People v. Stanley
People v. Stanley
Opinion of the Court
*400The superior court granted defendant Reese Allen Stanley's suppression motion and dismissed the criminal action against him after it found that the detention of defendant by a sheriff's deputy was not supported by reasonable suspicion. The prosecution challenges that finding. We conclude that the deputy's detention of defendant was reasonable, and we therefore reverse the superior court's order.
I. Facts
On the afternoon of May 7, 2015, Deputy Brian Tanaka responded to a dispatch telling him that a bus driver had spotted the suspect in "a 288 case" (lewd act on a child) on a VTA
*401bus in San Jose. Tanaka was aware of the "288 case" because he had seen a report on the news that included a video of the suspect. He also knew that the sheriff's department distributes "Be on the Lookout" fliers to VTA bus drivers. Tanaka responded to the bus, which was parked, boarded the bus, and spoke with the driver. The bus driver told Tanaka that he had seen a "picture" on a "Be on the Lookout" flier, and the picture "matched" a passenger on the bus. The "Be On the Look-out (BOLO)" flier issued by the San Jose Police Department on May 7, 2015 concerned a child sexual assault that had occurred on an afternoon two days earlier in the San Jose area. The flier described the suspect as "WMA, Age: 30, 5'10", 155 lbs, dark or brown shaggy hair w/ beard, tan complexion, black shoes, black socks and a black beanie." The flier also contained three color photographs, two of which showed the suspect's face.
Tanaka had never seen the flier, but he recalled from the video he had seen on the news that the suspect was a white male. The bus driver pointed out defendant, who was asleep on a seat halfway back on the bus, as the man matching the picture the bus driver had seen on the flier. Tanaka awakened defendant, identified himself, handcuffed defendant, and removed him from the bus. Tanaka had defendant sit on a bus bench outside the bus. Defendant identified himself, and Tanaka learned from dispatch that defendant was on parole.
Other deputies, who arrived after Tanaka had detained defendant, had been informed by dispatch of the description given in the flier. Upon their arrival, they observed that, "[j]ust by the descriptors alone, [defendant] did match." The deputies were unable to access the flier themselves due to technical problems.
Defendant was subjected to a parole search, which turned up narcotics. About 10 to 15 minutes after the deputies searched defendant, they received clear photos of the suspect on the flier and *293determined that defendant was not the person depicted on the flier.
II. Procedural Background
Defendant was charged with possession of heroin ( Health & Saf. Code, § 11350 ) and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia ( Health & Saf. Code, § 11364 ). He moved to suppress the fruits of the search on the ground that Tanaka lacked reasonable suspicion to detain him.
The trial court granted defendant's suppression motion. "I think that the descriptors that law enforcement had are far, far, far, far too vague under these circumstances to have initiated a detention. [¶] I do think it does alter *402the equation somewhat that a citizen is saying that's the person I recognize. [¶] But I don't think the law enforcement officer can then delegate the duty of ascertaining the likeness of a description simply to that." The prosecution stated that it could not proceed, and the court dismissed the case.
