People v. Archuleta

Opinion

COMPTON, J. Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction for violating section 11350 of the Health and Safety Code (possession of a controlled substance-LSD). Defendant pleaded nolo contendere after the superior court had denied his motion, made pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, to suppress the use as evidence of the contraband found in his possession.

The hearing under section 1538.5 of the Penal Code was conducted on the basis of a stipulated set of facts. Those facts were as follows:

On September 11, 1974, at about 2:20 a.m., a police officer stopped defendant who was driving his vehicle in an erratic manner. There were [558]two male occupants in the vehicle with defendant. The officer, after determining that the defendant was not under the influence of alcohol, ran a warrant check over the police radio. The officer received back information of the existence of two outstanding traffic warrants for the defendant’s arrest. The aggregate bail on the two warrants was $307. The officer advised defendant of the amount of the bail, placed him under arrest and transported him to the police station for the purpose of posting bail. At the station defendant was asked if he had the money to post the bail, and he replied that he did not. The officer then began the booking process, during the course of which he searched the defendant. It was this search that produced the evidence which formed the basis of the charge against defendant. During the booking search it was also discovered that the defendant had between $200 and $220 in his possession.

The law in California governing the authority of a police officer to search an arrestee has developed a special set of standards which apply to the search of persons arrested for violation of the traffic laws. The starting point of our; analysis is that generally speaking a person arrested for a traffic offense may not be subjected to a search of his person or his vehicle. (People v. Superior Court (Kiefer) 3 Cal.3d 807 [91 Cal.Rptr. 729, 478 P.2d 449, 45 A.L.R.3d 559]; People v. Superior Court (Simon) 7 Cal.3d 186 [101 Cal.Rptr. 837, 496 P.2d 1205].) Of course, Kiefer and Simon both dealt with searches in the field of persons arrested, without a warrant, for traffic violations. It was pointed out in Simon that the statutory scheme for the processing of traffic offenders envisions that most traffic violators will be released upon their written promise to appear and will not be physically arrested. Under certain circumstances an officer is authorized to make a physical arrest of a traffic offender for the purpose of transporting him before a magistrate. In that situation the law still envisions that the defendant is to be taken before a magistrate for the purpose of making bail without being subjected to a full blown arrest, booking and jailing.