People v. Mathews

2. General legal standards.

We begin by discussing general Fourth Amendment principles. The Fourth Amendment protects the "right of the people to be secure in their

Mathews relies on Myers v. Superior Court (2004) 124 Cal.App.4th 1247 , 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 369 ( Myers ) in arguing that Watkins does not govern here. In Myers , a police officer stopped the defendant and asked him whether he was on parole or probation. ( Myers , at p. 1251, 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 369 .) Although the defendant was on informal probation, he falsely told the officer " 'that he had discharged [from] parole ... and was not on probation.' " ( Ibid. ) The officer did no record check and instead simply searched the defendant "without a warrant, probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or knowledge [the defendant] was on probation and subject to a search condition" and discovered contraband. ( Id. at pp. 1251, 1256, 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 369 .) The Court of Appeal held that the evidence should have been excluded because not applying the exclusionary rule under the circumstances "would reward police misconduct, not deter it." ( Id. at p. 1256, 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 369 .) The court also rejected the argument that the defendant's lie was significant, observing that the defendant's "response should have prompted [the officer] to conduct a record check where he would have discovered [the defendant] was on probation and subject to a search condition." ( Ibid. )

Contrary to Mathews's position otherwise, Myers does not conflict with Watkins . As Watkins itself observed in distinguishing Myers , although Myers concluded that the evidence should not have been suppressed despite the defendant's misrepresentation about his parole status, the conclusion was reached because it was the officer's failure to perform a record check, not the misrepresentation, that prevented the officer from learning about the search condition. ( Watkins, supra , 170 Cal.App.4th at p. 1410, 89 Cal.Rptr.3d 135 .) In contrast, in Watkins the officer performed a record check, but the "defendant's lie about his identity ensured that the ... check would not disclose his probation search condition in time." ( Ibid. ) Thus, nothing in Myers undermines Watkins 's holding that a defendant can be estopped from challenging evidence obtained after a record check fails to reveal a search condition when the check was based on false information provided by the defendant.

We also reject Mathews's implication that Watkins is inconsistent with the exclusionary rule's goal of deterring police misconduct. It is true, as

Having concluded that it is appropriate to follow Watkins , we turn to address its application in this case. Mathews argues that "[e]ven under Watkins , [Officer Ballard-Geiger's] actions violated" the Fourth Amendment. He claims that the evidence shows that Officer Ballard-Geiger did not run a record check on "Damari Johnson" until after seizing the cell phone, so it was the officer's failure to do a record check, not the provision of a false name, that prevented the officer from learning of the search condition.

We do not agree with either the trial court or Mathews about the relevant point in time after which a defendant who provides a false name to a police officer is estopped under Watkins from challenging the validity of a search or seizure. The court ruled that estoppel was triggered when Mathews gave a false name , and Mathews argues that it was triggered when Officer Ballard-Geiger ran the record check on "Damari Johnson." We conclude, however, that estoppel is triggered when an officer receives the results from a record check based on a false name.

In many cases, all three events will happen nearly simultaneously, as they did in Watkins . (See Watkins, supra , 170 Cal.App.4th at p. 1406, 89 Cal.Rptr.3d 135 .) But, as the facts here illustrate, this is not always the case. Officer Ballard-Geiger testified that it was possible he did not run a record check on "Damari Johnson" until up to 20 minutes after Mathews gave the name to him, and the officer received the results a few minutes after running the check. Until Officer Ballard-Geiger actually ran the record check and received the results, the false name did not prevent him from discovering the search condition. We

We concur:

Margulies, J.

Banke, J.

In the published portion of this decision, we conclude that the trial court properly denied the motion to suppress based on the estoppel principle announced in People v. Watkins (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1403 , 89 Cal.Rptr.3d 135 ( Watkins ). We hold that when a defendant gives a false name to a police officer, and a record check of that name fails to reveal that the defendant is in fact subject to a probation search condition, the defendant is estopped from challenging the legality of an ensuing search or seizure that would have been authorized had the officer been aware of the condition. We also reject Mathews's remaining claims and affirm, except that we order the correction of a clerical error in the abstract of judgment.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

Shortly before 6:00 p.m. on the evening of September 21, 2013, the victim, a man in

After the two men were out of the victim's line of sight, the victim heard a "boom sound" like a "gunshot." Other witnesses also heard the sound of a gunshot from the direction of the scene of the robbery. Witnesses then saw two men, one of whom appeared to have an injury to his lower body and was holding a gun, running through the neighborhood. Some of the witnesses remembered seeing the same two men get out of a light-colored sedan a few minutes earlier. The same sedan picked the men up and drove off. No witness was ultimately able to identify Mathews as either suspect.

At around 5:50 p.m., a silver sedan was recorded dropping Mathews off at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The timing of some of the subsequent events at the hospital is unclear, and we discuss these timing issues in more detail when addressing Mathews's Fourth Amendment claim. Generally, however, Officer Keith Ballard-Geiger and Officer Pantoja of the San Leandro Police Department arrived at the hospital within minutes and made contact with Mathews in a trauma room. Officer Ballard-Geiger observed a perforation in Mathews's scrotum and a wound to his shin. The officer also searched a bag of Mathews's clothing, which included a pair of jeans with blood in the crotch area and a small, bloodstained hole in the shin area.

Officer Ballard-Geiger also seized some possessions of Mathews's, including a cell phone, that hospital staff had stored in a safe. A subsequent forensic examination of the phone demonstrated that it was used in the vicinity of the robbery to make a call at 5:40 p.m. and "traveled east from the location ..., got on the freeway on [Highway] 580, traveled northbound, and terminated somewhere near Highland Hospital."

