Court Opinion

ID: 9558258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:05:25.557843+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:31.630923
License: Public Domain

KAUS, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I
I have no quarrel with the majority’s conclusion that a number of the clauses of the search warrant in this case—those which the majority terms “boilerplate clauses”—are vulnerable to constitutional challenge. Although the detailed affidavit submitted to the magistrate provided more than sufficient probable cause both to support a belief that defendant may have committed the crimes at issue and to justify a search of his residence for specific items which the police investigation had revealed were related to the crimes—such as the locks of hair that had been removed from the victim and the pliers that had been used in committing the crimes—none of the facts alleged in the affidavit provided probable cause to believe that defendant had in his possession either documentary evidence of his whereabouts on the day of the crimes1 or scrapbooks or the like related to this criminal activity.2 If the challenged clauses were validly inserted in this warrant, *756there would be no reason why every search warrant could not similarly authorize the police to search any suspect’s residence for personal diaries, telephone records, scrapbooks or other papers which might help the prosecution prove its case. Despite the gravity of the crimes at issue here, I agree with the majority that the Constitution does not permit such a practice.
II
Where I part company with the majority is on several, somewhat more mundane, matters. The first point concerns the threshold question of whether defendant adequately raised at the trial court level the overbreadth issue on which the majority relies. While the opinion does acknowledge in a footnote that defendant’s “objection to this evidence on the overbreadth of the warrant could have been more specific” (ante, p. 729, fn. 3), that brief statement does not fully capture the inadequacy of defendant’s submission. To explain my difficulty with the majority’s conclusion, I must review the relevant procedural background in a bit more detail.
As the majority recognizes, because the evidence in question was obtained in a search pursuant to a warrant, defendant bore the burden of demonstrating the inadmissibility of the challenged evidence. (See, e.g., Theodor v. Superior Court (1972) 8 Cal.3d 77, 101 [104 Cal.Rptr. 226, 501 P.2d 234].) In his pretrial motion to suppress, defendant challenged the validity of the search warrant on a number of theories, contending (1) that the information on which it was based was “stale,” (2) that the information was, in part, inaccurate, and (3) that the warrant was “overbroad.” But while his motion purported to rely, inter alia, on “overbreadth,” the motion’s discussion of the issue was entirely inadequate to the issue.
I set out the defendant’s entire argument on the overbreadth issue in the margin.3 Although the argument quoted excerpts from two opinions which *757held portions of other search warrants to be overbroad, the motion left totally unanswered a number of fundamental and crucial questions. First, it did not indicate which clause or clauses in the warrant defendant was challenging as overbroad. The warrant contained 16 separate clauses, each of varying specificity, authorizing the search for different items and categories of items; defendant left the trial court simply to guess which of these clauses he was attacking. Second, the motion did not make clear whether defendant’s challenge was based on the theory that the affidavit did not provide probable cause to support a search for the items referred to in a particular clause or whether it was based, instead, on the theory that the description of items in a particular clause was not sufficiently specific. Third, and finally, the motion did not indicate which of the numerous seized items defendant was seeking to suppress on the basis of the warrant’s alleged overbreadth. At least since Aday v. Superior Court (1961) 55 Cal.2d 789, 797 [13 Cal.Rptr. 415, 362 P.2d 47], it has been clear that the invalidity of a portion of a warrant does not invariably taint all of the evidence seized pursuant to the warrant; defendant’s motion, however, did not direct the court’s attention to the address books or datebook, or—for that matter—to any other particular item, but simply sought the suppression of all evidence seized either with or without a search warrant.
Defense counsel’s presentation at the hearing on the motion to suppress provided no elaboration or clarification of the overbreadth contention. While counsel presented evidence and additional argument with respect to his “staleness” and “misstatement” arguments, he simply submitted the overbreadth claim on the basis of his written motion.4
*758Given the fact that defendant never directed the trial court’s attention to the specific clauses of the warrant that he intended to challenge as over-broad, never clarified the theory of his claim of overbreadth, and never explained what potential evidence he was seeking to exclude, I do not believe we can properly find that the trial court erred in rejecting defendant’s overbreadth contention. In short, defendant’s objection was simply too inadequate to preserve the issue for appeal.
