The People v. Lopez CA2/8

Filed 8/26/13 P. v. Lopez CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B242990

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA390627) v.

JOEL LOPEZ et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. John Fisher, Judge. Affirmed.

Lyn A. Woodward, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Joel Lopez.

Christopher Nalls, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Juan Jose Madrid.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_______________________

Defendants Joel Lopez and Juan Jose Madrid appeal from their conviction following no contest pleas to the charge of possession for sale of cocaine, entered after the trial court denied their joint motion to quash a search warrant. Following our independent review of the record pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436, 441 (Wende), we affirm both convictions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

We glean the following facts from City of Cypress Police Detective Scott Ausmus’s search warrant application and preliminary hearing testimony. In a Statement of Probable Cause submitted in support of the search warrant application, Ausmus recounted that undercover officers surveilling the Macy’s parking lot at the Cerritos Mall in the early evening on October 27, 2011, observed a blue Nissan park next to a gold Toyota. Lopez and Madrid got out of the Nissan. While the driver stood by the Nissan’s trunk, the passenger walked towards Macy’s where he met a woman. The woman and the Nissan passenger walked to the Nissan. The trunks of both the Nissan and the Toyota opened. The Nissan passenger removed a black nylon bag from the Nissan trunk and placed it in the Toyota trunk, then got into the driver’s seat of the Toyota. The Nissan driver returned to the driver’s seat of the Nissan and both cars drove away in separate directions. Officers continued surveilling both cars as they were driven in an evasive manner (e.g. over the speed limit, unsafe lane changes, etc.). Eventually the cab stopped in the driveway of a single family residence on Summer Avenue in Norwalk. When officers resumed surveillance of the Summer Avenue residence November 1, both the Nissan and the Toyota were parked at that location. Later, a black two-door Acura pulled into the driveway. The man who had previously been observed driving the Nissan got out of the Acura’s passenger’s seat and entered the residence; the Acura’s driver followed a minute later. A DEA agent informed Ausmus that he was familiar with the Acura seen at the Summer Avenue residence and that it had a secret compartment used to transport illegal narcotics.