Court Opinion

ID: 9726297
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:42:07.190006+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:25.723543
License: Public Domain

GUSTAFSON, J.
I concur in the judgment, but I disagree with the opinion insofar as it states that it was for the jury to determine whether appellant was guilty of felony battery.
If the jury had been instructed in the manner set forth in Justice Thompson’s opinion and if appellant had been convicted of felony battery, I think we would have been compelled to reverse the conviction on the ground that there was no substantial evidence from which the jury could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant wás guilty. (People v. Hall (1964) 62 Cal.2d 104 [41 Cal.Rptr. 284, 396 P.2d 700].)
A battery against a peace officer becomes a felony only when “the *720person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that such victim is a peace officer . . . engaged in the performance of his duties.” (Pen. Code, § 243. Italics added.) Appellant knew, of course, that he was dealing with police officers. The question is whether there was evidence that appellant knew or should have known that the officers were engaged in the performance of their duties in forcibly searching him for weapons.
There is no claim that appellant was involved in the robbery for which he was detained for questioning. There was no evidence that appellant had committed any other crime which he should have known would give the officers the right to search him for weapons. Whether the officers were obliged to tell appellant that he was being detained for questioning in connection with the robbery (see People v. Villareal (1968) 262 Cal.App.2d 438 [68 Cal.Rptr. 610]) is a question we need not answer because appellant was not only not told that he was being investigated for robbery, but it was undisputed that he was told that the automobile in which he was riding was stopped merely because “it appeared that [the] door was open.”
I think it is clear that if an automobile is being operated when one door is not completely closed, an officer who stops the automobile is without authority to search an occupant for weapons. (People v. Franklin (1968) 261 Cal.App.2d 703 [68 Cal.Rptr. 231].) Presumably the officers and appellant knew this. I submit that no person detained as appellant was reasonably should have known that the officers were not telling the truth and that they were actually investigating a robbery.
On the evidence in the record the only issue on which the case should have gone to the jury is misdemeanor battery.