III
The majority appears to acknowledge that the deficiency of the defense presentation in the trial court would preclude defendant from raising the overbreadth issue on appeal in an ordinary, noncapital case. (See ante, p. 729, fn. 3.) It concludes, however, that the flaws should be ignored here because this is a capital case, maintaining that we have long followed the rule in death penalty appeals that “a technical insufficiency in the form of an objection will be disregarded and the entire record will be examined to determine if a miscarriage of justice resulted.” (Ibid.) While it may be appropriate to be more solicitous of “technical insufficiencies]” in evidentiary objections in capital appeals, the inadequacy here cannot be dismissed as a mere “technical insufficiency.” What the majority’s characterization overlooks is that because of the inadequate objection at the suppression hearing, the prosecution had no reason to present evidence which might have demonstrated that the notebooks in question were admissible at trial despite the overbreadth of a portion of the warrant. Since the inadequacy of the record makes it impossible to determine whether or not the notebooks were admissible, and since that inadequacy is directly attributable to the deficiency in defendant’s motion, I do not see how we can disregard the deficiency for purposes of this appeal.
Although it does not expressly say so, the majority implicitly recognizes that the inclusion of the invalid clauses in the warrant in this case neither invalidates the warrant in toto nor renders inadmissible all evidence seized in the search conducted pursuant to the warrant: the locking pliers, on which the majority heavily relies in finding no prejudice at the guilt phase, were seized in the same search as the address books and datebook. While there is, of course, a distinction between the pliers and the notebooks—the pliers were properly included in the warrant whereas the notebooks were not—a number of cases have concluded that even if evidence is seized pursuant to an invalid portion of a search warrant, the evidence may still be admissible if the police would reasonably have discovered and properly seized the evidence while executing the valid portions of the warrant.
People v. Atkins (1982) 128 Cal.App.3d 564 [180 Cal.Rptr. 440] demonstrates the point. In Atkins, a search warrant was issued, authorizing a *759search of the defendant’s residence for five categories of evidence: (1) rug fibers, (2) hair of the victim, (3) stolen property, (4) clothing of the victim, and (5) pieces of glass. In the course of the search, the police officers seized a two-shilling English coin, apparently as “stolen property.” On appeal, the defendant contended that the “stolen property” designation in the warrant failed to satisfy the constitutional requirement that the object of a search be specified with sufficient “particularity” to limit the officers’ discretion and that, as a consequence, the coin had been improperly admitted in evidence.
The Atkins court rejected the argument, explaining: “Even were we to assume that the single category of ‘stolen property’ is overbroad and lacking in the requisite particularity, ‘any thing properly seized as a result of an authorized search for articles properly described may be used in evidence. ’ [Citations.] Here, the officers necessarily engaged in an intensive inspection of defendant’s room in conducting the authorized search for certain of the minute items. Where during the course of such an authorized search the coin was routinely discovered, as here, they were entitled to seize it as an item in plain view. [Citations.] The requisite nexus—facts from which a rational link between the item seized and criminal behavior can be inferred [citation]—was established from the English coin itself and the English heritage of the victim. In light of the totality of such circumstances, the coin, discovered in plain view during the course of the otherwise valid search, was properly subject to seizure and admissible in evidence.” (128 CaI.App.3d at p. 570.)
