Court Opinion

ID: 9729421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:34:30.556983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:57.828522
License: Public Domain

CROSBY, J. Concurring
The instincts of the trial judge were absolutely correct. In the real world this defendant could not possibly have felt himself free to walk away when his identification was requested, and it is almost laughable to think the officers would have let him do so. (See Florida v. Royer (1983) 460 U.S. 491, 511 [75 L.Ed.2d 229, 245, 103 S.Ct. 1319] (conc. opn. of Brennan, J.); People v. Contreras (1989) 210 Cal.App.3d 450, 452 [258 Cal.Rptr. 361].) Nevertheless, a solid majority of the United States Supreme Court is of the view that ordinary citizens and even undocumented aliens confronted by immigration officials would be aware that they could merely saunter off when asked to identify themselves and produce confirming documents. (INS v. Delgado (1984) 466 U.S. 210 [80 L.Ed.2d 247, 104 S.Ct. 1758].) The same majority also believes law enforcement agents would allow them to do so, another highly dubious proposition in my opinion. (See Brown v. Texas (1979) 443 U.S. 47 [61 L.Ed.2d 357, 99 S.Ct. 2637]; People v. Contreras, supra, at p. 452.)
Among the most fundamental of the liberties enjoyed by members of a free and open society is the right to be left alone. Allowing police to demand identification without reasonable suspicion in ordinary street encounters and requiring those who would assert their rights to resist the police as the price of their freedom is unsound as a matter of constitutional law and sends exactly the wrong message to the citizenry. That message is: You are protected by the Fourth Amendment only to the extent you are willing to risk the physical violation of your person by armed officers. In accord with Justice Brennan, I believe we can do much better than that.
A petition for a rehearing was denied August 8, 1989, and respondent’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied October 12, 1989. Mosk, J., and Broussard, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.