People v. Jaquez

163 Cal. App. 3d 918, 209 Cal. Rptr. 852, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 1548
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 18, 1985
DocketCrim. 16090
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 163 Cal. App. 3d 918 (People v. Jaquez) 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. Jaquez, 163 Cal. App. 3d 918, 209 Cal. Rptr. 852, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 1548 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Opinion

KAUFMAN, Acting P. J.

His motion to suppress assertedly illegally obtained evidence having been denied, pursuant to a plea bargain defendant entered pleas of guilty to two counts of a four-count information and the *923 other counts were dismissed. Defendant appeals pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, subdivision (m), to have reviewed the order denying his suppression motion.

Multiple searches and seizures were involved. We conclude that one was unlawful but the others were not, and under compulsion of People v. Hill (1974) 12 Cal.3d 731, 767-770 [117 Cal.Rptr. 393, 528 P.2d 1], we conditionally reverse the judgment of conviction with directions to the trial court to reinstate the dismissed charges and proceed to trial.

The information was in four counts. The first count charged concealing stolen property in violation of Penal Code section 496 on or about March 12, 1983. The second count charged possession for sale of a controlled substance (heroin) on or about March 12, 1983, in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11351. Count 3 charged another violation of Health and Safety Code section 11351 on or about March 12, 1983, possession for sale of a controlled substance (cocaine). Count 4 charged that on or about March 15, 1983, defendant again violated Health and Safety Code section 11351 by possessing for sale a controlled substance (heroin). Pursuant to the plea bargain defendant pled guilty to counts 1 and 3 and counts 2 and 4 were dismissed. Defendant was sentenced to state prison for the midterm of three years on count 3 (possessing cocaine for sale). On count 1 (concealing stolen property) he was sentenced to the midterm of two years to run concurrently with the sentence on count 3.

Facts

Maria Van Burén was a real estate agent in San Bernardino. On March 12, 1983, she was to show some clients, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, a house located at 2558 West Atchison Street in San Bernardino. The house was listed in a multiple listing book, and could be shown by any realtor. A key to the house was in a multiple listing lockbox on the front door. The multiple listing book stated the house was occupied by tenants. No name was listed but a telephone number was, so Van Burén attempted to call before going to the house. A telephone recording said the number was no longer in service. So Van Burén took her customers to view the house.

When Van Burén and her clients arrived at the house, Van Burén went up to the door, knocked and rang the bell but received no response, so she took the key from the multiple listing lockbox and opened the door. As she opened the door, she called out, “ ‘Hello. Real estate.’ ” There was no one there. Van Burén and her clients entered the house.

There was a television and a radio in the front room, but otherwise the house was completely bare of furniture. Van Burén’s clients opened cup *924 boards and looked in the pantry. There was a stereo and turntable in the pantry, and another stereo and more stereo components in the cabinet under the sink in the kitchen. The clients went into the bedrooms and looked in the closets. There was another stereo and some other items in one of the closets, some rifles and a turntable in another closet, and a stereo, tape recorder, turntable, and other components in the linen closet. There were also various television sets in the closets and cupboards. There was no access into the garage from the house and neither Van Burén nor either of the Martins entered the garage.

Because of the large amount of stereo equipment and the number of televisions found in the house, Van Burén and the Martins became suspicious the property might be stolen. They left the house and went to a nearby convenience market from which Van Burén telephoned the police. She related to them what had transpired, what she had seen and her suspicions about the property being stolen. The police asked her if she would meet them at the house and she agreed to do so.

Van Burén and the Martins returned to the house to await the police. Van Burén testified at one point that when she went back to the house to wait for the police she believed the house was “vacant.” Later on cross-examination she testified that even before she showed the house to the Martins she felt it was unoccupied because the phone service had been disconnected.

Officer Carr of the San Bernardino Police Department was dispatched to the house at 2558 West Atchison Street to investigate. Van Burén and the Martins met him outside the house. Van Burén told Carr she had just shown the house to the Martins. She told him the house was listed as occupied according to her realty book, but that no one answered when she knocked, so she had used the lockbox key to go inside with her customers, and they found a lot of stereos and televisions inside but no furniture. Van Burén showed Officer Carr her listing book, which indicated the house was occupied. Officer Carr testified Van Burén told him it appeared the people had either moved out or were in the process of moving out at that time.

Van Burén then opened the door using the lockbox key and permitted Officer Carr to enter the residence. Inside the house, Officer Carr looked in all the cupboards and closets. He found stereo equipment, televisions, television converter boxes and other items in the pantry. There were other stereo component items under the sink. There were televisions and stereo components in a large cabinet. In the kitchen Officer Carr found a large box filled with what at first appeared to be trash, but on closer examination turned out to be tape-wrapped foil cylinders and some heat-sealed plastic containers. Stereo components were found in the linen closet, a gram scale *925 in the bathroom, three televisions, a shotgun and a rifle in a closet, and another television, television decoder boxes and another rifle in another bedroom closet. Neither rifle was loaded.

Officer Carr called the police property truck. He and other officers took possession of all the items found on the premises, inventoried the items, loaded them onto the property truck, and took them to the police station. At the police station, Officer Carr examined the contents of the large box, including the wrapped cylinders and sealed plastic containers. Subsequent chemical analyses of the packages inside the box demonstrated they contained sizable quantities of cocaine and marijuana.

Apparently before the property was inventoried and removed Officer Carr also inquired of the neighbors about the occupants of the house. The neighbors said the apparent tenants were two young male Mexicans, who came and went only during the evening hours. The tenants had not been seen for two days. Other than these nocturnal visits, the residence appeared vacant. Carr was also told that one of the two occupants had been seen driving a purple-over-green Plymouth and the other a white Ford Thunderbird.

Three days later, on March 15, 1983, Officer Mallek was on patrol in the area when he received a radio transmission stating that an anonymous informant had reported two males of Mexican ancestry were inside the residence at 2558 West Atchison Street.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 Cal. App. 3d 918, 209 Cal. Rptr. 852, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 1548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jaquez-calctapp-1985.