Opinion ID: 1307321
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the search of the house

Text: The search of the house, having been made without a warrant, the burden rests with the prosecution to show proper justification. (E.g., Horack v. Superior Court, 3 Cal.3d 720, 725 [91 Cal. Rptr. 569, 478 P.2d 1]; People v. Haven, 59 Cal.2d 713, 717 [31 Cal. Rptr. 47, 381 P.2d 927].) (3) The search of the house may not be justified as incident to the petitioner's arrest because the arrest occurred outside the house. In Vale v. Louisiana, supra, 399 U.S. 30, the police officers, possessing warrants for appellant's arrest, were watching the house where he resided. They observed what they suspected was an exchange of narcotics between a known addict and appellant outside the house, after appellant had gone into the house and brought something out to the addict. They arrested appellant at the front steps and announced that they would search the house. No consent was given by appellant. Justice Stewart, writing for the majority, held that if a search of a house is to be upheld as incident to a lawful arrest, the arrest must take place inside the house, not somewhere outside  whether 2 blocks away ( James v. Louisiana, 382 U.S. 36 [15 L.Ed.2d 30, 86 S.Ct. 151]), 20 feet away ( Shipley v. California, 395 U.S. 818 [23 L.Ed.2d 732, 89 S.Ct. 2053]), or, as in Vale, on the sidewalk near the front steps of the premises. Similar rules have long been applied in California. (E.g., Tompkins v. Superior Court, 59 Cal.2d 65, 67 [27 Cal. Rptr. 889, 378 P.2d 113]; People v. Gorg, 45 Cal.2d 776, 781 [291 P.2d 469].) In the instant case the arrest occurred outside the house. Moreover, even if petitioner's arrest could be viewed as occurring in the house, the search of the house would still not be justified as incident to it. In Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. 752, 762-763 [23 L.Ed.2d 685, 693-694], the court held that a search without a warrant incident to an arrest must be limited to the arrestee's person in order to discover and remove weapons and to seize evidence to prevent its concealment or destruction, and to the area within the immediate control of the person arrested, meaning the area from which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence. In limiting the area within which the search without a warrant may be undertaken, the court reasoned that the search under such circumstances would prevent needless physical harm to both the officers and the arrestee and would preserve evidence necessary at the trial. The court emphasized that There is no comparable justification, however, for routinely searching any room other than that in which an arrest occurs  or, for that matter, for searching through all the desk drawers or other closed or concealed areas in that room itself. Such searches, in the absence of well-recognized exceptions, may be made only under the authority of a search warrant. The `adherence to judicial processes' mandated by the Fourth Amendment requires no less. (395 U.S. at p. 763 [23 L.Ed.2d at p. 694]; fn. omitted.) The search of the house may not be upheld on the basis of the rule of People v. Block, 6 Cal.3d 239 [98 Cal. Rptr. 657, 491 P.2d 9], permitting searches for additional suspects. In Block, a police officer, after arresting defendant and five others during an alleged pot party at his house, went upstairs in a search of other possible suspects. While searching he observed marijuana. The majority held that on the basis of the facts known to him, the officer had probable cause to believe, after the arrests had been made that other possible suspects might be in the building, and that he acted reasonably in making the upstairs search for them and in seizing the marijuana which was in plain view. However, it was emphasized that in determining whether an officer's belief that others were present and subsequent search for them was reasonable would be dependent upon the existence of facts available to him at the moment of the search or seizure which would warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate. [Citations.] And in determining whether the officer acted reasonably, due weight must be given not to his unparticularized suspicions or `hunches,' but to the reasonable inferences which he is entitled to draw from the facts in the light of his experience; in other words, he must be able to point to specific and articulable facts from which he concluded that his action was necessary. [Citations.] (6 Cal.3d at p. 244; italics added.) Although the facts in Block presented a close case as to whether probable cause existed to search for further suspects, [2] the facts in the instant case do not. The police officers received information from a neighbor that there were growing marijuana plants in petitioner's backyard, and a detective, did, in fact, observe the plants from that neighbor's house. Shortly thereafter, several police officers approached petitioner's house, rang the doorbell, and confronted petitioner who answered the door. They invited her to walk around the side of the house into the backyard with them. They then saw the plants closeup and arrested her in the backyard for cultivating marijuana. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11530.1.) They had no search or arrest warrants. Petitioner asked permission to go into the house to make a phone call. The police consented and followed her back into the house. She made the phone call from the living room located just inside the front door which they had entered. Petitioner never left that room. The police asked permission to search the house and she refused. While two officers stayed with petitioner the other searched all of the rooms in the house finding contraband in several of those rooms but none in the room where petitioner made her telephone call. None of the officers testified that he was in fear of his life or safety. The detective in charge admitted that he had no specific articulable information that any suspects were in the house at that moment; only general information that two other persons had been living at the house. There was no one else beside petitioner in the house at the time. Furthermore, when the officers first knocked on the door to escort the petitioner to the backyard they saw no one else in the house, no hurried movements by petitioner or anyone else, nor were they aware of any facts which might indicate the presence of someone other than petitioner in the house. Again, when they returned to the house to let the petitioner make her phone call, no hurried movements were observed, nor was there any indication that someone had been there while they were in the backyard. In addition, no lights, noises nor marijuana odors were observed emanating from any of the rooms. There is, of course, always the possibility that some additional person may be found in a house outside of which an arrest took place. But the mere possibility of additional persons in the house, without more, is not enough to provide probable cause to search the entire premises for additional suspects once the suspect whom the officers had sought was arrested. As was stated in Chimel there is no justification for routinely searching any room other than that in which an arrest occurs.... ( Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at p. 763 [23 L.Ed.2d at p. 694].) By holding the mere possibility that there might be an additional unknown person or persons in the house warrants a search of the entire premises the court would render the rule of Chimel largely meaningless. We have concluded that the mere fact that the marijuana plants were found in the backyard and that two others had been living at the house, without additional facts, does not furnish probable cause to believe that others may be present in the house. The contraband found in the house as a result of the search is inadmissible. [3] The alternative writ heretofore issued is discharged. Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue directing respondent court to suppress the evidence seized in the house. In all other respects the petition for writ of mandate is denied.