Mathews was charged with one count of second degree robbery, with an accompanying allegation of a principal's personal use of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, and one count of

Officer Ballard-Geiger observed Mathews's injuries, which included "a perforation to the right side of his scrotum" and what appeared to be "a graze wound to his lower right leg, his shin area." The officer was able to see the injuries because either Mathews or a nurse moved a sheet that covered them. Hospital staff directed Officer Ballard-Geiger to a bag of clothing that Mathews was wearing when he arrived at the hospital. Officer Ballard-Geiger inspected the bag's contents, including a pair of jeans with blood on the crotch area and lower right pant leg, which also had a small hole in it. Officer Ballard-Geiger believed that Mathews "was possibly the person involved in the robbery, [and] that he might have shot himself."

Officer Ballard-Geiger ran a record check on "Damari Johnson" at 6:33 p.m. The officer could not recall whether this occurred immediately after he got the name from Mathews, and he acknowledged that it could have been as long as 20

Although Officer Ballard-Geiger recovered the cell phone at the hospital, he did not search the phone's contents at that time. Rather, during the ensuing investigation, Detective Brum turned on the phone, which revealed an image of Mathews on the screen saver and that the phone was serviced by Metro PCS. Detective Brum obtained search warrants for information about the phone, and Metro PCS provided information upon which a prosecution expert witness eventually relied in testifying that around the time of the robbery the phone traveled from the victim's neighborhood to the vicinity of Highland Hospital.

Mathews moved to suppress evidence obtained at the hospital and evidence that was attainable later only as a result of the seizure of the cell phone. The evidence obtained at the hospital was Officer Ballard-Geiger's observations of Mathews's injuries and clothes and the phone. The evidence attainable as a result of the phone were screen shots taken from it, its identification number, and its contents. Mathews also sought to suppress "[a]ll fruit from the seizure of" the clothing and phone.

At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Mathews argued that all of this evidence was obtained in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights because, among other reasons, Officer Ballard-Geiger was not aware of the search condition at the time he observed the clothing or wounds or seized the cell phone. The trial court found no such violation and denied the motion. Relying on Watkins , the court ruled that Mathews was estopped from seeking to suppress the evidence because "by giving a false name, ... [Mathews] then precluded the officer, regardless of when the officer ran the check," from discovering that Mathews was subject to a search condition. In addition, the court accepted Officer Ballard-Geiger's testimony

The applicable standards under which we review a trial court's order refusing to suppress evidence are well established. In reviewing the denial of a suppression motion, we consider the record in the light most favorable to the disposition and defer to the court's factual findings if supported by substantial evidence. ( People v. Tully (2012) 54 Cal.4th 952 , 979, 145 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 , 282 P.3d 173 ( Tully ).) Any conflicts in the evidence are resolved in favor of the court's order. ( People v. Limon (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 524 , 529, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 397 .) The court's ruling on whether the relevant law was violated is a mixed question of law and fact subject to de novo review. ( People v. Hoyos (2007) 41 Cal. 4th 872 , 891, 63 Cal.Rptr.3d 1 , 162 P.3d 528 .) Thus, we exercise independent judgment in determining the legality of a search and seizure. ( Tully , at p. 979, 145 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 , 282 P.3d 173 .)

3. Mathews is estopped from challenging the admission of evidence derived from the cell phone's seizure.

In arguing that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated, Mathews does not clearly distinguish among the various evidence he contends should have been suppressed: the cell phone and evidence derived from it, the clothing, and Officer Ballard-Geiger's observations of his wounds. We first address his claim as it applies to the phone.

" '[O]ne of the specifically established exceptions to the requirements of both a warrant and probable cause is a search [or seizure] conducted pursuant to consent.' " ( People v. Woods (1999) 21 Cal.4th 668 , 674, 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 88 , 981 P.2d 1019 .) Probationers who accept conditions of probation "may validly consent in advance to warrantless searches [or seizures] in exchange for the opportunity to avoid service of a state prison term." ( Id. at pp. 674-675, 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 88 , 981 P.2d 1019 .) Usually, an officer must be aware of a search condition for it to justify proceeding without a warrant, and a search or seizure cannot be "undertaken for harassment or ... for arbitrary or capricious reasons." ( People v. Bravo (1987) 43 Cal.3d 600 , 610, 238 Cal.Rptr. 282 , 738 P.2d 336 .)

In Watkins , the decision the trial court relied on to deny the motion to suppress, a police officer stopped the defendant's vehicle, and the defendant

Contrary to Mathews's position otherwise, substantial evidence in the record shows that the seizure occurred after 6:36 p.m. In arguing that Officer Ballard-Geiger seized the cell phone before running a check on "Damari Johnson," Mathews fails to recognize that we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling and resolve any conflicts in favor of that ruling. ( Tully, supra , 54 Cal.4th at p. 979, 145 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 , 282 P.3d 173 ; People v. Limon, supra , 17 Cal.App.4th at p. 529, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 397 .) We acknowledge that the officer's testimony was inconsistent on the timing of some events at the hospital. He initially testified that he seized the phone based on the search condition, and he later indicated that he was unsure whether the seizure occurred before or after he knew about the condition. But throughout his testimony, he remained clear that he ran the check on "Damari Johnson" before he "took physical custody of the phone." Because it is not reasonable to infer that Officer Ballard-Geiger obtained the phone from the safe during the two or three minutes it took for the results of the check to come back, this