People v. Lionberger

185 Cal.App.3d 1346 (1986) 230 Cal. Rptr. 358 THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

DEBORAH K. LIONBERGER et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Docket Nos. 2137, 2138. Court of Appeals of California, Appellate Department, Superior Court, Ventura.

July 29, 1986. COUNSEL

Dennis A. Fischer for Defendants and Appellants.

Michael D. Bradbury, District Attorney, and Dennis I. Floyd, Deputy District Attorney, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

STEELE, P.J.

Misdemeanor complaints were filed in the municipal court respectively naming, as defendants, Dick Otto Weisse, case number MM68376, Sharyl Ann Weisse, case number MM68377, and Deborah K. Lionberger, case number MM68378, following the arrests of each on May 31, 1985, for violation of Health and Safety Code section 11550, subdivision (a) (illegal use of controlled substance). The defendants were arraigned and entered pleas of not guilty on June 28, 1985. On August 2, 1985, a motion was heard to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5. The defendants jointly challenged the constitutional propriety under the Fourth Amendment standards of their detention and subsequent arrest by the sheriff's deputy who stopped the automobile driven by the defendant, Dick Weisse, in which the defendants, Sharyl Weisse and Deborah Lionberger, Page Supp. 3 were passengers, and made observations upon which the instant prosecution is based. At the conclusion of the hearing, and following the taking of evidence and argument, the trial court granted the suppression motion as to the defendant, Dick Weisse, and denied the motions as to the defendants, Sharyl Weisse and Deborah Lionberger, principally because they lacked standing to assert a similar constitutional basis for the motion. Thereafter, upon appropriate application by these appellants, this court stayed further proceedings in the lower court pending final determination of this appeal.

(1) The issue presented is the standing of a vehicle's passengers to seek suppression on Fourth Amendment grounds of police observations and other evidence obtained as the result of an unlawful seizure. More precisely, the question is: In light of the trial court's finding that the stopping of the vehicle driven by Dick Weisse "was not supported by probable cause," did the court erroneously deny the suppression motion of appellants Sharyl Ann Weisse and Deborah Lionberger because they "lacked standing to assert the violation of the driver's Fourth Amendment rights" under Rakas v. Illinois (1978) 439 U.S. 128 [58 L.Ed.2d 387, 99 S.Ct. 421]?