People v. Esparza CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 14, 2016
DocketC074121
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Esparza CA3 (People v. Esparza CA3) 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
People v. Esparza CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 9/14/16 P. v. Esparza CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, C074121

v. (Super. Ct. No. 12F01604)

ANTONIO RICHARD ESPARZA,

Defendant and Appellant.

Police officers entered an apartment to execute an arrest warrant for defendant Antonio Richard Esparza based in part on the tip of a confidential informant. Defendant was a probationer and subject to search. Officers found cocaine in a locked bedroom in which defendant was the sole occupant. A jury convicted defendant of unlawful possession of a controlled substance for sale, and found true the allegation that defendant was previously convicted of the same offense. The trial court imposed a split sentence consisting of four years in county jail and three years of mandatory supervision, awarded presentence credit, and ordered defendant to pay various fines and fees. Defendant now contends: 1. The trial court erred in denying his request for an in camera hearing on his motion to disclose the identity of the confidential informant.

1 2. The probation search of his residence, and the execution of a warrant for his arrest, were unreasonable, arbitrary, and intended to harass. In addition, the protective sweep exception to the warrant requirement is inapplicable because there was no indication defendant was armed or dangerous. Moreover, trial counsel’s failure to present the strongest arguments for suppression constituted ineffective assistance. 3. The trial court erred in imposing certain fines and fees, including a $2,000 fine pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 11350,1 a $46 monthly probation supervision fee, and a $25 urinalysis testing fee, and the minute order and abstract of judgment must be amended and corrected accordingly. We conclude as follows: 1. The trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion for an in camera hearing. Based on the evidence before the trial court, there was no reasonable possibility the informant could give evidence that might exonerate defendant. 2. Defendant’s challenges to the search and the execution of the arrest warrant are forfeited because he did not assert them in the trial court. And his ineffective assistance claim lacks merit because the record does not show there was no rational tactical purpose or satisfactory explanation for the asserted omissions by counsel. 3. We will modify the judgment to strike the $2,000 fine pursuant to section 11350, the $46 monthly probation supervision fee, and the $25 urinalysis testing fee, and we will affirm the judgment as modified. In addition, we will direct the trial court to correct its June 21, 2013 minute order and order of probation and the abstract of judgment to strike those fines and fees. We will also direct the trial court to correct the abstract of judgment to state that with regard to the $702 presentence report fee,

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Health and Safety Code.

2 defendant shall report to the Department of Revenue Recovery for a financial evaluation and recommendation of ability to pay. BACKGROUND An informant told City of Sacramento Police Officer David Putman that defendant lived in a specified apartment in Sacramento and had been bragging about being a fugitive. Officer Putman, who had never previously heard of defendant, searched criminal justice databases and contacted the ID warrant section of the Sacramento Police Department. He learned defendant was on probation in Butte County, was subject to search, and there was a warrant for his arrest. Officer Putman searched various databases to confirm defendant’s address but was unable to confirm it on those databases. Officer Putman did not contact the Butte County probation department, the Butte County Superior Court, utility companies or the property manager for the apartment to determine defendant’s address, and he did not conduct surveillance on the apartment. Six hours after receiving the informant’s tip, Officer Putman and two other officers went to the apartment at 4:00 a.m. to execute the arrest warrant on defendant. Officer Putman knocked on the front door of the apartment and called out, “Police department.” A person who was later identified as Jose Blanco answered the door. Officer Putman had no prior information that Blanco lived at the apartment. Officer Putman asked if “Antonio” was there. Blanco said he was not certain but would check. Officer Putman then asked whether Antonio Esparza lived there. Blanco replied in the affirmative. Officer Putman heard commotion inside the apartment on the other side of the front door. He pushed the front door open, entered the apartment, and found a locked bedroom during a protective sweep. Blanco told Officer Putman the bedroom belonged to defendant. Officer Putman banged on the bedroom door and heard movement inside. He broke the door open and saw defendant leap out of bed. No one else was in the room.

3 Inside a baseball cap hung on the bedroom wall, Officer Putman found cocaine packaged in a clear plastic bag. Blanco and another individual, Thomas Arballo, told the officers they lived in the apartment. Blanco and Arballo gave officers consent to search the common areas. Officers found a scale, a vacuum sealing machine, and baggies for the vacuum sealing machine in the kitchen. There was a white residue over some dishes and kitchenware. A field test of the white residue yielded a presumptive positive result for cocaine. At the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor gave Officer Putman a hypothetical. The prosecutor asked Officer Putman to assume that he went into an apartment to serve an arrest warrant, conducted a search of the residence, and found two baggies of cocaine in a bedroom that he associated with the suspect. The prosecutor asked Officer Putman to further assume that those baggies were later tested and determined to contain 25.6 grams and 0.37 grams of cocaine. In addition, the prosecutor asked Officer Putman to assume police also found in the apartment a vacuum sealing machine, plastic baggies, and kitchenware which field tested positive for cocaine, but did not find paraphernalia for ingesting cocaine. Based on the hypothetical, the prosecutor asked Officer Putman if he had an opinion about whether the cocaine in the hypothetical was possessed for personal use or for sale. Officer Putman testified that in his opinion, the cocaine would be possessed for sale based on the amount of cocaine, the utensils used to separate it, and the packaging. The jury convicted defendant of unlawful possession of a controlled substance for sale (§ 11351 -- count one) and found true the allegation that defendant was previously convicted of violating section 11351. The trial court sentenced him to the upper term of four years in county jail on count one, explaining that defendant was on probation for the same type of crime when he committed the instant offense, an aggravating factor the trial court said outweighed any mitigating factors. The trial court also imposed but suspended an additional three years for the prior conviction and ordered that during those three years

4 defendant would be subject to mandatory supervision by the probation department. The trial court awarded presentence credit and imposed conditions of community release, including various fines and fees, such as a $2,000 fine pursuant to section 11350, a $25 urinalysis testing fee, and a $46 monthly probation supervision fee.

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People v. Esparza CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-esparza-ca3-calctapp-2016.