Opinion ID: 4521869
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Patdown Search of Defendant and Search

Text: Incident to Arrest for Data on the Cell Phone On July 29, 2008, the day after Pamela was killed, defendant called the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to request a welfare check on his nine-year-old daughter, J.F., who lived with Pamela in Camarillo. Earlier that morning, an LAPD detective had gone to the Camarillo residence to tell Pamela’s daughters of their mother’s death. After receiving word that defendant was heading over to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office with his attorneys, the detective met defendant there. He told defendant that he was under arrest for Pamela’s murder and that he would be transported to the LAPD West Los Angeles Station. Officers searched defendant incident to arrest and took his Motorola cell phone, which they placed in the front seat of the vehicle. They handcuffed defendant and placed him in the backseat. 44 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. The LAPD detective drove defendant some 45 miles from Camarillo to the West Los Angeles Police Station. At the station, defendant invoked his right to remain silent and refused to speak to investigators. An LAPD officer testified that he obtained and possessed defendant’s cell phone for an hour and that he “manipulated” the phone to find the number associated with the phone before handing the cell phone to an FBI agent. Defendant was released two hours later without his Motorola cell phone. Officers returned the cell phone the following Friday when they were serving a search warrant at defendant’s home. On October 9, 2009, in addition to other defense motions discussed below, defendant filed a pretrial motion under section 1538.5 to suppress, arguing the evidence was seized from the illegal search of his Motorola cell phone on July 29, 2008. The pretrial hearing on the suppression motion took place on June 10, 2010. The trial court agreed with the prosecution that the only information officers took from that cell phone was the number itself. With this cell phone number, the LAPD in conjunction with the FBI Fugitive Task Force, sought and obtained a court order authorizing the use and installation of wiretap devices for the “Subject Telephone Number.” After hearing testimony from LAPD detectives, the trial court concluded the search of the cell phone was “illegal,” even if it was incident to a valid arrest. However, it agreed with the prosecution that because there were different sources from which to discover defendant’s cell phone number, including Pamela’s contacts in her cell phone, the evidence was admissible based on the inevitable discovery doctrine. 45 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. On appeal, defendant makes a number of corollary claims challenging the search and his arrest on July 29, 2008.7 Ultimately, the Attorney General concedes that the trial court was likely correct that the search of defendant’s Motorola cell phone was unlawful. (See Riley v. California (2014) 573 U.S. 373, 387 [“[o]nce an officer has secured a phone and eliminated any potential physical threats . . . data on the phone can endanger no one”].) Nevertheless, as the Attorney General underscores, even if the search or arrest, or both, were unlawful, the evidence may nevertheless be admissible under the exception of inevitable discovery. (See Nix v. Williams, supra, 467 U.S. 431; People v. Robles, supra, 23 Cal.4th at pp. 800-801.) “Under the inevitable discovery doctrine, illegally seized evidence may be used where it would have been discovered by the police through lawful means. As the United States Supreme Court has explained, the doctrine ‘is in reality an extrapolation from the independent source doctrine: Since the tainted evidence would be admissible if in fact discovered through an independent source, it should be admissible if it inevitably would have been discovered.’ (Murray v. United States (1988) 487 U.S. 533, 539 [108 S.Ct. 2529, 2534, 101 L.Ed.2d 472].) The purpose of the inevitable discovery rule is to prevent the setting aside of convictions that would have been obtained without 7 For example, he contends that police investigative reports actually classified defendant as being detained, not arrested, and that authorities conducted an unlawful patdown at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Station because there was no indication that defendant was armed and dangerous. It is unnecessary to discuss these claims relating specifically to the underlying search and seizure because we conclude that the inevitable discovery doctrine applies. 46 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. police misconduct.” (People v. Robles, supra, 23 Cal.4th at p. 800; see People v. Coffman and Marlow (2004) 34 Cal.4th 1, 62 [rule ensures prosecution “is not placed in a better position” absent the illegality but “does not require it be put in a worse one”].) The inevitable discovery rule “applies only to evidence obtained as the indirect product, or fruit, of other evidence illegally seized.” (Hernandez v. Superior Court (1980) 110 Cal.App.3d 355, 361.) The prosecution must prove “by a preponderance of the evidence that the information inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means.” (People v. Coffman and Marlow, supra, 34 Cal.4th at p. 62; People v. Superior Court (Tunch) (1978) 80 Cal.App.3d 665, 681 [“The test is not one of certainty, but rather of a reasonably strong probability”].) “As this is essentially a question of fact, we must uphold the trial court’s determination if supported by substantial evidence.” (People v. Carpenter (1999) 21 Cal.4th 1016, 1040.) At the suppression hearing, the prosecution presented evidence that shortly after police recovered Pamela’s cell phone at the crime scene, they accessed the phone’s list of contacts, which included the cell phone number for defendant. The police also “obtained independently” defendant’s cell phone number from a search of Moya’s cell phone. Moreover, the search of Goldfinger’s office led to defendant’s cell phone number. In light of these other sources leading to the discovery of defendant’s cell phone number, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the inevitable discovery rule applied and that the evidence of defendant’s cell phone number was admissible. (See People v. Carpenter, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 1040.) 47 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.