People v. Smith CA2/2

Filed 12/27/23 P. v. Smith CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B327495

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA083136) v.

TYREE TAMARIE SMITH,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Emily J. Cole, Judge. Affirmed. Richard L. Fitzer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Idan Ivri and Nikhil Cooper, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. __________________________________________

After sheriff’s deputies stopped appellant Tyree Tamarie Smith for traffic offenses, a deputy saw the handle of a firearm protruding from under the front passenger seat. Smith was arrested. He moved to suppress evidence, arguing that the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights. (Pen. Code, § 1538.5.)1 We conclude that there was probable cause to search. A deputy first saw a grocery bag of marijuana on the back seat, then a firearm on the floorboard. These “plain view” sightings furnished probable cause to believe the car contained evidence of a crime, justifying a complete search of every compartment. We affirm the order denying Smith’s motion to suppress evidence. FACTS Around midnight on April 26, 2022, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Joshua Friedman was on patrol with a partner in Palmdale when he saw a car traveling with very dark tinted windows and no front license plate, two Vehicle Code violations. The driver turned without signaling, another offense. Friedman pulled the car over and ordered that the windows be lowered because the tint prevented the deputies from seeing inside. He smelled a strong odor of burned marijuana from 15 to 20 feet away and saw a large marijuana-filled grocery bag on the back seat, marijuana in multiple sandwich bags, and unused sandwich bags. On the driver’s side floor was a glass jar with marijuana. In body camera footage, Friedman’s partner asks, “How much marijuana do you have in the car? It reeks.” Friedman asked Smith, the driver, for identification. Saying he was nervous, Smith produced an EBT card. Friedman