits of the informant and Officer Celmer. We are not, therefore, presented with a situation in which, for example, an affidavit fails to comply with the second prong of the test enunciated in Aguilar v. Texas (1964) 378 U.S. 108, 114 [12 L. Ed. 2d 723, 729, 84 S. Ct. 1509], requiring the affidavit to contain underlying facts from which the magistrate can reasonably conclude that the informant was reliable, and instead the magistrate seeks to gather such information by unreported and unsubscribed questioning of the informant.
[2b] Unlike the presentation by counsel in People v. Sewell (1970) 3 Cal. App. 3d 1035, 1038 [83 Cal. Rptr. 895], a case cited by the People, defense counsel here has not argued in conclusory fashion but with specificity: "I don't want to put the defendant on the stand at this time, but apparently his weight is fluctuating to about 130 pounds at this time rather than 170 pounds as indicated by the affidavit. It indicates that he has dark, curly hair. He has rather straight hair. There is no reference to a beard and the like, so that the only way we can controvert those facts here is to have the person that is supposed to have made them here ... . [¶] ... The indications so far as these facts are concerned here, are showing that he is obviously speaking of someone else. ..."
Even though the physical discrepancy between defendant and the individual described by the informant would appear to satisfy defendant's burden as established in McShann, Garcia, Honore, and Price, additional evidence adduced at the preliminary hearing supports the conclusion that the informer may be a material witness on the issue of guilt.
Because the discrepancy in the physical description supplied by the informant, the unusual credit arrangement and the accessibility of others [8 Cal. 3d 90] to the Fairywood Lane house all bear on the issue of whether defendant was in possession of the drugs, and because the informant is a material witness on these issues, disclosure should be compelled. Furthermore, even though defendant need not prove for disclosure "that the informer was a participant in or even an eyewitness to the crime" (Price v. Superior Court, supra, 1 Cal. 3d 836, 843), the informant here may have been both.
[2c] Accordingly, we hold that defendant's motion to compel disclosure was improperly denied and that the prosecution must disclose the identity of the informant or incur a dismissal.
[7a] Defendant next complains that he was denied the opportunity to controvert the facts contained in the affidavits in support of the search warrant. He contends that on a motion to suppress evidence under Penal Code section 1538.5 a defendant may go behind the face of the affidavit in an effort to prove there was no probable cause for the issuance of the warrant. Defense counsel asserted below that "frankly, we do not believe the statements which are set forth in the affidavit, and we feel the factual inconsistencies will be shown by the examination of the affiant." Defendant was denied an opportunity to call Officer Celmer; he also suggests error in the refusal of the magistrate to allow him to examine other witnesses who in some way participated in the arrest of the confidential informant.
Section 1538.5 was enacted in 1967 following hearings and studies during 1965-1967 by the Assembly Interim Committee on Criminal Procedure. This project produced a series of committee recommendations, fn. 7 a substantial portion of which became law. (Stats. 1967, ch. 1537, § 1, p. 3652.) Section 1538.5 provides a comprehensive scheme for challenging the introduction into evidence, and for the return, of items unlawfully seized. It sets forth the proper time for such motions, the procedure for appellate review and for extraordinary writs, and other significant procedural matters all relating to unlawful searches and seizures.
While section 1538.5 solved many of the procedural difficulties occasioned by the increased number of motions to suppress evidence, it is silent on whether a defendant may controvert the factual statements contained in an affidavit in support of a warrant. Thus section 1538.5 differs from Penal Code sections 1539-1540 which specifically provide for a challenge to the factual basis of the affidavit. fn. 8 Prior to enactment of section 1538.5, [8 Cal. 3d 92] sections 1539-1540 were employed as a principal means of suppressing evidence even though by their express terms, the two sections refer only to the return of property unlawfully seized. As stated in People v. Prieto (1961) 191 Cal. App. 2d 62, 67 [12 Cal.Rptr. 577]: "Although, as an original proposition, we might have doubted whether the language of the sections literally applied to an attempt of a defendant to suppress the evidence, rather than to regain it, we think the cases have clearly disposed of the issue."
