Lozoya v. Superior Court

189 Cal. App. 3d 1332, 235 Cal. Rptr. 77, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1454
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 3, 1987
DocketB022223
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 189 Cal. App. 3d 1332 (Lozoya v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lozoya v. Superior Court, 189 Cal. App. 3d 1332, 235 Cal. Rptr. 77, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1454 (Cal. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Opinion

KLEIN, P. J.

—Petitioner Octavio Lozoya (Lozoya) seeks a writ of prohibition to restrain any further proceedings against him on a criminal information charging him with murder on the grounds he was committed by the magistrate without probable cause.

Because the magistrate’s finding of attenuation is not supported by the record, the petition is granted.

Factual and Procedural Background 1

On the evening of January 11, 1986, Michael Mosby (Mosby) was stabbed near the comer of 131 st Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles County, and died shortly thereafter.

On the morning of February 6, 1986, Lozoya was being interviewed at the police operations crash bureau at Avalon and 118th Street as a victim in an unrelated matter. At around 10 or 10:30 a.m., Lozoya was approached there by Detective Pietrantoni (Pietrantoni), who asked Lozoya if he were willing to discuss the murder of a Black man at 131st and Vermont. Lozoya agreed.

The detective’s interest in Lozoya arose from the fact that Mosby had perpetrated a residential robbery on December 15, 1985, at the Mendez home. One of the victims, Sophia Mendez, was Lozoya’s girlfriend. During an investigative interview of the robbery at the Mendez home by other officers on January 10, 1986, Lozoya entered the room and stated “ ‘The police *1336 never show up when you call them.’... [1Í]... ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of it.” 2

Pietrantoni told Lozoya he preferred they confer at the station, and Lozoya acquiesced. On the way to the Southeast station, Lozoya was advised of his rights. Pietrantoni testified they “really didn’t have anything to arrest him for at the time.” No positive identification had been made at that time and Lozoya had not been linked to a green Pinto used by the assailants. While Lozoya was not formally placed under arrest when transported to the station at about 10:30 a.m., he was not free to leave.

During the first of several interviews, which interview lasted about an hour, Lozoya denied he knew anything about the Mosby killing. Lozoya then agreed to submit to a polygraph examination, which was set for 1 p.m. at Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles. Lozoya told Youngblood, the polygraph examiner, that he had not slept for several days. Early in the examination Lozoya denied being present at the scene at the time of the stabbing.

Youngblood employed a number of tactics including telling Lozoya, among other things, that he didn’t think any man would have let Mosby get away with what he did, referring to the robbery of Lozoya’s girlfriend and her mother; that if Lozoya would cooperate, Lozoya would have some say on how things could go; that Lozoya had the choice of working with or against the authorities; and that he was uncertain as to whether Lozoya had done the actual stabbing. Youngblood told Lozoya he would try to clear him, and needed to know in which direction to go in the event the district attorney asked whether Lozoya was cooperating. Youngblood further asked: “ ‘You want me to tell the detectives to go ahead and file murder charges?’ ” Lozoya responded to Youngblood that he had told his girlfriend he would help her if the burglar returned, and admitted being near the scene, but denied stabbing Mosby.

Lozoya was taken back to the station at around 4:30 p.m. and formally arrested. He was again extensively interviewed, although Pietrantoni noted Lozoya was sleepy. Lozoya gave three different versions of what occurred, and implicated several other suspects. The detectives told him they were becoming upset with him and were running out of patience.

Following this interview, Lozoya accompanied the detectives to several locations in south Los Angeles to identify residences of gang members he had implicated. *1337 On Friday morning, February 7, Sophia Mendez and her sister were interviewed. Contrary to Lozoya’s statements, they denied being present at the scene or being with Lozoya at the time of the stabbing. Lozoya was reinterviewed twice in the afternoon, with one technique being to admonish him repeatedly to tell the “fucking truth.” Lozoya admitted participating in the initial fight, but claimed he had backed off and was not involved in the actual killing. In between the interviews, a suspect known as “Wild Man,” implicated by Lozoya as the driver of the green Pinto involved in the attack on Mosby, was brought into the room to confront Lozoya. The suspect shouted and swore at Lozoya and frightened him and had to be removed.

The detectives did not work on Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9, and Lozoya remained in custody. He was again interviewed at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 10. Lozoya complained he had not been permitted to use the phone, and the officers told him he could do so as soon as they were through. This time Lozoya admitted being present at the scene, armed with a knife, and participating in the initial assault on Mosby. Consistent with his earlier statements, Lozoya continued to deny any involvement in the actual stabbing, and held to the position that he had backed off.

Pietrantoni did not take the matter to the district attorney to file on because he and his partners were still investigating the case and preparing reports. Subsequently, named codefendant Rafael Navarro (Navarro) and his girlfriend, Beatrice Sanchez (Sanchez), were also interviewed separately on Monday. Although Navarro had been implicated by Lozoya during his questioning, Navarro’s connection to the case began weeks earlier when the officers located the green Pinto used by the assailants parked in front of the Navarro family home. After Navarro submitted to a polygraph examination, the officers spoke to Sanchez. The officers then interviewed Navarro again, who, when advised of Sanchez’s statements, implicated Lozoya.

Following the Navarro interviews, Lozoya was again interviewed by Pietrantoni on Monday, February 10, at 4:45 p.m. This interview occurred beyond the statutory arraignment period of Penal Code section 825. 3 This time, Lozoya stated he believed Mosby was responsible for the robbery at the Mendez home. He related that on the evening of January 11, 1986, he and several of his gang members drove around in the green Pinto searching for Mosby. Lozoya admitted stabbing Mosby upon locating him near 131st and Vermont. Lozoya then led officers to his home and gave them the knife used. He signed a summary of his statements at 8:50 p.m.

A complaint was filed and Lozoya was arraigned Tuesday, February 11. *1338 At the preliminary hearing, the magistrate suppressed statements obtained from Lozoya on the first and second day of his custody because police tactics were “reprehensible” and involved improper use of threats and promises. The magistrate ruled Lozoya should have been arraigned by 3:15 p.m., Monday, February 10, prior to the confession.

Nonetheless, the magistrate ruled the Monday evening confession admissible, finding “Lozoya, after hearing that he had been implicated by Navarro, ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
189 Cal. App. 3d 1332, 235 Cal. Rptr. 77, 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 1454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lozoya-v-superior-court-calctapp-1987.