People v. Hannah

On June 30, 1995, at approximately 10 p.m., Officer Sandoval and two other Fresno police officers went to an apartment on North U Street because they had received information a juvenile with an outstanding arrest warrant was in that apartment. When they arrived, a female resident of the apartment answered the door and consented to the police officers entering to look for the juvenile.

After entering the apartment, Sandoval observed two males seated in the living room. One of these men was defendant; the other was Daniel DeSoto. When he initially entered the living room, Sandoval asked the two men “if they could just stay seated where they were at.” He then asked the two men who they were, what their relationship was to the woman who answered the door, and why they were there. Sandoval remained in the living room with defendant and the other individual while one officer searched the apartment for the juvenile and the third officer stood near the door as cover officer. Sandoval testified he asked the two men to remain seated “. . . for our own protective scope of the search of the apartment.”

Within “[no] more than several minutes” of entering the apartment, Sandoval observed defendant’s pupils were dilated, and therefore suspected him of being under the influence of drugs and “investigated further.” Based on his observation that defendant was exhibiting symptoms of someone under the influence of drugs, Sandoval attempted to place him under arrest. Defendant tried to flee by jumping through a window that led out to a patio. The police officers attempted to stop him and a struggle ensued. Ultimately, the defendant was subdued and while conducting a search incident to arrest, Sandoval found a Chapstick container in defendant’s right front pocket which contained what he believed to be rock cocaine.

Discussion

I. Defendant was not unlawfully detained.

Defendant contends Sandoval’s direction to him to remain seated when the police officers entered the apartment to search for the juvenile they were there to arrest was an unlawful detention. He further contends his detention was unlawful from the beginning because the police did not reasonably believe that: defendant was the person they were attempting to arrest; defendant was involved in criminal activity; or any criminal activity had taken place or was about to take place. He also asserts that even if the initial detention was lawful, it was prolonged beyond the time reasonably necessary for the police officers to perform their legitimate function—

When reviewing a suppression motion we “defer to the trial court’s factual findings, express or implied, where supported by substantial evidence. In determining whether, on the facts so found, the search or seizure was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, we exercise our independent judgment. [Citations.]” (People v. Glaser (1995) 11 Cal.4th 354 , 362 [ 45 Cal.Rptr.2d 425 , 902 P.2d 729 ].)

A. The Initial Detention

The trial court cited two bases for denying defendant’s motion to suppress. First, it held defendant lacked standing to object because he had no expectation of privacy in the apartment where he was located when the police entered. However, defendant does not dispute the fact the police officers lawfully entered the apartment. Nor does he claim their search for the juvenile was unlawful. Defendant is asserting his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was detained by the police after they entered the apartment. Contrary to the trial court’s finding, we conclude he does have standing to assert this right.

Second, the trial court found defendant had, in fact, been detained. It also found Sandoval’s initial observation of defendant’s dilated pupils occurred “during the time that the lawful purpose of their being there was still being carried out, that is, why [sic] the other officer is out checking the other rooms in the apartment.” The trial court went on to find, “[s]o then we have Officer Sandoval, who is making observations during a lawful detention while he is there lawfully, and has a basis thereupon to arrest the defendant because of what he observes in plain view.” The trial court concluded, therefore, the detention and subsequent arrest of defendant was lawful.

The trial court’s findings of fact with respect to the circumstances of defendant’s detention are supported by substantial evidence. The question then becomes whether the police officers were justified in initially detaining defendant. If the answer to that question is yes, we must determine if the period of the detention was justified.

In People v. Glaser, supra, the California Supreme Court noted: “To decide whether relevant evidence obtained by assertedly unlawful means must be excluded in a trial for crimes allegedly committed after June 8, 1982, we look exclusively to whether its suppression is required by the

In its landmark opinion, Terry v. Ohio, supra, the United States Supreme Court specifically addressed for the first time the issue of when a police officer could detain and search a citizen based on something less than probable cause. The court noted the “. . . inquiry is a dual one—whether the officer’s action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.” (Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at pp. 19-20 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 905].) In reaching its decision, the court recognized its analysis had to deal with the real life situations facing police on a day-to-day basis on the street when resort to obtaining an arrest warrant is not practicable. “But we deal here with an entire rubric of police conduct—necessarily swift action predicated upon the on-the-spot observations of the officer on the beat—which historically has not been, and as a practical matter could not be, subjected to the warrant procedure. Instead, the conduct involved in this case must be tested by the Fourth Amendment’s general proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures.” (Id. at p. 20 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 905], fn. omitted.) Ultimately, the court held lawfulness of the detention of an individual based on something less than probable cause came down to “whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger.” (Id. at p. 27 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 909].)