Butler is also significant for what it did not decide: that a defendant was prohibited from seeking to suppress evidence under a sections 1539-1540 motion. Instead, we held that he is not required to proceed under those two provisions prior to making an attack at the preliminary hearing or at trial. Thus People v. Keener, supra, 55 Cal. 2d 714, and the Court of Appeal cases disapproved on other grounds in Butler, cases which allowed a defendant to attack the factual veracity of a warrant pursuant to sections 1539-1540, continued to provide support for that proposition after Butler. For example, in People v. Kesey (1967) 250 Cal. App. 2d 669 [58 Cal. Rptr. 625], decided less than a year after Butler, the court upheld the availability of sections 1539-1540 as a means to suppress evidence even though the item was contraband and hence could not be returned lawfully.
Finally, the committee indicated that the same procedure should be used regardless of whether defendant sought to suppress evidence or only sought to have his property returned. This intent was effectuated in the first clause of section 1538.5: "(a) A defendant may move for the return of property or to suppress as evidence ... ."
However, the several cases that have attempted to deal with the problem in greater depth have concluded that the proper standard is one of reasonableness. For example, United States v. Freeman (2d Cir. 1966) in 358 F.2d 459, 463, footnote 4, the court stated: "A defendant may be able to challenge the veracity of recitals of 'previous reliability' by a motion to suppress pursuant to Rule 41(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. [Citations.] Such a procedure would diminish the danger of a warrant issuing on an officer's good faith misjudgment as to the reliability of an informant, as well as dangers of police laxity or bad faith. The temptation for officers to include unjustified recitals of informants' reliability would be reduced."
The Freeman court acknowledged that a mere good faith belief in the accuracy of the facts contained in an affidavit is insufficient. This conclusion is in accord with established search and seizure principles which declare that in assessing probable cause, good faith alone is insufficient. fn. 13 Moreover, the view of the second circuit that factual challenges will deter "police laxity" in acquiescing in intentional falsehoods, apparently contemplates that an affiant must neither act in bad faith in acquiring information nor act unreasonably in believing the truth of such information.
There is no reason to hold an officer to a standard of absolute accuracy in those instances in which the inference-drawing power is reserved for the magistrate who is to issue a warrant, when the officer is only required to reach a reasonable factual deduction in those instances in which he makes the inferences and acts without a warrant. In both cases, the constitutional standard is one of reasonableness.
To require the defendant to prove unreasonableness would impose an insurmountable burden on him. Since the affiant knows the circumstances under which he was led to believe that the inaccurate facts were true, he alone is in a position to justify his errors as reasonable under the circumstances. In King v. United States, supra, 282 F.2d 398, the affidavit leading to the arrest of defendant was allegedly prepared by one Rutha Douglas. At the hearing the only "Ruth" Douglas in town testified that she did not make the affidavit purportedly made by her. Reversing the conviction, Chief Judge Sobeloff noted (at p. 399) that no other "person was produced then or, so far as anyone has revealed, was such a person located later. In these circumstances it is not reasonable to require the defendant to scour the world to prove a negative. The short of it is that an oath by a person claiming a spurious identity is the sole basis for the warrant and the search. The uncontroverted facts admit of no other interpretation."
Here defendant sought to examine the informant, Officer Celmer, two airline officials and a United States marshal to ascertain, among other things, whether there was any unlawful coercion of the informant by the arresting officers at the airport. On another occasion counsel stated that the discrepancy between the physical description of the informant's contact supplied in the affidavit and the likeness of defendant indicated that the informant was "obviously speaking of someone else." Even if it were demonstrated that no one with a physical description matching the informant's alleged contact resided at the Fairywood Lane address, such error, if deleted, would not necessarily leave insufficient information to support a finding of probable cause. However, the defense theory of coercion gives rise to an inference that the police may have acted improperly when arresting the informant and that this conduct may have induced the informant, while under police restraint, to invent all or part of his story or to base it merely on circulating rumors. If the defense allegation of coercion of the informant is true, the burden of the prosecution to show that the arresting officers' reliance on the informant's statements was reasonable becomes proportionately heavier.