Several cases from other jurisdictions have reached the same conclusion. In People v. Hellemeyer (1975) 28 Ill.App.3d 491 [328 N.E.2d 626], for example, police obtained a warrant to search a car for goods taken in three burglaries, but the appellate court concluded that the affidavit provided probable cause with respect to only one of the burglaries. Nonetheless, the court rejected the claim that the seized property relating to the other two burglaries should have been suppressed, reasoning: “As stated above, the search warrant did properly issue to search Hellemeyer’s automobile for the goods taken in the Turf Lounge burglary. The inclusion of goods taken in the other two burglaries, while technically incorrect, did not prejudice the defendants. When an article subject to lawful seizure properly comes into an officer’s possession in the course of a lawful search, that item may be used as evidence even though it was not one of the items that the officer was properly searching for. [Citations.] Thus, if the property taken from Rickhoff’s Tavern and from Por O’Smitty’s Tavern had not been mentioned in the search warrant in the instant case, the police could still have searched Hellemeyer’s automobile and seized the property which had been taken in all three reported burglaries. All those items could have been used as evi*760dence against the defendants. A holding that the items could properly be seized if they were not included in the search warrant but that they could not be seized if they were included in the search warrant is without reason. Since probable cause was established to search Hellemeyer’s automobile, the inclusion in the search warrant of items which were taken in burglaries other than the one at the Turf Lounge did not result in a greater invasion of Hellemeyer’s privacy than was justified.” (328 N.E.2d at pp. 631-632. See also Com. v. Lett (1984) 393 Mass. 141 [470 N.E.2d 110, 113-115]; United States v. Fitzgerald (8th Cir. 1983) 724 F.2d 633, 635-637; State v. Noll (1984) 116 Wis.2d 443 [343 N.W.2d 391, 395-399]; Palmer v. State (Ala.Crim.App. 1983) 426 So.2d 950, 952; Com. v. Casuccio (1982) 300 Pa.Super. 450 [454 A.2d 621, 629-631]; United States v. Winston (E.D.Mich. 1974) 373 F.Supp. 1005; Butler v. State (1973) 130 Ga.App. 469 [203 S.E.2d 558, 563].)
The doctrine reflected in these cases is not, however, without its proper limitations. In People v. Haas (1976) 55 App.Div.2d 683 [390 N.Y.S.2d 202], for example, the court—after concluding that there was probable cause to support a warrant’s authorization to search for marijuana, but not its additional authorization to search for stolen goods—refused to uphold the seizure of the stolen goods, explaining: “The items seized, i.e., a passport, an envelope containing coins, certain documents, etc., are not the type of items in which a searcher for marijuana could reasonably expect to find marijuana, especially in view of the fact that the search warrant authorized a search for ‘Marijuana Plants.’ [Citation.] Furthermore, none of those items contain a brand of illegality, i.e., they are not contraband per se. Thus, the police would have had to scrutinize them carefully in order to know that they were stolen. [Citation.] We find that the type of foray into defendant’s home pursuant to an imprecisely drawn search warrant is precisely the type of general exploratory search so abhorrent to the Constitution. . . .” (390 N.Y.S.2d at pp. 202-203. See also United States v. LeBron (8th Cir. 1984) 729 F.2d 533, 537-538.)
Taken together, these cases suggest that the admissibility of evidence seized pursuant to an invalid portion of a warrant may well turn on the nature and scope of the search that was lawfully authorized by the warrant and on the circumstances surrounding the execution of the warrant and the actual seizure of the items in question. (See generally 2 LaFave, Search and Seizure (1978) § 4.6(f), pp. 111-113; see also id., § 4.11, pp. 163-184.)
How do these principles apply in this case? On the present record, we cannot tell. We do know that the warrant properly authorized a very extensive search of defendant’s residence, permitting the police to search for items as small as the locks of hair that had been snipped from the victim’s *761head. The locks could have been hidden in the pocket address books or datebook, and the police, in leafing through them in search of the hair, could have properly discovered the incriminating nature of the books’ contents in “plain view,” providing the requisite nexus to justify the seizure of these items. (See, e.g., Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971) 403 U.S. 443, 465-471 [29 L.Ed.2d 564, 582-586, 91 S.Ct. 2022] [plurality opn.]; People v. Hill (1974) 12 Cal.3d 731, 761-763 [117 Cal.Rptr. 393, 528 P.2d 1].) On the other hand, the locks or similar small items may have been found before these books were discovered and seized, or the incriminating aspects of the books’ contents might not have been discernible if the police had confined their inspection of the books to a search for the properly listed items. (See 2 LaFave, Search and Seizure, supra, § 4.6(f), pp. 112-113.)
