Opinion ID: 2590211
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Searches of defendant's home

Text: Defendant challenges each of the three searches of his home, contending probable cause did not support the three warrants authorizing the searches and that searching officers improperly seized items outside the scope of the warrants. He also contends the second and third searches were invalid because they were directed at seizing evidence of crimes committed outside California. As will appear, his contentions lack merit. To place his claims in perspective, we review the process by which the three warrants were obtained.
On the afternoon of May 14, 1983, later in the day of defendant's arrest, the first telephonic affidavit for the search of defendant's home was presented to Judge Beacom of the Orange County Superior Court. The information investigator Sidebotham had submitted in the affidavit for the search of defendant's car was incorporated into this affidavit. Sidebotham stated that, during the search of the car, he had found vials of various prescription drugs, prescribed for defendant, in the car's glove compartment. One such drug was propranolol, sold under the trade name Inderal. An empty vial of Valium was found behind the driver's seat. Two beer bottles were also found in the car. In the trunk of the car several photographs of males, some clothed and others unclothed, were found. One depicted a man who appeared to be dead, sitting on a couch. The passenger seat cushion was found to be saturated with what a criminalist determined was blood. Gambrel, however, was not the source of the blood, as his body had no obvious injuries that would have caused any great amount of bleeding. The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Gambrel had informed Sidebotham that the cause of death was ligature strangulation. Sidebotham was aware of other recent murder cases involving young men who were killed by ligature strangulation. These included Eric Herbert Church, whose body was found on January 27, 1983, on the northbound on-ramp to the 605 Freeway after apparently having been dumped from a vehicle; Geoffrey Alan Nelson, whose nude, emasculated body was found on the Euclid Street on-ramp to the Garden Grove Freeway on February 12, 1983; and Rodger James DeVaul, Jr., whose body was found in the Mt. Baldy area about February 14, 1983. A photograph found in defendant's car depicted an individual wearing clothing similar to that worn by Church when his body was found. A photograph of DeVaul, apparently taken postmortem, was found in the trunk of defendant's car. Nelson and DeVaul had last been seen alive together. All three had alcohol and Valium in their systems, and Nelson and DeVaul also had propranolol in their systems. Based on the foregoing factual recitation, Judge Beacom issued a warrant authorizing the search of defendant's home and the seizure of, among other things, weapons, blood, fingerprints, bodily fluids, hair samples, fiber samples, drugs, written or pornographic material pertaining to homicides, papers tending to show the identity of any victims, homosexual literature, and certain clothing belonging to Nelson. Service of the warrant began around 6:30 p.m. on May 14.
On the evening of May 17, 1983, Sidebotham presented to Judge Beacom a telephonic affidavit for a further search warrant, incorporating the affidavits for the search of defendant's car and the prior search of his house. Sidebotham stated that, after completing his first search of the house, he learned there was relevant evidence at that location that he had not recovered. Specifically, four officers of various law enforcement agencies in the State of Oregon had described to Sidebotham unsolved murder cases in their respective jurisdictions, mentioning certain evidence Sidebotham had seen at defendant's house. Officer James Reed of the Oregon State Police told Sidebotham about Michael O'Fallon, a young man whose body had been found on an on-ramp to Interstate 5, a victim of ligature strangulation who had alcohol and diazepam in his system at the time of death. Missing from O'Fallon's possession was a pocket Kodak Instamatic camera with the initials MJO scratched onto the camera. Under the authority of the first warrant, Sidebotham had seized such a camera from defendant's house during the prior search. Reed also described to Sidebotham a certain backpack and other property O'Fallon had had with him before he died, as well as the clothing he was wearing. In conducting the first search of defendant's house, Sidebotham had seen boots, a T-shirt, corduroy pants and a leather belt matching the description of the clothing O'Fallon had been wearing when last seen. O'Fallon's body had been found on July 17, 1980, a date when defendant had been in Oregon on a business trip. Detective William Kennedy of the Lane County Sheriffs Office, near Eugene, Oregon, had told Sidebotham that the dead body of Michael Duane Cluck had been found off Interstate 5 on April 10, 1981. Cluck had been bludgeoned to death, and alcohol and Valium were found in his system. Certain property and clothing Cluck had in his possession, including a pair of black men's roller skates with white wheels, were missing. Sidebotham had seen such a pair of skates in the master bedroom of defendant's house, as well as a backpack matching the description of the one owned by Cluck. Defendant had been working in the Portland area from March 1, 1981, through May 9, 1981. Sergeant Will Heningston of the Marion County Sheriffs Office in Salem, Oregon, had told Sidebotham that the nude body of Anthony Silveira had been found near a rural road close to Interstate 5 on December 18, 1982. The cause of death was ligature strangulation and alcohol and diazepam were in Silveira's system at the time of death. Silveira had last been seen alive on December 3, 1982, and it appeared he had been dead approximately two weeks. Sidebotham had received a list of the clothing Silveira was wearing when last seen; while executing the first warrant to search defendant's house, Sidebotham had seen tennis shoes matching those worn by Silveira. Defendant had stayed at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon, from December 1 through December 3, 1982. Detective Linda Estes of the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office in Oregon City, Oregon, had told Sidebotham that, on November 24, 1982, the dead body of Brian Whitcher had been found on a rural road in the Wilsonville area, clad only in jeans and a sweater. The cause of death could not be determined, but alcohol and diazepam had been found in Whitcher's system. On November 23, 1982, defendant had stayed at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon, about two miles from the location where Whitcher's body was found. Detective Estes had examined photographs taken during the search of defendant's house on May 14 and had advised Sidebotham that they appeared to depict Whitcher's jacket hanging in defendant's garage. One of the photographs seized from underneath the floor mat of defendant's car showed murder victim Robert Wyatt Loggins, Jr., lying on a couch that was seized from defendant's house on May 14. The photographs, in which Loggins appeared to be deceased, showed him both clothed and unclothed. An application of the luminol chemical process to the couch had indicated the presence of blood. When Loggins's body was found, certain items of property and clothing with which he had last been seen were missing. Based on the foregoing factual recitation, Judge Beacom issued a second warrant authorizing a search for the property of Robert Wyatt Loggins, Jr., and of the Oregon victims named in the affidavit.
