People v. Mickelson
People v. Mickelson
Concurring Opinion
I concur.
I agree that the search here involved was illegal, both under state and federal law. Therefore, I agree that the order appealed from must be affirmed. But, in my opinion, such holding makes it unnecessary to discuss the scope and impact on state law of the decision of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 [81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081]. In my opinion the determination of that important constitutional question should be left to a ease where it is directly involved.
Dissenting Opinion
I dissent. I would reverse the order of the trial court as to count II and affirm the order as to count I,
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied May 14, 1963. McComb, J., was of the opinion that the petition should he granted.
Opinion of the Court
Defendant was charged in two counts of an information with committing burglaries of telephone booths, in violation of Penal Code, section 459. His motion to set aside the information was granted (Pen. Code, § 995), and the People appeal. The Attorney General concedes that there was no evidence at the preliminary hearing to support count I and seeks a reversal only as to count II.
A Burbank police officer discovered the physical evidence supporting count II in the course of searching an overnight bag found under the front seat of an automobile in which defendant had been riding and which Don Zauzig had been driving. The bag contained $85.90 in nickels, dimes, and quarters. At defendant’s preliminary hearing, the bag and its contents were introduced in evidence, and Zauzig testified to his and defendant’s commission of the burglary. Zausig’s arrest and his availability as a witness were direct results of the search that disclosed the physical evidence of the burglary. If that search was illegal, neither the physical evidence nor Zauzig’s testimony is competent to support the information.
The Attorney General contends, however, that the arresting officer had reasonable cause to arrest Zauzig for a recent robbery in the neighborhood and that the search of the car was therefore justified as incidental to the arrest. Before the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 [81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081], we were free to determine such an issue under the California decisions setting forth the rules governing police investigations and arrests. In view of the holding in that ease that the Fourteenth Amendment requires state courts to exclude unconstitutionally obtained evidence, we must determine at the outset whether the federal rules governing police investigations and arrests have superseded our own. There are significant differences between the respective rules that are relevant to this ease.
In Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 103 [80 S.Ct. 168, 4 L.Ed.2d 134, 139], the United States Supreme Court held that an arrest occurs when an automobile is stopped during the course of a criminal investigation, and if the officer does not have reasonable cause to arrest the occupant at that time, the arrest is unlawful. Anything the officer learns as a result of stopping the automobile is inadmissible in evidence and cannot justify a search. (See also Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 166 [69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879, 1885] ; Rios v. United States, 364 U.S. 253, 261-262 [80 S.Ct. 1431, 4 L.Ed.2d 1688, 1693-1694].) In this state, however, we have consistently held that circumstances short of probable cause to make an arrest may still justify an officer’s stopping pedestrians or motorists on the streets for questioning. If the circumstances warrant it, he may in self-protection request a suspect to alight from an automobile or to submit to a superficial search for concealed weapons. Should the investigation then reveal probable cause to make an arrest, the
The Mapp ease did not determine whether or not the states must follow all the federal rules. Neither did Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206 [80 S.Ct. 1437, 1453, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669], which on this matter held only that the conduct of state officers would be measured against the federal rules when state-secured evidence was offered in federal prosecutions.
A state rule governing police procedure is not unconstitutional merely because it permits conduct in which a federal officer may not lawfully engage. The Fourth Amendment
The United States Supreme Court has not interpreted the Fourth Amendment as requiring that court to dtay down as a matter of constitutional law precise rules of police conduct. Indeed, its rule allowing a search by a federal officer without a warrant as incident to a lawful arrest permits reference to state law to determine the validity of the arrest. (Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 15 [68 S.Ct. 367, 92 L.Ed. 436,
We do not believe that our rule permitting temporary detention for questioning conflicts with the Fourth Amendment. It strikes a balance between a person’s interest in immunity from police interference and the community’s interest in law enforcement. It wards off pressure to equate reasonable cause to investigate with reasonable cause to arrest, thus protecting the innocent from the risk of arrest when no more than reasonable investigation is justified. (See Barrett, Personal Rights, Property Rights, and The Fourth Amendment, 1960 Sup.Ct. Rev. 46, 65-66, 69-70.)
The United States Supreme Court apparently concluded that the situations presented in the Henry, Rios, and Brinegar cases allowed no middle ground (see dissenting opinion of Jackson, J. in Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 183 [69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879, 1894]), and hence that the officers were not justified in stopping the defendants’ automobiles unless they had probable cause to make arrests. It does not follow that its conclusion was constitutionally compelled. Given the absence of legislation, the court had to articulate the governing rule and enforce compliance with it. It did not thereby foreclose Congress or the states from articulating other reasonable rules consistent with the Fourth Amendment.
It remains to determine whether the search in this case complied with the rules of this state. The arresting officer testified that he arrested defendant and Zauzig shortly before 2 a.m. about 20 minutes after he had gone to a market on San Fernando Road where a robbery had just been reported. He was told by other officers at the market that the robber was a fairly tall white man of large build with dark hair who was wearing a red sweater and armed with a .45 automatic. The officer searched the area on foot for about 10 minutes and then returned to his ear to search a wider area. While driving west on Providencia about six blocks from the market he saw a station wagon coming toward him with two
It was not unreasonable for the officer to stop Zauzig’s car for investigation and to take reasonable precautions for his own safety. He did not have probable cause, however, to arrest Zauzig for robbery. There could have been more than one tall white man with dark hair wearing a red sweater abroad at night in such a metropolitan area. Although Zauzig was in the vicinity of the robbery, he was not observed until about 20 minutes after it occurred when he was driving toward the scene of the crime, not away from it. The officer had no information that the robber had an automobile or a confederate. The erratic route of the car and defendant’s movement in the seat were at most suspicious circumstances. The officer’s investigation elicited identification upon request and a story consistent with the movements of the car and the officer’s own assessment of those movements. Both occupants were out of the car away from any weapons that might have been concealed therein. Instead of interrogating Zauzig and defendant with respect to the robbery or requesting them to accompany the officers the few blocks to the market for possible identification, the officer elected to rummage through closed baggage found in the ear in the hope of turning up evidence that might connect Zauzig with the robbery. That search exceeded the bounds of reasonable investigation. It was not justified by probable cause to make an arrest, and it cannot be justified by what it turned up. (People v. Brown, 45 Cal.2d 640, 643-644 [290 P.2d 528].)
The order is affirmed.
Gibson, O. J., Schauer, J., Tobriner, J., and Peek, J., concurred.
‘ The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ’ ’
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CURTIS RAY MICKELSON, Defendant and Respondent
- Cited By
- 387 cases
- Status
- Published