People v. Hefner CA5

Filed 5/31/16 P. v. Hefner CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, F070085 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. SF017278A) v.

JERRY LANE HEFNER, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT* APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Kern County. Colette M. Humphrey, Judge. Clayton D. Campbell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Catherine Chatman and Raymond L. Brosterhous II, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo-

* Before Kane, Acting P.J., Detjen, J. and Peña, J.

Appellant Jerry Lane Hefner appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during the search of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. Appellant claims the trial court wrongly found probable cause existed for the search based on the testimony of Kern County Sheriff’s Deputies Daniel Juarez and Raymond Seibert. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. FACTUAL1 AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On June 23, 2013, Deputies Juarez and Seibert were in a marked patrol vehicle on Highway 99, traveling at a set speed of 70 miles per hour, when they were passed by a silver Honda Civic traveling at between 85 and 90 miles per hour and swerving between two lanes. The deputies stopped the Civic, and Deputy Seibert began to approach the vehicle on the passenger side. As Deputy Seibert approached, he heard the driver yelling for him to show his photo identification. Deputy Seibert took a position slightly behind the dividing bar between the front and rear of the vehicle, on the passenger’s side. This technique, called “pieing out,” allows the deputy to see more of the inside of the vehicle while allowing the occupants to see less of the deputy. From this position, and using his flashlight, Deputy Seibert looked into the vehicle through the open passenger-side window. Deputy Seibert noticed an opening above the gear box, in the center console of the vehicle where the radio and air conditioner controls would normally be located. Within that compartment he saw the “butt of a revolver sticking out.” Deputy Seibert informed his partner there was a gun in the vehicle and pulled out his weapon. Both occupants of the vehicle, including appellant, who was sitting in the passenger seat, were ordered out of the vehicle. The vehicle was searched and a gun was located in the space above the gear box. Two other handguns were also found in the