Opinion ID: 1387721
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Second Car Search

Text: Following the initial car search, the officers procured a search warrant which authorized seizure of the three lamps they had previously seen in the car trunk. During this second search, the officers seized the three lamps as well as a blank time card from a security service and a note with handwritten instructions for driving to a location in San Pedro near the area where the robbery/murder occurred. (5) Defendant first contends that this second search was tainted by the illegality of the initial search, but this contention fails by reason of our determination that the initial consensual search was proper. (6) Defendant next asserts that the warrant was rendered invalid because the officers failed to advise the magistrate that they had threatened to bust open defendant's trunk if he refused consent to a search. (See People v. Cook (1978) 22 Cal.3d 67, 99 [148 Cal. Rptr. 605, 583 P.2d 130].) As previously indicated, however, the trial court could reasonably conclude that no such threat was made, or that it merely consisted of a correct statement of the officers' legal remedies if consent were refused. Failure to disclose such immaterial matters to the magistrate would not taint issuance of the warrant. (7) Finally, defendant suggests that the second car search exceeded the permissible scope of the search warrant. The warrant authorized only a search for the three hanging lamps, which the officers knew (from the initial search) were in the car's trunk. The actual search, however, extended to the car's interior and turned up a blank time card and map to San Pedro. The People argue that the search of the car's interior was supported by probable cause. (See People v. Superior Court (Valdez), supra, 35 Cal.3d at pp. 15-16.) Without resolving that issue, we simply observe that the foregoing evidence was merely cumulative of much stronger evidence establishing that defendant was indeed a security guard who committed his offenses in San Pedro. Admission of the time card and map clearly was not prejudicial to defendant. (See Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065].)