On the record before us, all this is conjecture. As noted, because defendant did not properly raise the issue, the prosecution had no motivation to adduce detailed evidence with respect to the execution of the warrant, and the trial court was never required to determine whether—even if the warrant was partially overbroad—the seizure of the address books and datebook could properly be sustained on a plain-view-in-the-course-of-a-valid-search theory. Since defendant is responsible for the lack of an evidentiary record adequate to determine the admissibility of the books, I do not believe that he may properly challenge the trial court’s ruling on this appeal.
IV
Because I conclude that the trial court did not err in admitting the address books and datebook, I concur in the judgment insofar as it affirms defendant’s conviction and the special circumstance findings. Since the majority concludes that the penalty judgment must be reversed because of the admission of those books, my views as to the additional penalty phase issues raised by defendant cannot aifect the judgment. Accordingly, I express no opinion on those issues.
Grodin, J., concurred.
Respondent’s petition for a rehearing was denied August 20, 1985, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Lucas, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

The warrant was issued on October 18, 1978, some seven months after the crimes occurred.

Ironically, although the facts in the do not provide probable cause respect to the items listed in the general clauses of the warrant challenged here, there are facts in the affidavit which might have provided probable cause to support a clause which was di-
The affidavit related that between March 16 and March 19, 1978—within several days of Amy’s kidnaping and murder—Erin Allen, who lived in the rural residence where Amy’s body was discovered, received a series of telephone calls in which a male caller sobbed and stammered for about five seconds and then hung up. The affidavit provided the specific telephone number on which these calls were received.
Given the nature of the crimes and the timing of the phone calls, it may have been *756reasonable to infer that the person who had committed the offenses had written down the number of the phone at the scene of the crime and had placed these unusual calls. Once the police had probable cause to believe that defendant committed the crimes, this information may have provided probable cause to search defendant’s home for a slip of paper, or a pocket telephone or address book, containing the specific phone number.
The police did not, however, request authorization to search for this potential evidence, and the warrant did not authorize a search for such evidence.

Defendant’s points and authorities stated:
“IX
“The Search Warrant Must Particularly Describe the Property to Be Seized. Nothing Should Be Left to the Discretion of the Officer. (Marrón v. U.S. (1972) 275 U.S. 112; People v. Murray (1978)-77 Cal.App.3d 308, 143 Cal.Rptr. 502.)
“The Following Descriptions in Search Warrants Have Been Held Insufficient:
“(1) ‘all books, records and bank statements and cancelled checks of the receipt and disbursement of money and any file or documents referring to Harold D. Miller, June *757Trower, June Miller or Stacey Miller.’ (Burroughs v. Superior Court (1974) 13 Cal.3d 238, 118 Cal.Rptr. 166.)
“(2) ‘evidence of indebtedness . . . including but not limited to such items as bills, contracts, checkstubs, checks, handbooks . . . .’ (Griffin v. Superior Court (1972) 26 Cal.App.3d 672, 103 Cal.Rptr. 379.)
“If the failure to include material information, though not intentional, is negligent, the omitted facts are added to the Affidavit and probable cause is tested in light of the additional information. (People v. Barger (1974) 40 Cal.App.3d 662, 668-669.)”

The relevant portion of the transcript of the section 1538.5 hearing reads:
“Court: What was the other issue?
“Mr. Prager [district attorney]: That the defendant—
“Mr. Wiksell [defense counsel]: Over-broad.
“Mr. Prager: The question of whether the description in the warrant was over-broad.
“The Court: I assume you are submitting that.
“Mr. Wiksell: Yes.
“The Court: Because you didn’t mention that. The Court finds that that portion of the affidavit is not overbroad and the motion is denied on that ground, also.
“Mr. Prager: Excuse me. The Court said that portion of the affidavit. I think the Court means the affidavit and the warrant.
“The Court: All right, the affidavit and the warrant.
“Mr. Prager: Thank you, sir.”