In Michigan v. Summers, supra, the United States Supreme Court extended the Terry rationale to the detention of an individual at a residence for which a search warrant had been issued. (Michigan v. Summers, supra, 452 U.S. at p. 693 [69 L.Ed.2d at pp. 343-344].) When the police arrived to search the residence, they met Summers walking down the front steps after he left the house. They requested his assistance in obtaining entry, but he claimed he did not have his key. The police detained him while they searched the house. After they found narcotics in the basement of the house, and learned Summers owned the house, they arrested him, searched him and found heroin in his coat pocket. (Ibid.) Finding the initial detention of the defendant was lawful, the court observed: “[S]ome seizures admittedly covered by the Fourth Amendment constitute such limited intrusions on the personal security of those detained and are justified by such substantial law enforcement interests that they may be made on less than probable cause, so long as police have an articulable basis for suspecting criminal activity.”

The California Supreme Court applied the Terry and Summers decisions to its resolution of the same issue in People v. Glaser, supra. In Glaser, the police were attempting to serve a search warrant for illegal drugs at a residence in Glen County on the proverbial dark and stormy night. (People v. Glaser, supra, 11 Cal.4th at p. 360.) When they arrived, they saw Glaser’s pickup truck parked in the driveway. He was about to walk up to the house, about 50 feet away, when police officers approached him with guns drawn and directed him to lie face down on the ground. He was handcuffed, and patted down, which resulted in discovery of marijuana and a glass pipe suitable for smoking methamphetamine. (Id. at pp. 360-361.)

Finding the initial detention of Glaser was reasonable under the circumstances, the court stated: “Although we deal here with a detention rather than a search, we believe officer safety to be one of the government interests justifying the government intrusion in this case as well.” (11 Cal.4th at p. 364.) In reaching its decision, the court balanced the character of the official intrusion on the defendant’s personal security against the government interests justifying the detention. (Id. at pp. 365-369.) The court found the government’s interest in identifying the defendant and determining his relationship to the place to be searched as well ap the need to protect the officers conducting the search was more than sufficient to justify what the court considered a minimal intrusion on defendant’s rights. (Id. at pp. 369-371.)

We have applied the analytical framework of Summers, supra, to find detention of an individual at a business location which is to be searched pursuant to a warrant is authorized “when the circumstances create a reasonable suspicion of a relationship between the person and the place sufficient to connect the individual to the illegal activities giving rise to the warrant.” (People v. Ingram (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 1745 , 1753 [ 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 33 ].) In other words, as did the United States Supreme Court in Terry and Summers, and as did the California Supreme Court in Glaser, we analyzed the totality of the circumstances to determine whether the detention was reasonable.

Defendant claims his case is distinguishable from Summers, and other cases which have upheld the detention of an individual at the scene of a search, because all those cases involved execution of search warrants rather than arrest warrants. Although true, it is a distinction which makes no difference.

Defendant correctly points out that Summers, supra, and the other cases discussed, involved detention of an individual during the execution of a search warrant for contraband. By the same token, none of these cases require the existence of a search warrant for contraband as a prerequisite to finding the detention of an individual to be reasonable. The existence of a warrant is but one factor the courts consider when determining the governmental interest involved. For example, we observe the police officer in Terry v. Ohio, supra, did not have a search warrant or arrest warrant when he stopped and frisked Terry. (Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at pp. 6-9 [20 L.Ed.2d at pp. 897-899].) However, the United States Supreme Court found the actions of the police officer reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. Also, as noted in People v. Samples, supra, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals extended the Summers rationale to a detention of an individual during execution of an arrest warrant. (See United States v. Vaughan (9th Cir. 1983) 718 F.2d 332 , 334-335 [police officers justified in detaining and doing a patdown search of defendant who was a passenger in a car driven by individual for whom arrest warrant had been issued].) “The scope of intrusion permitted without a warrant or probable cause ‘will vary to some extent with the particular facts and circumstances of each case,’ and there is no ‘litmus-paper test’ for distinguishing an investigatory stop from a full arrest. [Citations.] Consequently, we must consider the totality of the circumstances [citation] to determine if the means used by the police, including detention at gunpoint, were justified by the need of a ‘reasonably prudent’ officer [citation] to protect himself and others involved in the search.” (People v. Glaser, supra, 11 Cal.4th at p. 3

Turning to defendant’s case, we consider the scope of defendant’s initial detention. The sum total of police action which resulted in defendant’s

Finally, the duration of defendant’s detention was, at most, several minutes. Although the duration of a detention is not determinative of its reasonableness, “. . . its brevity weighs heavily in favor of a finding of reasonableness. (See United States v. Sharpe (1985) 470 U.S. 675 , 686-688 [ 84 L.Ed.2d 605 , 615-617, 105 S.Ct. 1568 ] [20-minute investigative detention reasonable under circumstances].)” (People v. Glaser, supra, 11 Cal.App.4th at p. 367.)