Additional problems at the preliminary hearing involved two areas of law in which distinctions predicated on delicate lines have developed. By compelling disclosure of the informant because he is a material witness on the issue of guilt, we are able to avoid the first dispute: whether an informant's identity must be disclosed so that the defendant is able to challenge the legality of the informant's arrest. In Kaplan v. Superior Court, supra, we recently reaffirmed the vicarious exclusionary rule originally adopted in People v. Martin (1955) 45 Cal. 2d 755 [290 P.2d 855]. That rule allows a defendant to attack the validity of a search or arrest of another, if relevant. It is obvious that the policy of deterring unlawful police conduct cannot be effectuated by means of the vicarious exclusionary rule if the defendant is barred from learning the identity of the witness who was illegally arrested or searched. However, we subject this topic to [8 Cal. 3d 105] no further explication in view of our conclusion that in this instance the informant's identity must be disclosed because he may be a material witness on the question of defendant's guilt.
The second conflict also involved the arrest of the informant and arose because defendant, not knowing the informant's identity, was unaware of all the circumstances surrounding his arrest. Not surprisingly, counsel for both sides argued in the dark as to whether evidence obtained from the informant was to be suppressed because it was the result of an illegal arrest or search (People v. Martin, supra, 45 Cal.2d at pp. 759-761) or whether such evidence was to be admitted because the alleged impropriety, if any, was limited to a violation of the informant's Miranda rights (People v. Varnum (1967) 66 Cal. 2d 808, 813 [59 Cal. Rptr. 108, 427 P.2d 772]). The legal principles involved are relatively easy to distinguish; had the informant's identity been disclosed and the defendant apprised of all the facts surrounding the informant's arrest, it can be assumed that counsel for both sides would have argued with more lucidity as to whether Martin, on the one hand, or Varnum, on the other, applies to the case at bar. By compelling disclosure, our holding here should simplify subsequent disposition of this issue.
Let a peremptory writ of prohibition issue restraining respondent court from conducting criminal proceedings in this matter until defendant is afforded relief consistent with the views hereinabove expressed.
Wright, C. J., McComb, J., Peters, J., Tobriner, J., and Burke, J., concurred.
FN 1. When the envelope was sealed, the judge attached the following statement to the outside: "I have examined the confidential informant under oath on this date of February 4, 1971, along with the written affidavit form which was signed by him under oath administered by myself. This affidavit has been placed within the enclosed envelope and sealed from view, and said envelope shall not be opened except by authority of the Court, under penalty of contempt. This affidavit contains the substance of the testimony of the confidential informant, to-wit: his identity and specific details pertaining to the past experience that the aforesaid affiant confidential informant has had with the person and residence which are the subject of the warrant and which, if revealed to public view, would identify the said informant, and thereby interfere with effective law enforcement and tend to endanger the said informant's physical safety and well-being, as alleged by the affiant Mike Celmer in his affidavit in support of and petition for search warrant. This sealed affidavit also contains specific details relating to the knowledge of the affiant informant with regard to the information that the informant has given to affiant, Mike Celmer, which, if revealed to public view would tend to identify said affiant's informant, and thereby interfere with effective law enforcement and tend to endanger said informant's physical safety and well-being, as alleged by the affiant in his affidavit in support of the petition for search warrant. I am satisfied that the said informant exists and the affidavit herein contained supports the affidavit on the search warrant and under the rule of Robert Lee Skelton v. Superior Court, the Supreme Court decision filed on November 12, 1969, there is a reasonable basis for believing that the facts related by the informant are based upon either personal recent knowledge or some other reliable basis of recent origin, and that the affiant's informant is a credible witness."
