Jefferson v. Superior Court

Opinion

THE COURT.

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An alternative writ of prohibition was issued in this case to review an order of the trial court which denied the petitioner’s

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motion to dismiss an information charging him with receiving stolen property in violation of section 496 of the Penal Code. (See Pen. Code, §§ 995 and 999a.) At the combined preliminary examination and hearing on petitioner’s motion to suppress evidence it was stipulated that a $20 traveler’s check had been countersigned by the owner and .taken from him at gunpoint on February 10, 1975. On February 13, 1975, when the petitioner was instructed to remove the contents from his pockets, following his arrest for violation of section 415 of the Penal Code, he removed the same check from a pocket in the inside pair of the two pair of pants he was wearing. Petitioner contended and contends that there was no probable cause for his arrest, and that the evidence discovered and seized as a result of that arrest should have been suppressed.

At about 11 p.m. on February 13, 1975, the arresting officer was escorting a young lady from the court section of the building housing the Municipal Court for the Oakland-Piedmont Judicial District, to room 200, the office of the homicide detail of the police department, for an interview. The officer was accompanied by his partner, a fellow officer. In the immediate vicinity of the doorway to the office there were present two unidentified women in the hallway, a female secretary from the homicide/robbery detail, and a number of people assigned and on duty in the office. The petitioner was apparently a friend of the young lady under escort, to whom she entrusted her purse, and he was attempting to follow her. As the officers and their prospective interviewee were just . about to enter the office, the arresting officer was standing practically alongside the petitioner in the hallway.

He heard the petitioner refer to some persons as “motherfuckers” a couple of times in a rather loud voice. The officer did not know to whom the petitioner’s remarks were addressed, nor does his testimony, identify the persons who were so characterized by the petitioner. The officer acknowledged that the remarks might have been addressed to petitioner’s companion. No one reacted to petitioner’s remarks other than the officer. He approached petitioner and took him into custody for what he first testified was “the use of profanity” and subsequently elaborated to disturbing the peace in violation of section 415 of the Penal Code. The officer testified that he intended to book and not merely cite the petitioner because of suspicion he was under the influence of narcotics.