It is hard to envision a more minimal intrusion on an individual’s right to be free from unlawful seizure than the circumstances of defendant’s detention. In fact, it is less intrusive than if Sandoval had stopped defendant on the street briefly to ask him a few questions about a crime or the whereabouts of a suspect and during the conversation concluded the defendant was under the influence of illegal drugs. Under those facts, defendant would reasonably believe he had been detained, but it is doubtful anyone would find such a detention was onerous or unreasonable. (See Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at p. 13 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 901] [“Street encounters between citizens and police officers are incredibly rich in diversity. They range from wholly friendly exchanges of pleasantries or mutually useful information to hostile confrontations of armed men involving arrests, or injuries, or loss of life.”].) The conclusion should not be different because the chance encounter with the police officer occurred in a private residence, which the police officer entered with the permission of the resident.

Balanced against the intrusion on defendant must be the governmental interest justifying his detention. Defendant is correct when he observes his case is distinguishable from the vast majority of reported cases in which the detention occurred during execution of a search warrant. The courts

In defendant’s case, no search warrant had been issued for the apartment, and there was no evidence of any criminal activity in progress. Sandoval entered the apartment with the consent of the resident, because he believed a juvenile for whom an arrest warrant had been issued was inside. Therefore, the need to detain defendant to protect the police officers is not as compelling as when a search warrant has been issued or when a police officer has a reasonable basis to believe criminal activity is occurring. But, the inquiry cannot end there. Given the circumstances as they existed at the time of defendant’s detention, the question remains as to what governmental interest justified his detention.

When Sandoval and the other police officers entered the apartment, they did not know the layout of the apartment. They were unaware of who was present, other than the female who answered the door and invited them in, or the relationship of defendant and the other individual to the juvenile they were attempting to apprehend. Sandoval testified after he asked defendant and the other individual in the living room to remain seated, he “advised them what we were there for and asked them who they were in relationship to the person—the female we contacted and why they were possibly there.” Objectively, it is reasonable for a police officer who is in a residence attempting to execute an arrest warrant to determine who is present. This is true even when he does not reasonably believe any one of them is the subject of the arrest warrant. If the police officer has received information the suspect he is attempting to arrest is in the residence, it is reasonable to conclude people inside may know the suspect and have information concerning where he might be found. Additionally, a reasonable police officer could be concerned the individuals in the residence not only know the suspect, but are either related to or friends with him. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude the individuals may attempt to alert the suspect to the fact the police are there or might assist him in escaping. Consequently, there was a legitimate governmental interest in detaining defendant to determine who he

Finally, although officer safety was not as significant a factor for defendant’s detention when compared to situations involving service of search warrants, it does not mean it was not a factor. “As the United States Supreme Court observed in Maryland v. Buie (1990) 494 U.S. 325 [ 108 L.Ed.2d 276 , 110 S.Ct. 1093 ], involving the legality of a protective sweep during an in-home arrest, the dangers are particularly acute when an officer seeks to serve a warrant in a suspect’s house. The officer is ‘at the disadvantage of being on his adversary’s “turf.” An ambush in a confined setting of unknown configuration is more to be feared than it is in open, more familiar surroundings.’ [Citation.]” (People v. Glaser, supra, 11 Cal.4th at p. 368.) Clearly, one of Sandoval’s primary concerns when he asked defendant and the other individual to remain seated was the protection of himself and the other officers:

“Q. Now, before you made that observation, had you restrained Mr. Hannah’s liberty at all?

“A. We asked him to remain seated where he was at.

“Q. Okay. And why was that?

“A. Just for our own protective scope of the search of the apartment.”

He also explained the purpose of the protective search was to make sure there were no weapons present prior to completing the search.

The reasonableness of the police officers’ belief that detaining defendant, even briefly, was necessary to protect their safety must be evaluated from the perspective of the police officers who entered the apartment. They were entering a residence, the exact floor plan of which they were unaware, to arrest a juvenile they had been told may be present, when they encountered individuals whose identity and relationship to the juvenile they were seeking was unknown. Faced with these circumstances, any reasonable person would find an initial detention of the individuals encountered was necessary to ensure the safety of the police officers. (See People v. Thurman, supra, 209 Cal.App.3d at p. 823 [“To require an officer to await an overt act of hostility . . . before attempting to neutralize the threat of physical harm which accompanies an occupant’s presence in a probable drug trafficking residential locale, would be utter folly.”].)