30.06.2014 Views

SAN DIEGO DISTRICT ATTORNEY The Fourth Amendment and ...

SAN DIEGO DISTRICT ATTORNEY The Fourth Amendment and ...

SAN DIEGO DISTRICT ATTORNEY The Fourth Amendment and ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

(Alex<strong>and</strong>er v. City <strong>and</strong> County of San Francisco (1994) 29 F.3 rd<br />

1355.)<br />

Posing as a potential buyer of a residence, thus gaining entry for<br />

the purpose of making observations of illegal activity, is an illegal<br />

ruse. (People v. De Caro (1981) 123 Cal.App.3 rd 454.)<br />

But see People v. Lucatero (2008) 166 Cal.App.4 th 1110,<br />

below.<br />

A real estate agent who, upon showing a house to potential buyers,<br />

observed an abnormal amount of electronic equipment <strong>and</strong><br />

suspected that the items were stolen. She called police who made<br />

a warrantless entry with the agent <strong>and</strong>, after an extensive search,<br />

seized stolen property. Although criticizing De Caro to some<br />

extent, the Court still held the warrantless entry to be illegal. <strong>The</strong><br />

Court held that the agent, while authorized to show prospective<br />

buyers the house, was not authorized to allow the police in for the<br />

purpose of conducting a criminal investigation. <strong>The</strong> authority of a<br />

real estate agent, “is limited, as is all consensual authority, by the<br />

terms of the consent <strong>and</strong> the purpose for which it was given.<br />

[Citations] A real estate agent is authorized to consent to the entry<br />

of persons the agent believes in good faith to be potential<br />

purchasers of the property.” (People v. Jaquez (1985) 163<br />

Cal.App.3 rd 918)<br />

Held to be Legal:<br />

Merely knocking on the defendant’s door <strong>and</strong> then stepping to the<br />

side for purposes of insuring the safety of the officers (a common<br />

police practice) is not an illegal ruse merely because the defendant<br />

(who was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time)<br />

came out about 20 feet looking for the source of the knocking <strong>and</strong><br />

got himself arrested. (People v. Colt (2004) 118, Cal.App.4 th<br />

1404; United States v. Crapser (9 th Cir. 2007) 472 F.3 rd 1141,<br />

1145-1147.)<br />

When police officers who knock at the door are invited in by the<br />

occupants who did not know it was the police at the door when<br />

they made the invitation, there is no subterfuge requiring the<br />

suppression of any observations made by the officers as they enter.<br />

(Mann v. Superior Court (1970) 3 Cal.3 rd 1.)<br />

© 2012 Robert C. Phillips. All rights reserved<br />

Making an anonymous phone call to the occupant of a residence,<br />

warning him that “the police are coming; get rid of the stuff,”<br />

causing defendant to leave the house with his contrab<strong>and</strong> in h<strong>and</strong>,<br />

560

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!