People v. Hamilton

191 Cal. App. 3d 13, 236 Cal. Rptr. 894
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1986
Docket935
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 191 Cal. App. 3d 13 (People v. Hamilton) 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. Hamilton, 191 Cal. App. 3d 13, 236 Cal. Rptr. 894 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

191 Cal.App.3d 13 (1986)
236 Cal. Rptr. 894

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
BLAYNE W. HAMILTON, Defendant and Respondent.

Docket No. 935.

Court of Appeals of California, Appellate Department, Superior Court, Fresno.

December 9, 1986.

*15 COUNSEL

Edward W. Hunt, District Attorney, and Mark W. Lester, Deputy District Attorney, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

James Wasson and Wasson, Brown & Bromberg for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

ARDAIZ, P.J.

The People appeal from an order of the municipal court granting the defendant's motion pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5 to suppress blood-alcohol-test results.[1] The lower court granted the motion on the ground that the defendant was not lawfully detained because the Clovis City police officer who stopped him was outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Clovis City Police Department at the time the officer made the observations giving rise to the detention and arrest.

On May 20, 1985, the Clovis City Police Officer Luis Duran was on routine patrol on Ashlan Avenue just west of Clovis Avenue in the City of Fresno. Officer Duran was outside his territorial jurisdiction because he was on his *16 way to the Clovis City yard to obtain gas for his vehicle. He observed defendant make a "wide" right hand turn eastbound onto Ashlan Avenue. All four wheels of the defendant's vehicle went over the double yellow lines into the westbound lane.

The officer believed that a Vehicle Code infraction (§ 21460 [failure to drive on the right hand side of the road]) had occurred. He activated his red light and pulled the defendant over. The officer testified in the lower court hearing that after defendant was stopped, he showed indicia of intoxication. The officer administered a field sobriety test and subsequently arrested defendant and transported him to a location where a breath test was administered. Defendant was booked for a violation of Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (b).

Did the trial court err in determining that the officer had no authority to detain defendant pursuant to section 830.1, subdivision (a)(3)?

We shall initially dispose of the question raised by defendant whether an infraction is a public offense. Section 16 provides, "Crimes and public offenses include: [¶] 1. Felonies; [¶] 2. Misdemeanors; and [¶] 3. Infractions."

Defendant contends that a violation of Vehicle Code section 21460 is an infraction and is therefore not a public offense. Defendant cites the court to People v. Battle (1975) 50 Cal. App.3d Supp. 1 at page Supp. 6 [123 Cal. Rptr. 636]: "Section 16 of the Penal Code declares that `crimes and public offenses' include not only felonies and misdemeanors but also infractions. Section 19c and 1042.5 of the Penal Code deprive a person accused of an infraction of the right to a jury trial. Yet, section 689 of the Penal Code declares that `[no] person can be convicted of a public offense unless by verdict of a jury." ... [¶] If the Legislature intended to treat infractions as public offenses and if the charging of a public offense invokes the right to trial by jury, sections 19c and 1042.5, which deny a jury to one who commits an infraction, conflict with section 689. However, the same (1968) Legislature enacted section 19c, the pertinent amendment of section 16 and section 1042.5.... [W]e must conclude that it was not the intent of the Legislature to enact inconsistent statutes and, further, that when it added the term `public offense' to section 16 it was not so categorizing infractions because if it did so it would have caused inconsistency between sections 19c and 689 of the Penal Code. Support for this interpretation is found in the language of section 1042.5 which states that a defendant `charged with an infraction and with a public offense for which there is a right to jury trial' (italics added) may be accorded a jury trial. Had the Legislature intended that an infraction be treated as a public offense, it would have worded the statute differently, for example, `an infraction and with some other public offense.'"

*17 The Battle court reviewed its earlier decision in People v. Oppenheimer (1974) 42 Cal. App.3d Supp.4 [116 Cal. Rptr. 795] which noted that section 689 was originally enacted in 1872 and last amended in 1951, and sections 19c and 1042.5 were enacted in 1968. The Battle court held that all sections must be read together and, in case of conflict, that effect must be given to the latest enacted sections which specifically were sections 19c and 1042.5. The court in Oppenheimer held that sections 19c and 1042.5 qualify section 689 insofar as infractions are concerned. In footnote 2 of the Oppenheimer decision, the court addressed the question of whether a constitutional infirmity existed in the denial of a jury trial to infractions. We concur in the language of Oppenheimer with respect to sections 19c and 1042.5 as qualifying section 689. (1) However, we decline to accept the interpretation of People v. Battle, supra, 50 Cal. App.3d Supp.1, in that we determine the appropriate interpretation is that the Legislature, in drafting sections 19c and 1042.5, intended merely to exempt infractions from those public offenses which require a jury trial rather than exempting infractions from the definition of a public offense. In People v. Tennessee (1970) 4 Cal. App.3d 788 [84 Cal. Rptr. 697], the court construed the "public offense" language of section 836, subdivision 1 to include a Vehicle Code infraction of failure to stop at a traffic light. In People v. Turk (1977) 75 Cal. App.3d 639 [142 Cal. Rptr. 362], the court found that an officer had reasonable cause to believe a public offense had been committed where the officer observed the defendant's vehicle speeding through a residential area and observed that there was no illumination on the rear license plate.

The court notes that there is no distinction between the term public offense as it is related in section 830.1, subdivision (a)(1) and section 830.1, subdivision (a)(3).[2]

*18 Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to infer that the Legislature intended no distinction to be drawn between the term public offense as it is used throughout section 830.1.

The court, therefore, finds that an infraction constitutes a public offense within the meaning of section 830.1.

Pursuant to section 830.1, subdivision (a)(3), "... Any police officer of a city ... is a peace officer. The authority of any such peace officer extends to any place in the state.... [¶] As to any public offense committed or which there is probable cause to believe has been committed in his presence, and with respect to which there is immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of the perpetrator of such offense." (Italics added.)

The People cite Lofthouse v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1981) 124 Cal. App.3d 730 [177 Cal. Rptr. 601] for support of their position that the officer in question acted within the parameters of section 830.1, subdivision (a)(3). In Lofthouse, an officer of the Hawthorne Police Department spotted the defendant driving erratically which caused drivers of other cars to make sudden stops to avoid a collision. At the time, the defendant was westbound on Imperial Boulevard.

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191 Cal. App. 3d 13, 236 Cal. Rptr. 894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hamilton-calctapp-1986.