III. Analysis
"In reviewing the trial court's suppression ruling, we defer to its factual findings if supported by substantial evidence. We independently assess the legal question of whether the challenged search or seizure satisfies the Fourth Amendment." ( People v. Brown (2015)
"The guiding principle in determining the propriety of an investigatory detention is 'the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen's personal security.' [Citations.] In making our determination, we examine 'the totality of the circumstances' in each case." ( People v. Wells (2006)
At the outset, we reject defendant's and the trial court's reliance on this court's decision in People v. Walker (2012)
*403A deputy who had reviewed the e-mail, the photographs, and the video saw the defendant at the same downtown San Jose light rail station where the sexual assault had occurred a week earlier. "[D]efendant *294was 19 years old; was five feet 10 inches tall; weighed approximately 180 pounds; had short black hair; was of medium to dark complexion; had a mustache and a slight goatee; was well groomed; and was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, and blue and white shoes" and "a cap or a hat." ( Walker , supra , 210 Cal.App.4th at p. 1379,
On appeal, this court held that the "defendant's alleged resemblance to one or both of the suspects" did not provide the officer with reasonable suspicion to detain him because the defendant was not objectively a substantial match for either of the suspects. "[I]t is objectively clear that the 19-year-old, five-foot-10, 180-pound, well-groomed defendant could not have reasonably been considered to resemble Suspect Two-who was described as being a Black male in his 30's, unkempt (with body odor), and 'approximately five[-]five, 195 [pounds].' " ( Walker , supra , 210 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1385-1386,
This court further concluded that the photographs reviewed by the deputy could not have provided support for a reasonable suspicion because those "photographs provide such poor depictions of the suspects' faces that their noses are not (or, charitably, are barely) discernible" and "comparing these photographs with defendant's booking photograph-one which Deputy Thrall testified was a fair and accurate depiction of defendant's appearance at the time of the arrest-there is no basis for concluding that defendant bore a close resemblance to either suspect. Thus, any opinion that Deputy Thrall held that defendant resembled one of the suspects in the photographs-whether based upon nose shape or otherwise-was not objectively reasonable." ( Walker , supra , 210 Cal.App.4th at p. 1387,
Unlike Walker , this case does not involve the unusual situation where a deputy's claimed basis for a detention is belied by all of the facts other than race, age, and weight. Although the deputy in Walker claimed that the defendant resembled one of the two suspects, this court found that there was no factual basis for his claim other than race, age, and weight. The photographs that the deputy had reviewed were "poor depictions" of the suspects' faces, and there was no evidence of any other similar characteristics. Here, in contrast, the evidence presented at the suppression hearing established that defendant matched not only the age, race, and weight of the suspect but also that he was the same height and had the shaggy hair *295and beard described in the flier. In addition, unlike in Walker , the color photographs in the flier in this case provided good depictions of the suspect's face. Hence, unlike the situation addressed by this court in Walker , this case was not one in which a person was detained based solely on his age, race, and weight. Consequently, we reject the assertion that Walker controls the result in this case.
Defendant contends that the information that the bus driver gave to Tanaka could not support a detention because this information was from a "secondary source." The United States Supreme Court long ago rejected the argument that a detention "can only be based on the officer's personal observation, rather than on information supplied by another person. Informants' tips, like all other clues and evidence coming to a policeman on the scene, may vary greatly in their value and reliability." ( Adams v. Williams (1972)
Defendant maintains that the bus driver's information was insufficient to support a detention because it was analogous to an anonymous tip like the one that was found insufficient to support a detention in Florida v. J.L. (2000)
Here, while the bus driver was not a witness to criminal activity, he was a "true citizen informant" because he voluntarily provided Tanaka with information that appeared to link defendant to a crime. Unlike information provided by an anonymous tip, information from a true citizen informant is considered reliable because a citizen informant "can be held responsible if her allegations turn out to be fabricated." ( J.L. , supra , 529 U.S. at p. 270,
We conclude that the information provided by the bus driver to Tanaka was *296sufficient to reasonably justify a brief stop of defendant to determine if he was actually the suspect sought in the "288 case." Tanaka knew that pictures of the suspect in the "288 case" had been widely disseminated. The bus driver told Tanaka that he had seen a picture of the suspect on a "Be on the Lookout" flier and that the picture on the flier "matched" a passenger on his bus. That flier had just been issued on the very day that the bus driver saw the passenger, so the picture must have been fresh in the bus driver's mind. Although Tanaka had only a vague recollection of the video he had seen, it was not inconsistent with the man identified by the bus driver as the suspect in the "288 case." And Tanaka had no reason to suspect that the bus driver had any motivation other than good citizenship. Just because Tanaka lacked "the precise level of information necessary for probable cause to arrest," he was not required "to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape." ( Adams ,
The superior court's order dismissing the case is reversed, and the matter is remanded with directions to vacate that order and the order granting defendant's suppression motion and to enter a new order denying defendant's suppression motion.
WE CONCUR:
Elia, Acting P.J.
Premo, J.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.