Court Opinion

ID: 9723060
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:01:24.733787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:44.286389
License: Public Domain

ANDREEN, J.
I respectfully dissent.
Although conceding that the magistrate could not reasonably have found good cause for indorsing the search warrant for night service under Penal Code section 1533, I will attempt to show that the defect does not rise to constitutional magnitude and thus does not require issuance of the writ.
*333California law holds that the requirement of “good cause” for nighttime service of a search warrant “is essentially a statutory requirement imposed by the Legislature and not a constitutional requirement.” (People v. Glass (1976) 56 Cal.App.3d 368, 372 [128 Cal.Rptr. 413].)
In a relatively recent case, Gooding v. United States (1974) 416 U.S. 430 [40 L.Ed.2d 250, 94 S.Ct. 1780], the United States Supreme Court construed 21 United States Code section 879(a), which reads: “A search warrant relating to offenses involving controlled substances may be served at any time of the day or night if the judge or United States magistrate issuing the warrant is satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that grounds exist for the warrant and for its service at such time.” The construction given by the high court to that statute was that probable cause for the warrant itself is all that is necessary for a nighttime search, and that no special showing is required for a nighttime search other than a showing that the contraband is likely to be on the property. (416 U.S. 430, 454-458 [40 L.Ed.2d 430, 266-269, 94 S.Ct. 1780, 1793-1794].) One would think if the matter were one of constitutional magnitude, a different result would have occurred.
A recent treatise on search and seizure law relies extensively upon the dissent in Gooding and comes to the conclusion that the time of searching an occupied family home is a significant factor in determining whether a search is reasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes. (2 LaFave, Search and Seizure (1978) § 4.7, pp. 116-119.)
LaFave also relies upon United States ex rel. Boyance v. Myers (3d Cir. 1968) 398 F.2d 896. In Boyance, a 2:30 a.m. search was made of an occupied family home pursuant to a search warrant which was limited to “search in the daytime.” The court held the nighttime search constitutionally invalid.
According to LaFave only 23 states restrict searches to daytime hours absent a special showing and authorization. (2 LaFave, supra, § 4.7, p. 116.) The federal courts require special justification in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, rule 41(c), but this rule does not apply to cases involving controlled substances. (Gooding v. United States, supra, 416 U.S. 430.)
Even more persuasive is the fact that in many jurisdictions, the only showing needed to justify nighttime search is that the affiant is “positive” that the property is at the place to be searched. (See generally, 68 *334Am.Jur.2d, Searches and Seizures, § 110, p. 764; 79 C.J.S., Searches and Seizures, § 83(c)(2), p. 900; 2 LaFave, supra, § 4.7, p. 116.) And as indicated above, no special showing is necessary for nighttime searches for controlled substances under federal law.
In California, time for service has been set at the will of the Legislature. Before 1970, Penal Code section 1533 authorized service “in the daytime.” In 1970, the statute was amended to allow service at any time between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
In a thoughtful and clear decision, the court in United States v. Searp (6th Cir. 1978) 586 F.2d 1117 had before it a search beginning shortly before midnight at the home of the mother of a suspected bank robber. Rule 41(c)(1), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, provided that search warrants “shall be served in the daytime, unless the issuing authority, by appropriate provision in the warrant, and for reasonable cause shown, authorized its execution at times other than daytime.” (Id., at p. 1119.) The rule was not satisfied, yet the evidence was not suppressed in the trial court, and the circuit court of appeals affirmed. The court reasoned that the application of the exclusionary rule was not warranted. It held that requiring suppression in all cases would be a remedy out of all proportion to the benefits gained. (Id., at p. 1123.) The court stated at page 1125: “When there has merely been a violation of the procedural rules governing night searches, suppression, with its attendant potential for a miscarriage of justice, is not justified when there was neither a possibility of bad faith conduct on the part of the police, nor prejudice to the defendant (in the sense that the search might not have occurred or would not have been so abusive if the requirements of the Rule had been observed). The test is met, and suppression would be required when, based on thejacts and circumstances known to the police at the time application was made for the warrant, there is a reasonable possibility that permission for a night search would have been refused even if an appropriate request had been made.”
Searp cites other circuits which do not invoke the draconian remedy of suppression for every violation of a statutory rule governing the issuance and execution of search warrants. (Id., at p. 1125.)
In the instant case, the officers were concerned with their safety and decided that a nighttime search would reduce the chance of someone being injured. We should recognize their expertise in this area. Conced*335edly their affidavit for a nighttime search is deficient in light of People v. Watson (1977) 75 Cal.App.3d 592 [142 Cal.Rptr. 245]. But there is no showing of bad faith on their part. They took their affidavit to a magistrate who, in the exercise of his discretion, found that the allegations were sufficient. (See People v. Lundy (1969) 2 Cal.App.3d 939, 947, fn. 7 [82 Cal.Rptr. 815]: “The determination of good cause for a night search is primarily for the magistrate.”) Further, a daytime search, although thought by the officers to be more dangerous than one conducted at night, would have netted the same evidence. Therefore, a violation of the procedure for nighttime searches did not prejudice the petitioners in the sense that more incriminating evidence was obtained.
United States v. Burke (2d Cir. 1975) 517 F.2d 377, 386-387, a case relied on in Searp, held: “[Violations of Rule 41 alone should not lead to exclusion unless (1) there was ‘prejudice’ in the sense that the search might not have occurred or would not have been so abrasive if the Rule had been followed, or (2) there is evidence of intentional and deliberate disregard of a provision in the Rule.” (Fns. omitted.)
Neither of the alternative prongs of the Burke test are present here. Petitioners certainly were not prejudiced in the sense that the search would not have occurred had it taken place in the daytime. Neither is it apparent that the search would not have been so abrasive had it occurred in the daylight hours. In fact, if the officers had been compelled to approach what amounted to an isolated garrison in the daytime, there quite possibly could have been more injuries than those sustained when the search was conducted in the early morning hours.
Finally, there is no evidence of any intentional or deliberate disregard of the statute involved.
The actions of the police in this case did not constitute an “ignoble shortcut to conviction.”1 They did not reduce the rights under the Fourth Amendment to an empty promise. The mistake herein is a violation of a legislative enactment which, although salubrious, does not lie at the amendment’s heart.
It is also of significance that the place searched was a rural encampment. Although tents were there for the use of the guards/cultivators, *336the place was more akin to a commercial enterprise than a home. (Several cases have stressed the “home” factor in' discussing nighttime searches. See United States ex rel. Boyance v. Myers, supra, 398 F.2d 896—“occupied family home”; Monroe v. Pape (1961) 365 U.S. 167, 210 [5 L.Ed.2d 492, 517-518 81 S.Ct. 473] (cone. opn. of Harlan, J.)—“dwelling house” and “occupied private home” (Monroe concerned itself with a warrantless search).)
I recognize that this court decided People v. Watson, supra, 75 Cal.App.3d 592, wherein we reversed a trial court’s denial of a suppression motion because good cause was not established for the authorization of a night search provision in the search warrant. The case is distinguishable on two grounds: The place to be searched was a private home and the question of whether a violation of Penal Code section 1533 automatically required suppression was not discussed by the court.
The remedy invoked by the majority is drastic and unnecessary. The use of the exclusionary rule to remedy statutory violations requires an exercise of discretion, not a Pavlovian response. The rule should not be applied where the statutory violation does not reflect on the integrity of the courts or otherwise implement the purposes of the Fourth Amendment.
I would deny the writ.
The petition of real party in interest for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied August 19, 1981. Richardson, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643, 660 [6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 1093, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 1694, 84 A.R.R.2d 933].