Tompkins v. Superior Court

378 P.2d 113, 59 Cal. 2d 65, 27 Cal. Rptr. 889, 1963 Cal. LEXIS 141
California Supreme Court·Decided January 29, 1963·No. S. F. 21158·Published·Cited by 177 cases

Opinions

TRAYNOR, J.

By information petitioner was charged with possession of marijuana in violation of Health and Safety Code, section 11530. His motion to set aside the information on the ground that the evidence against him was obtained by an illegal search and seizure was denied, and he now seeks prohibition to prevent his trial. (See Badillo v. Superior Court, 46 Cal.2d 269, 271 [294 P.2d 23].)

Evidence was presented at the preliminary hearing of the following facts: On April 6, 1962, Inspector Martin of the San Francisco Police Department arrested Edward' Nieman in or about his car at Norton and Mission Streets. Seventeen bags of marijuana were found in the car. Before the arrest Inspector Martin learned that two telephones were listed in Nieman’s name, one on Folsom Street and one at 700 Shot-well Street. The latter telephone was also listed in peti[67] tioner’s name. After his arrest Nieman stated that he lived on Folsom Street. He first denied living at 700 Shotwell Street but then stated that he did live there in Apartment No. 3. The investigating officers asked him if he had any contraband there; he answered “no” and gave the officers his keys to confirm his answer for themselves. Without a warrant to search the apartment or to arrest petitioner, Inspector Martin went to the Shotwell Street apartment and tried the wrong key in the door. Petitioner opened the door on the chain, and Inspector Martin identified himself as a police officer. Petitioner looked and made a motion with his arm to the left and slammed the door shut. Inspector Martin then kicked the door in and found petitioner standing in the middle of the room and another person coming out of a bedroom on petitioner’s left. He saw a jar that appeared to contain marijuana seeds on a chair and arrested petitioner. He searched the room and found more marijuana. Petitioner told him that he lived there but denied any knowledge of the contraband. When they searched petitioner at the police station after his arrest, the officers found a marijuana cigarette in his pocket. Petitioner objected to the introduction of the marijuana and marijuana cigarette in evidence on the ground that they had been illegallv obtained.

Petitioner made a prima facie case that his arrest and the search and seizure were illegal when he established that they were made without a warrant. The burden then rested on the prosecution to show proper justification. (Badillo v. Superior Court, 46 Cal.2d 269, 272 [294 P.2d 23], and eases cited.) Although petitioner did not establish that Nieman’s arrest was made without a warrant, the search of the apartment cannot be justified as incidental to that arrest, “for it was at a distance from the place thereof and was not contemporaneous therewith. [Citations.]” (People v. Gorg, 45 Cal.2d 776, 781 [291 P.2d 469].)

Nor can the search and seizure be justified as incidental to the arrest of petitioner, for until Inspector Martin kicked in the door, he had no reasonable cause to believe petitioner had committed a felony. Although he had reason to believe from the telephone listings that petitioner shared the apartment with Nieman, Nieman told the investigating officers that there was no contraband at the apartment and was apparently willing to have them confirm his statement for themselves. Although Nieman’s initial denial that he lived at the apartment might have suggested that he had [68] contraband there, it provided no evidence that Nieman’s possession of contraband, if any, was shared with petitioner. At most it was a suspicious circumstance. Petitioner’s apparent motioning of someone away from the door and closing it in Inspector Martin’s face did not provide the missing elements of reasonable cause to believe that petitioner was guilty of a felony. There are many reasons other than guilt of a felony why an occupant of an apartment may not wish himself or others present exposed to the immediate view of a stranger, even if the stranger is a police officer. If refusal of permission to enter could convert mere suspicion of crime into probable cause to arrest the occupant and search his home, such suspicion alone would become the test of the right to enter, and the right to be free from unreasonable police intrusions would be vitiated by its mere assertion. Although hindsight indicates that petitioner’s motive ’ in closing the door was to conceal evidence of guilt, Inspector Martin had no reasonable cause so to believe until he kicked the door open. It is settled, however, that a search cannot be justified by what it turns up. (People v. Brown, 45 Cal.2d 640, 643-645 [290 P.2d 528], and cases cited.)

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Tompkins v. Superior Court, 378 P.2d 113, 59 Cal. 2d 65, 27 Cal. Rptr. 889, 1963 Cal. LEXIS 141 (Cal. 1963).

378 P.2d 113 (Tompkins v. Superior Court) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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