While inside defendant's house executing the second search warrant on May 18, 1983, Sidebotham sought a third warrant by telephonic affidavit. The third affidavit incorporated by reference the affidavits in support of the car search warrant and the two prior house search warrants. Sidebotham told Judge Beacom that, while serving the second search warrant, he had observed some blood he had not seen while serving the first warrant on the evening of May 14. Sidebotham also stated that, about half an hour before he made the telephonic affidavit, Detective Sergeant Larry French of Kent County, Michigan, had advised him that, on December 9, 1982, the dead bodies of Dennis Alt and Christopher Schoenborn were found together in Kent County. Both were victims of ligature strangulation, and both had alcohol and diazepam in their systems at the time of death. A pen, inscribed Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, had been inserted into Schoenborn's urethra. The two victims had last been seen alive at that hotel. Defendant had stayed at that hotel from December 5 through December 8, 1982. Detective Sergeant French had described to Sidebotham certain property missing from Alt and Schoenborn. Sidebotham had seen a jacket labeled with the name Chris Schoenborn, as described by French, inside defendant's garage. Based on the foregoing factual recitation, Judge Beacom issued a third warrant authorizing a search of defendant's house for blood and for the missing property of Alt and Schoenborn.
Defendant first contends that none of the warrants for the search of his home were supported by probable cause. In part, his argument rests on his claim, rejected above, that his arrest and the search of his car, which yielded evidence presented in the affidavit for the house search warrants, were invalid. In other part, defendant argues probable cause was lacking because law enforcement officers had no reason to believe Gambrel was ever in defendant's house, and the other murders of which defendant was suspected had occurred too long before the search to justify a belief that any evidence was still present in the house. Defendant, however, fails to acknowledge that one of the photographs found in his car depicted a man, apparently deceased, sitting on a couch; that another of the photographs depicted a man who was either dead, asleep or unconscious; and that others showed undressed men. Clearly, officers could reasonably believe the photographs might have been taken in defendant's home and that additional evidence of criminal activity might be found there. Contrary to defendant's implicit argument, a finding of probable cause did not require either independent evidence of the date of the photograph or independent confirmation that the couch depicted in the photograph was in fact located in defendant's home. And the fact that the front passenger seat of defendant's car was found to be saturated with blood that probably was not Gambrel's reasonably justified a belief that defendant was responsible for other crimes. Coupled with the photographs suggesting defendant might have engaged in criminal acts in his home, the presence in his car of blood of unknown origin further supported the warrant for the search of his house. Defendant also contends the warrants authorizing the search of his house were overbroad and vague. The only specific example of the asserted vagueness defendant offers relates to the various shirts described therein. We see no vagueness in the descriptions of which defendant complains; for example, searching officers would have entertained no uncertainty as to whether a blue plaid long sleeved flannel shirt was encompassed within the warrant, even if more than one shirt fitting that description might be found on the premises. Given that officers had received information indicating each of the items specified in the warrants was associated with a particular victim, the charge of overbreadth must be rejected as well. Defendant complains so many items were seized that were not specified in the warrants that the officers perforce conducted a general search. As discussed above ( ante, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d at p. 43, 5 P.3d at p. 106), however, searching officers may seize items not listed in the warrant, provided such items are in plain view while the officers are lawfully in the location where they are searching and the incriminating character of the items is immediately apparent. ( Horton v. California, supra, 496 U.S. at p. 136, 110 S.Ct. 2301.) Defendant vaguely asserts, It is not any single item that presents the problem, but the overall array of items taken and the failure to present any substantial reason for seizing many items that highlights the overall legal problem. The assertion, lacking as it is in specificity, virtually defies review. Defendant observes that the burden is on the People to justify the seizure of items not seized under the warrants, but on appeal all presumptions favor the judgment. ( In re Marriage of Arceneaux (1990) 51 Cal.3d 1130, 1133, 275 Cal. Rptr. 797, 800 P.2d 1227.) Defendant seems to suggest that searching officers must have probable cause to connect each item seized with a particular murder victim, and that every such item be precisely described in the warrant, but he cites no authority for such an exacting interpretation of the Fourth Amendment. In sum, all the items of any significance that defendant enumerates as having been seized outside the scope of the warrant and used against him at trial are of a character that searching officers would immediately have recognized as incriminating. To cite but one example, the seizure of shoelaces from defendant's garage and den closet was clearly proper under the plain view doctrine, given the significance of ligatures and the fact that victims were missing shoelaces in several of the murders charged to defendant.