People v. Flores CA2/2

Filed 5/19/16 P. v. Flores CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

THE PEOPLE, B263745

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. GA095145) v.

DAVID JAIME FLORES,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Jon R. Takasugi, Judge. Affirmed.

Janet J. Gray, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Shawn McGahey Webb, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Gary A. Lieberman, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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David Jaime Flores (defendant) appeals his conviction for drug offenses on the ground that the trial court wrongly denied his motion to suppress the search of his car in which the drugs were found. We conclude there was no error, and affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND I. Facts Around 9 p.m. on the evening of April 18, 2014, defendant was driving his truck in the City of Monrovia. Two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies pulled up behind his truck in a patrol car. A computer search revealed that the truck’s vehicle registration had expired. One of the deputies saw that the truck had darkly tinted windows. As they continued to follow the truck, defendant did not use his turn signal when making a right turn after stopping at a stop sign. The deputies initiated a traffic stop. One of the deputies, Deputy Adrian Ruiz (Deputy Ruiz) approached defendant’s truck from the passenger side. As he did, he saw a sticker affixed to the truck’s rear window indicating an extension of the vehicle’s registration. As he approached the passenger compartment, he confirmed that the windows had dark tinting, although he could not determine whether the tinting had been factory-installed in the car or applied “after market.” Deputy Ruiz used his flashlight to look into the passenger compartment. When he did, he saw an open can of alcohol as well as several little baggies in the visor behind the rear view mirror console. In his training and experience, Deputy Ruiz believed the baggies were “indicative” of narcotics trafficking. Defendant was the only person in the truck. The deputies detained defendant in the back of the patrol car; around the same time, they ran his name through their patrol car computer and learned that he was then on probation for a drug-related crime. The computer did not indicate whether he was subject to search by law enforcement as a condition of his probation. Within minutes of detaining him, Deputy Ruiz searched the truck. He found a digital scale behind the rearview mirror console along with the baggies as well as 10 plastic baggies containing methamphetamine and one big bag of methamphetamine beneath the center of the truck’s front bench seat. Defendant had $529 in cash on his