People v. Fannon CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 25, 2016
DocketF070189
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Fannon CA5 (People v. Fannon CA5) 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. Fannon CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 3/25/16 P. v. Fannon CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, F070189 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 1466191) v.

RONNIE MICHAEL FANNON, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT* APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County. Linda A. McFadden, Judge. Paul Kleven, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, William K. Kim and Nora S. Weyl, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo-

* Before Gomes, Acting P.J., Kane, J. and Smith, J. After denial of his motion to suppress evidence of methamphetamine found during a search of his person (Pen. Code, § 1538.5)1 and denial of his motion pursuant to section 995, defendant Ronnie Michael Fannon pled no contest to possession of a controlled substance (Health & Saf., § 11377, subd. (a)). The trial court granted him Proposition 36 probation. On appeal, he contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the officer’s search for his identification was unlawful and vitiated his subsequent consent to the search that led to discovery of the methamphetamine. We conditionally reverse and remand for further proceedings. FACTS I. Evidence On May 5, 2014, at the hearing on the motion to suppress, Modesto Police Officer Taylor Aja testified that on December 3, 2013, at about 12:30 p.m., he was driving his patrol vehicle on routine patrol when he saw a car fail to stop at a stop sign. He followed the car and initiated a traffic stop. Defendant, who was the driver, pulled into the driveway of a residence and Officer Aja pulled up behind him. Defendant immediately stepped out of the car with one of his hands in his pocket. Officer Aja believed this behavior was unusual for a traffic stop and he took it as a “danger factor.” Officer Aja asked defendant to take his hand out of his pocket and he complied. Officer Aja approached. He told defendant the reason for the traffic stop and asked for his identification. He also asked defendant if he was on either probation or parole. Defendant said he was not on either. Officer Aja “removed [defendant’s] ID from his wallet, which [defendant] said was in his back pant pocket.” Then Officer Aja asked defendant if he had anything illegal on his person. Defendant said he did not. Officer Aja asked if he could check him. Defendant said it was all right for him to do so. When Officer Aja searched him, he found a plastic baggie containing 0.51 grams of

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted.

2 methamphetamine, a useable amount. Officer Aja immediately placed defendant in handcuffs and arrested him. After receiving Miranda2 warnings, defendant responded to Officer Aja’s questions, explaining that the substance was methamphetamine. Defendant had bought it for $20 about an hour earlier and had not used any of it yet. He said he had been using methamphetamine for about seven years and preferred snorting it. He used it once or twice a week. He agreed it was bad for his health.3 The defense played a video of defendant’s traffic stop (exhibit A) taken from Officer Aja’s body camera.4 The video did not capture the entire traffic stop, and the audio began even later. At the start of the video, defendant was standing facing the driver’s side of his car with his hands behind his back. Officer Aja was directly behind him, and defendant’s wallet and keys were already on top of the car in front of him. As he stood behind defendant, Officer Aja searched in defendant’s pockets and found a cell phone and a baggie containing methamphetamine, both of which Officer Aja set on top of the car. At this point, the video’s audio began. Officer Aja told defendant they were not being honest with each other (apparently referring to defendant’s unrecorded statement that he had nothing illegal on his person). Officer Aja then appears to have handcuffed defendant. Officer Aja asked defendant if he had anything else on him that Officer Aja needed to know about, specifically any needles he might be carrying. Defendant said, “No, I don’t do that.” Officer Aja asked defendant if he was on probation or parole, and he said he was not. Officer Aja searched defendant further, then took him to sit in the back of the patrol vehicle, which was parked in the driveway behind defendant’s car with

2 Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 (Miranda). 3 On cross-examination, defense counsel asked only whether defendant complied when Officer Aja asked him to remove his hand from his pocket, and whether the order of events to which Officer Aja had testified was accurate. 4 The video, which does not have a transcript, is part of the record on appeal.

3 its lights activated. After defendant sat down, Officer Aja asked him if there was anything in the car he needed to know about, including drugs. Defendant said there was not. Officer Aja asked if it was okay for him to check and defendant said, “Yeah, sure.” Officer Aja approached the car to begin searching. At this point (after two minutes and 19 seconds), defense counsel stopped the video. II. Argument and Ruling Defense counsel argued that the search of defendant’s back pocket for his wallet was illegal because there existed neither reasonable suspicion he was armed and dangerous to support a Terry5 patdown, nor probable cause to support a more invasive search for evidence. Counsel summarized: “So at that point this becomes an illegal search at the point when he goes in and goes into his person to get the wallet. That’s one point.” Counsel further argued that Officer Aja’s testimony regarding the sequence of events did not match those in the video (referring specifically to Officer Aja’s asking defendant if he was on probation or parole after he had already started searching him), and thus Officer Aja’s credibility was undermined. Counsel argued it was “very murky at this point whether there was even any consent.” The prosecutor argued that defendant’s consent to the search of his person and Officer Aja’s discovery of the drugs both occurred before the video began. He argued there was no evidence disputing defendant’s consent. The prosecutor did not mention the search for identification. Defense counsel responded: “What we do know is that [defendant] is detained, there’s a full search going on, and he’s asked whether he’s on probation or parole after the search is commenced. That’s out of order from what Officer Aja testified, and it doesn’t match up, and for those reasons, we would argue that both for the removal of the

5 Terry v. Ohio (1968) 392 U.S. 1 (Terry).

4 wallet and for the full search itself, that those are both bad searches, and, therefore, the evidence obtained from such should be suppressed.” At this point, the following occurred:

“[PROSECUTOR]: If there’s any further questions about the clarity of what happened that night or that day, People would simply request Officer Aja retake the stand to clarify. He’s here with us.

“THE COURT: He’s rested.

“[PROSECUTOR]: He’s rested, but there is a way for—to reopen testimony.

“[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: That’s improper after Counsel’s argued.

“THE COURT: I think I’ve heard enough.

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People v. Fannon CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fannon-ca5-calctapp-2016.