People v. Larry C.

The issue before us is the validity of the trial court’s ruling denying the minor’s motion to suppress incriminating statements made by him after he was arrested in his home pursuant to an arrest warrant. The minor contends that his statements were the fruit of an illegal arrest because the affidavit in support of the arrest warrant did not contain sufficient facts to support a determination of probable cause and was insufficient as a matter of law.

The affidavit in support of the arrest warrant was prepared by Officer R. Fesperman, a detective attached to the homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department. The investigative report reflected the fact that the two victims, Mendoza and Espinoza, were walking home from a grocery store when they were confronted by three male blacks who demanded money. One of the malefactors held a gun on the victims, while the other two attempted to rob them. One hundred and ten dollars was taken from Espinoza. When Mendoza started to fight back, he was shot in the face and died.

Attached to. Officer Fesperman’s affidavit were the statements of Chester Hill and John Daniels. Hill was one of the suspects in the robbery-murder who had been taken into custody. In his statement Hill admitted being present at the time the crime was committed. He stated that a Harold Parks was the trigger man and that the minor, Larry C., assisted Parks in the robbery. John Daniels’ statement was a recital of a conversation with Harold Parks wherein Parks admitted shooting a “Mex guy” he was attempting to rob. Parks also told Daniels that Chester Hill might be in police custody. No mention was made of the minor, Larry C. However, there was an indication that at least one other individual had participated in the crime.^[1]

At the hearing held to consider the minor’s suppression motion, it was revealed that Chester Hill’s statement to the police was obtained in a plea bargain arranged between the deputy public defender representing Hill and the district attorney.^[2]

In Sesslin it was held that “.. . Giordenello [Giordenello v. United States (1958) 357 U.S. 480 ( 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 , 78 S.Ct. 1245 )] and Aguilar [Aguilar v. Texas (1964) 378 U.S. 108 ( 12 L.Ed.2d 723 , 84 S.Ct. 1509 )] must be read together as formulating the requirements of the Fourth Amendment for valid arrest as well as search warrants... . ’ (People v. Sesslin, supra, 68 Cal.2d 418 , 424.) In Ramey the court held that “... the protection of article I, section 13, of the California Constitution and the Fourth Amendment of the federal Constitution against violation of the right of the people to be secure in their persons and houses against unreasonable seizures applies to arrests within the home, and that warrantless arrests within the home are per se unreasonable in the absence of exigent circumstances.” (People v. Ramey, supra, 16 Cal.3d 263 , 275-276.)

Was there an intentionally misleading omission of a material fact in the affidavit for the arrest warrant?

Our initial inquiry is directed to the materiality of the information omitted regarding the Hill plea bargain and his two arrests. In People v. Kurland, supra, 28 Cal.3d 376 , the opinion states at pages 384-385: “An affidavit need not disclose every imaginable fact however irrelevant. It need only furnish the magistrate with information, favorable and adverse, sufficient to permit a reasonable, common sense determination whether circumstances which justify a search are probably present. [Citations.] [¶] ... We conclude, . .. that facts are ‘material’ and hence must be disclosed if their omission would make the affidavit substantially misleading. On review under section 1538.5, facts must be deemed material for this purpose if, because of their inherent probative force, there is a substantial possibility they would have altered a reasonable magistrate’s probable cause determination.”

In the case at bench the trial judge agreed with the contention of the minor that the omitted information was material. We concur. The

The suppression hearing- was held prior to the rendition of the Kurland opinion wherein a modified version of the Theodor-Cook^[4] formula for culpability for material omissions in affidavits for search warrants was set forth. Theodor and Cook described misstatements as “reasonable,” “negligent,” and “intentional,” applying the exclusionary rule in accordance with the findings. Concomitantly, various Courts of Appeal held that an affidavit may be insufficient when it omits facts adverse to the warrant application. (People v. Neusorn (1978) 76 Cal.App.3d 534 , 538-539 [ 143 Cal.Rptr. 27 ]; Morris v. Superior Court (1976) 57 Cal. App.3d 521 , 526 [ 129 Cal.Rptr. 238 ]; People v. Barger (1974) 40 Cal. App.3d 662 , 668-669 [ 115 Cal.Rptr. 298 ].) Those courts held that material facts “negligently” omitted must be added to the affidavit by the reviewing court and the affidavit then tested for probable cause, “intentional” omissions of material facts were deemed to require an automatic quashing of the warrant.

The Kurland modification requires the trial court to determine whether the máterial omission was either (1) reasonable, (2) negligent, or (3) recklessly inaccurate or intentionally misleading. As the court stated, “That the omission itself was ‘intentional’ rather than inadvertent may be relevant to those issues, but may not alone be dispositive.” (People v. Kurland, supra, 28 Cal.3d 376 , 388.) The court concluded “... Something more than mere intent to omit is required to justify the conclusion that statements that do appear in the affidavit may not be trusted.” (Ibid.)

In this case the trial court found the omissions were not intentional. Although it did not say so, by inference it is clear that it found the omissions to be negligent. We agree. “Negligent omissions of material fact occur when the affiant is unreasonably ignorant of facts, unreasonably forgets to include them, or makes a good faith but unreasonable decision that they need not or should not be included. In such case the ‘add and retest’ formula ... is proper.” (People v. Kurland, supra, 2 8 Cal.3d 376 , 388.)