People v. Woods

The trial court found defendant guilty of possession of marijuana (§ 11530, Health & Saf. Code). He appeals from the judgment and order denying his motion to suppress the evidence under section 1538.5, Penal Code.

Three or four times during the two months prior to arrest Los Angeles Police Officers Celmer and Burke had received information from several reliable confidential informants^[1] that defendant “was dealing heroin and marijuana from his residence on Butler Street in Compton” and kept large quantities of narcotics there, in his back yard and on his person; the night before the arrest the last informer gave Officer Celmer defendant’s address as “15811 Butler Street in Compton,” and said he had purchased narcotics from him at those premises. Sergeant Burke told Officer Celmer that he had previously arrested defendant and knew he had served time for a federal violation (smuggling marijuana) and that he had also been present at a trial in Inglewood where he had been found guilty of possession of marijuana.

On September 19, 1968, Officers Celmer and Burke went to 15811 Butler Street, which is in the County of Los Angeles within the geographical limits of the sheriff’s office, Firestone Substation; there was a six-foot high fence around the back yard. From the second story of a church next door they watched through a window overlooking defendant’s back yard. Shortly before noon Officer Burke observed defendant come out of an area next to the garage, walk out on the lawn in the back yard, for several minutes look around and in several directions, walk back toward the rear of the yard to the north side where there appeared to be a fence, some trash cans, a little dog house and some stacked-up lumber, dig in soft dirt in that area, stand with a brown paper bag in his hand, remove something from the bag and put it in a white cardboard box, lay the box on the ground, bury the brown paper bag in the soft dirt, walk around the yard for a minute or two, then toward the side of the garage and disappear carrying the white cardboard box. Officer Celmer saw defendant leave the rear door, walk to the corner of his back yard, bend over, place his hand beneath some rubble in the corner of the yard and remove a brown paper bag, stick his hand in the bag, remove an object, place it in a small bag lying in the back yard and walk into the house. Officer Celmer then proceeded to the front and Officer Burke to the back yard. As Officer Celmer approached the front door he met a man who told him he was there to repossess defendant’s car;

Section 817, Penal Code,^[2] in effect at the time of arrest provided that “The authority of a peace officer extends to any place in the state . . . (b) if he has the prior consent of . . . the sheriff or person authorized by him to give such consent if the place is within the county.” Eugene D. Rudolph is a deputy sheriff and narcotic investigator assigned to Headquarters Detective Bureau, Narcotics, Firestone Substation; it is undisputed that before the officers went to defendant’s home Deputy Rudolph gave them permission or consent to conduct a narcotics investigation in county territory. Appellant claims there is no testimony that Deputy Rudolph was “authorized” by the sheriff to give consent and “it would seem extremely unlikely . . . that a mere deputy would have such authority,” thus under section 817 since Deputy Rudolph was neither “the Sheriff” nor a “person authorized by him to give such consent,” the police officers were not acting as peace officers and could not legally arrest him in county territory. Moreover, he submits without argument or citation of authority that section 817, Penal Code, a specific statute, limits the general provisions in the Government Code. In support of his last assertion appellant has pointed to nothing

The sheriff is designated in the general statutes (§ 24000, Gov. Code) as a county officer and “may appoint as many deputies as are necessary for the prompt and faithful discharge of the duties of his office,” (§ 24101, Gov. Code.) As to the extent of the power exercisable by a deputy sheriff, both the general statutes and decisional law establish that he possesses all of the powers and may perform all of the duties attached by law to the office of sheriff. Section 7, Government Code, provides: “Whenever a power is granted to, or a duty is imposed upon, a public officer, the power may be exercised or the duty may be performed by a deputy of the officer or by a person authorized, pursuant to law, by the officer, unless this code expressly provides otherwise”; and thereafter, section 1194, “When not otherwise provided for, each deputy possesses the powers and may perform the duties attached by law to the office of his principal.” Likewise our courts have held “a deputy sheriff possesses all the powers and may perform all the duties attached by law to his principal’s office. (People v. Otto, 77 Cal. 45 , 47 [ 18 P. 869 ]; Shirran v. Dallas, 21 Cal.App. 405 , 414 et seq. [ 132 P. 454 , 462]; Gov. Code, § 24100.)” (People v. Gonzales, 136 Cal.App.2d 437 , 441-442 [ 288 P.2d 588 ].) Thus, in the absence of a county ordinance^[3] regulating and further defining the scope of the duties of deputy sheriffs, the general laws of the state touching such matters should govern (Martin v. De Shields, 187 Cal. 340 , 342 [ 203 P. 118 ]; Anderson v. Lewis, 29 Cal.App. 24 , 28 [ 154 P. 287 ]) and deputies who are acting in the line of official duty and under color of office may exercise all powers possessed by the sheriff.

Factually, nothing in the record suggests that Deputy Rudolph was in any manner limited or restricted by the sheriff in the exercise of his powers or the performance of his duties as a deputy; and the evidence supports the conclusion that Deputy Rudolph had the same power as the sheriff to give consent to other officers to work in county territory and that he