FN 2. Section 1526 provides: "(a) The magistrate may, before issuing the warrant, examine on oath the person seeking the warrant and any witnesses he may produce, and must take his affidavit or their affidavits in writing, and cause same to be subscribed by the party or parties making same.
"(b) In lieu of the written affidavit required in subdivision (a), the magistrate may take an oral statement under oath which shall be recorded and transcribed. The transcribed statement shall be deemed to be an affidavit for the purposes of this chapter. In such cases, the recording of the sworn oral statement and the transcribed statement shall be certified by the magistrate receiving it and shall be filed with the clerk of the court."
FN 3. Section 1525 provides: "A search-warrant cannot be issued but upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person, and particularly describing the property and the place to be searched."
FN 4. It is unclear whether defendant has abandoned the contention made below that the affidavits are insufficient on their face. To the extent he renews this assertion, we find that, especially in view of the magistrate's extensive examination of the informant, the affidavits are sufficient under the authority of Skelton v. Superior Court (1969) 1 Cal. 3d 144 [81 Cal. Rptr. 613, 460 P.2d 485].
FN 5. Defense counsel, in his argument that the magistrate did not follow the mandate of section 1526, primarily emphasizes the unreported as opposed to the unsworn aspect of the informal hearing. We have concluded there was no error under these circumstances in taking unreported testimony. The code section, however, explicitly requires any oral testimony taken by a magistrate to be "on oath." Here, the following information was elicited before the informant swore to tell the truth: the city in which he lives, his address, place of birth, father's occupation, his most recent place of employment, his marital status. No information relating to the subject matter of the case was received by the magistrate before an oath was administered. We conclude that the magistrate did not violate section 1526 by asking a few preliminary questions, general in nature, before the informant swore to tell the truth.
The United States Supreme Court left open the availability of challenges to the factual basis of an affidavit in support of a search warrant in Rugendorf v. United States (1963) 376 U.S. 528, 532 [11 L. Ed. 2d 887, 891, 84 S.Ct. 825]: "[A]ssuming, for the purposes of this decision, that such attack may be made, we are of the opinion that the search warrant here is valid." The court later stated that the "factual inaccuracies depended upon by petitioner ... were of only peripheral relevancy to the showing of probable cause" (id.), thereby implying that a factual inquiry could be made but that if the uncontroverted facts standing alone established probable cause the warrant would stand.
FN 7. Procedure for Challenging Evidence Obtained by Search and Seizure, 22 Assembly Interim Committee Report No. 12 (2 Assem.J.Appendix (1967) at p. 7) (hereinafter cited as Assem. Com. Rep.).
FN 8. Section 1539 provides in part: "(a) If a special hearing be held in the superior court pursuant to Section 1538.5, or if the grounds on which the warrant was issued be controverted and a motion to return property be made ..., the judge or magistrate must proceed to take testimony in relation thereto, and the testimony of each witness must be reduced to writing and authenticated by a shorthand reporter in the manner prescribed in Section 869."
Prior to 1967, the provision read: "If the grounds on which the warrant was issued be controverted, he must proceed to take testimony in relation thereto, and the testimony of each witness must be reduced to writing and authenticated in the manner prescribed in section eight hundred and sixty-nine."
Section 1540 provides: "If it appears that the property taken is not the same as that described in the warrant, or that there is no probable cause for believing the existence of the grounds on which the warrant was issued, the magistrate must cause it to be restored to the person from whom it was taken."
Section 1538.5, subdivision (a), provides in part: "A defendant may move for the return of property or to suppress as evidence any tangible or intangible thing obtained as a result of a search or seizure on either of the following grounds: ... (2) The search or seizure with a warrant was unreasonable because (i) the warrant is insufficient on its face; ... (iii) there was not probable cause for the issuance of the warrant ... ."
