Court Opinion

ID: 9794853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:12:51.949352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:21:18.152803
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I concur in the order.
I feel obliged to point out, however, that this case differs *275significantly from People v. Sesslin (1968) 68 Cal.2d 418 [67 Cal.Rptr. 409, 439 P.2d 321], and People v. Johnson (1969) 70 Cal.2d 541 [75 Cal.Rptr. 401, 450 P.2d 865], upon which the majority here rely. In both of those cases the trier of fact impliedly found there had been no exploitation of the purported initial illegality and admitted evidence of subsequent events. Nevertheless the majority of this court undertook in each instance to independently assess the evidence, to reweigh the facts, and to conclude that the taint of illegality had not been dissipated by an intervening act. (See my dissents in Sesslin, 68 Cal.2d at p. 431, and in Johnson, 70 Cal.2d at p. 558.)
As in Sesslin and Johnson, in this case the evidence was conflicting. The trial court could have found an independent intervening act sufficient to remove the taint of original illegality in the consent given by the owner of the vehicle. The consent, plus the' suspicious circumstances of an occupant apparently under the influence of a drug, the recent entry of the group from across the international border, and the absence of identifying papers in the possession of any of the party, could have justified the search of the vehicle resulting in discovery of contraband.
Nevertheless the trial, court found as a fact that the original illegality permeated the subsequent events and that the causal chain remained unbroken from the first to the later actions of the authorities. Thus the majority need not rely on Sesslin and Johnson, in which this court — erroneously, in my opinion —undertook to reverse factual determinations of trial courts. I would merely hold that we are bound by the factual finding made by the trial court here and would affirm solely on that ground.
McComb, J., and Burke, J., concurred.