People v. Tye

160 Cal. App. 3d 796, 206 Cal. Rptr. 813, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2585
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 4, 1984
DocketB002405
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 160 Cal. App. 3d 796 (People v. Tye) 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. Tye, 160 Cal. App. 3d 796, 206 Cal. Rptr. 813, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2585 (Cal. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Opinion

STONE, P. J.

Appellant, Timmy Tye, appeals from judgment and sentence after jury conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor (Pen. Code, § 272) and battery (Pen. Code, § 242), misdemeanors. 1 He contends the victim should not have been permitted to testify that he had *799 had sexual intercourse with her because her testimony was a product of unlawful interrogation and that he should not be required to register as a sex offender. (§ 290.) We agree with his second contention, direct the trial court to delete the term of probation which requires him to register as a sex offender, but otherwise affirm the judgment.

Facts

March 21, 1983, while Tye was incarcerated on an unrelated matter, police responded to a burglary report at Tina L.’s home. They discovered Dennis Burrel on Tina L. on the living room floor and arrested him for forcible rape. Tina told Detective Briner that she had had sexual intercourse with Burrel once before, in January, at which time she had been a virgin. She also said she had been beaten in January by Timmy Tye, Burrel’s friend, but she and her mother had decided not to have him prosecuted.

Burrel, in his postarrest interview, named Tye as Tina’s boyfriend. Tina’s step-brother Doug told the officer both Burrel and Tye had walked uninvited into his parents’ house in January and Tina followed them into her bedroom. Doug also said Burrel told him he wanted Tina to become a prostitute and wanted to have sexual intercourse with her. (At trial Doug attributed the statement about sexual intercourse to Tye.) The officer also interviewed several neighbors and Tina’s mother.

March 23, 1983, Detective Briner interviewed Tye as a possible witness against Burrel. Tye was still in custody and was represented by counsel on the charge for which he was incarcerated. Briner neither contacted Tye’s attorney nor informed Tye of his Miranda rights before questioning him. During the interview, Tye said he had made love with Tina on two occasions.

Several hours later Briner reinterviewed Tina when she admitted having had sexual intercourse with Tye in January. She later testified that Tye beat her because she refused to have sex with him.

The information filed April 26, 1983, charged in count I that Tye committed a lewd and lascivious act upon Tina L., a child under 14 years of age (§ 288, subd. (a)), and in count 2 that he committed battery (§ 242). The trial court instructed the jury that unlawful sexual intercourse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were lesser-included offenses of section 288, subdivision (a). The jury convicted Tye of the lesser-included offense, contributing to the delinquency of a minor (§ 272) and battery, (§ 242), both misdemeanors.

*800 Discussion

I

Tye contends Tina L.’s testimony was the product of unlawful interrogation and, therefore, erroneously admitted. The trial court, hearing Tye’s motion to exclude the statements, found that although Tye’s statements were free and voluntary, Briner obtained them in violation of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974], and ruled them inadmissible in the prosecution’s case-in-chief. It nevertheless ruled Tina’s statements admissible.

The first question is “ \ . . whether, granting establishment of the primary illegality, the evidence to which instant objection is made has been come at by exploitation of that illegality or instead by means sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint.’ [Citation].” (Wong Sun v. United States (1963) 371 U.S. 471, 487-488 [9 L.Ed.2d 441, 455-456, 83 S.Ct. 407].) We then consider whether any of three commonly advanced exceptions to the exclusionary rule—the “independent source,” “inevitable discovery,” or “attenuation” doctrines—justify admission of Tina’s testimony. We believe that under either the “inevitable discovery” or “independent source” doctrine, the evidence would be admissible.

The inevitable discovery exception allows admission of evidence where the court finds that challenged evidence would have been eventually secured through legal means regardless of improper official conduct. (People v. Superior Court (Tunch) (1978) 80 Cal.App.3d 665, 673 [145 Cal.Rptr. 795].) The test is not one of certainty, but rather of reasonably strong probability. (Id., at p. 681.) The prosecution bears the burden of establishing its admissibility, but the trial court necessarily has broad discretion on facts and circumstances of each case, to apply or withhold application of the rule. (Id., at p. 682.) Similarily, the exclusionary rule is inapplicable where the government learned of the evidence from an independent source. (Sequra v. United States (1984) 468 U.S. —, — [82 L.Ed.2d 599, 608 104 S.Ct. 3380].)

Although the trial court failed to state on the record its reasoning in ruling Tina’s statements admissible, it did state that it had considered the preliminary hearing transcript, witnesses’ testimony and cases cited by counsel. The record before us is sufficiently detailed for us to weigh the rule’s deterrence purposes against the cost of legitimate demands of law enforcement. (See Brown v. Illinois (1975) 422 U.S. 590, 609 [45 L.Ed.2d 416, 430, 95 S.Ct. 2254].) Detective Briner testified that he questioned Tina’s veracity after his first interview with her and after checking with the *801 investigating officer of the earlier-reported battery. His suspicions were further heightened by her step-brother’s statements and he intended to question her again, with or without Tye’s information. Furthermore, although Briner told her he had spoken with Tye and others, he did not relate to her the gist of Tye’s conversation until after she said she had sexual intercourse with Tye as well as with Burrel. We therefore find it would serve no legitimate interest to extend the exclusionary rule to the instant case, and affirm the trial court’s ruling.

II

The trial court denied Tye’s motion to delete the term of probation requiring him to register as a sex offender. Section 290 mandates registration with the chief of police in any city in which a person resides who has been convicted of certain enumerated offenses including “any offense involving lewd and lascivious conduct under section 272.” Tye argued at sentencing that registration was not warranted because the section 272 conviction, as couched in both instructions and verdict, did not specify any type of sexual, lewd or lascivious conduct, and, in his motion to modify term of probation, contended that section 290 is void as it applies to Tye’s conviction for section 272. (In re Reed (1983) 33 Cal.3d 914 [191 Cal.Rptr. 658, 663 P.2d 216].)

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Glawson CA3
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Martinez
10 Cal. Rptr. 3d 751 (California Court of Appeal, 2004)
People v. Bernardino S.
4 Cal. App. 4th 613 (California Court of Appeal, 1992)
People v. Saunders
232 Cal. App. 3d 1592 (California Court of Appeal, 1991)
People v. Brun
212 Cal. App. 3d 951 (California Court of Appeal, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 Cal. App. 3d 796, 206 Cal. Rptr. 813, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-tye-calctapp-1984.