FN 9. Keener, Marion, Dosier, Lepur, Nelson, Phillips, Thornton, and Arata, and People v. Prieto, supra, were all disapproved on other grounds in People v. Butler (1966) 64 Cal. 2d 842, 845 [52 Cal. Rptr. 4, 415 P.2d 819]. (See discussion, infra.) Perez was disapproved on other grounds in People v. Underwood (1964) 61 Cal. 2d 113, 125 [37 Cal. Rptr. 313, 389 P.2d 937].
FN 10. The People's reliance on cases such as Skelton v. Superior Court, supra, 1 Cal. 3d 144, 150, for the proposition that a defendant may contest only the sufficiency of the warrant on its face is misplaced. In Skelton the defendant did not seek to controvert the veracity of the facts contained in the affidavit. Accordingly, we merely set forth the applicable standard for reviewing on appeal a magistrate's conclusion that the affidavit was sufficient on its face to support the issuance of a warrant.
FN 12. In Henderson, the warrant was issued on the basis of two items of information: "investigation had disclosed that two unlisted telephone numbers seized among lottery paraphernalia were in the name of defendant at the premises searched, and that he had a previous record for violation of the lottery laws." (17 F.R.D. at p. 2.) Upon rehearing counsel demonstrated that it was not defendant but another person with the same name who had the prior record. The court held that if it were to ignore the misinformation concerning the previous violations, the remaining facts (to wit: the presence of defendant's telephone numbers) would not constitute probable cause.
The government argued that since the officer obtaining the warrant "honestly believed" the defendant was the same person previously convicted, the warrant was not tarnished. The court replied (at p. 2): "But to give the same effect to mistaken facts as to correct facts which may be ascertained by investigation would impose an undue burden on unfortunate innocent persons who happen to have the same names." (Italics added.) By its emphasis on "correct" versus "mistaken" facts, the court appears to have ruled that all errors, regardless of how reasonably an affiant may have acted, must be deleted.
In Nagle, the court declared that if the affiant was "mistaken, or made a false affidavit, it would be the duty of the commissioner to vacate the search warrant." (34 F.2d at p. 954.) There defendant challenged the validity of the affidavit but the finding of probable cause was sustained.
FN 14. We do not hold that the presence in an affidavit of inaccurate facts caused by unreasonable police activity automatically vitiates the warrant. We require only that such information be deleted and the warrant's validity be tested by the remaining accurate information. The warrant will not be quashed if that remaining information is sufficient, under settled standards, to constitute probable cause for the search.
We add that as the prosecution is thus barred from relying on negligent mistakes in an affidavit, it is a fortiori barred from relying on information known by the affiant to be intentionally false. Since in the latter situation there obviously can be no question of showing a reasonable belief in the truth of deliberate misinformation, any such statements must also be stricken prior to testing the warrant for probable cause. The issue of whether the use of intentional misstatements should result in automatically quashing the warrant without regard to the effect of those misstatements on probable cause was not timely briefed, and we therefore do not reach it.
FN 15. Even though we hold there was error in the refusal to disclose the identity of the informant and that this error undoubtedly affected defendant's ability to make a specifically detailed offer of proof as to the truth of the affidavits, we note that the matter was submitted to the superior court judge on the transcript of the combined section 1538.5, subdivision (f), hearing and preliminary examination. Renewal of a motion to suppress evidence is permitted in superior court under section 1538.5, subdivision (i). This subsequent hearing, however, does not permit the superior court to review issues of law decided by the magistrate under subdivision (f) but is itself a de novo hearing. Furthermore, as we stated in Rogers v. Superior Court (1955) 46 Cal. 2d 3, 6-7 [291 P.2d 929], only in rare cases will prohibition lie to review rulings of the magistrate on the admissibility of evidence made at the preliminary hearing.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.