People v. Gerberding ( 2020 )

Filed 5/12/20
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE APPELLATE DIVISION OF THE SUPERIOR COURT
STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF FRESNO
THE PEOPLE, ) Sup. Ct. Appeal No. 2816
)
Plaintiff and ) Sup. Ct. Case No. M18931682
Respondent, )
) OPINION
v. )
)
)
BILLY RAY GERBERDING, )
)
Defendant and )
Appellant. )
)
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno
County, Gary R. Orozco, Judge. Reversed.1
Attorneys and Law Firms
Frederick Hurst, attorney for defendant/appellant Billy Ray
Gerberding.
Melani Jones, attorney for plaintiff/respondent Fresno County
District Attorney’s Office.
1 This opinion was originally issued by the court on May 12, 2020. It was
certified for publication on May 29, 2020, which is within the time that the
appellate division retained jurisdiction. This opinion has been certified for
publication in the Official Reports. It is being sent to the Fifth District
Court of Appeal to assist the Court of Appeal in deciding whether to order the
case transferred to the court on the court’s own motion under Rules 8-1000 –
8.1018.
Opinion
D. Tyler Tharpe, J.
I.
INTRODUCTION
A law enforcement officer’s mistake of law must be reasonable
when arresting someone. But, while “reasonable men make mistakes
of law, too,”2 the law must be “genuinely ambiguous” “requir[ing]
hard interpretive work,” thus posing “a really difficult or very
hard question of statutory interpretation.”3 We hold that when an
officer arrests someone under an unreasonable mistake of law, the
officer lacks probable cause and the arrest is unlawful. Thus,
when an officer is not lawfully performing his duties in arresting
someone, a person nonviolently resisting, obstructing, or delaying
that unlawful arrest cannot be convicted of violating Penal Code
section 148, subdivision (a)(1).4
Billy Ray Gerberding (appellant) appeals from a judgment of
conviction finding him guilty of violating section 148. Appellant
contends the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury
that excessive force is a valid defense to a charge of resisting
arrest. He also contends there was insufficient evidence to
support the jury’s verdict finding him guilty because he did not
willfully disobey the officer’s orders, the officer did not have
probable cause to arrest him, and the officer used excessive force
during the arrest. Because we reverse for insufficiency of the
2 Heien v. North Carolina (2014) 574 U.S. 54, 61 (Heien).
3 Id., at p. 70 [J. Kagan concurring].
4 Penal Code section 148, subdivision (a)(1), provides, in pertinent part:
“Every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any peace officer . .
. in the discharge of his or her office or employment . . . shall be punished .
. ..” Unless otherwise noted, all references to a section are to Penal Code
section 148, subdivision (a)(1).
-2-
evidence, we need not address the remainder of appellant’s
contentions.
II.
FACTS
Fresno Police Officer Omar Khan is a member of the Fresno
Police Department’s Homeless Task Force Unit. His duties include
enforcing provisions of the Fresno Municipal Code (FMC) and
providing security detail for City of Fresno sanitation crews
cleaning up homeless camp sites. Officer Kahn is familiar with
FMC section 13-109. The Fresno Police Department has interpreted
FMC section 13-109 to mean that if a person is obstructing 51% of
the sidewalk, then police will ask that person to move. However,
if there is room for people to pass, then police will not
intervene. Officer Khan’s understanding is that FMC section 13-
109 applies to sidewalks as well as streets, and that he had cited
other people for violating FMC section 13-109.
On October 25, 2018, Officer Kahn was on duty, in uniform,
and on patrol in a marked vehicle. He was dispatched to a
homeless camp at Peach and Olive Avenues due to complaints about a
homeless camp obstructing the sidewalk. On arrival, he observed
three male individuals gathered around a cart made of multiple
pallets and a tarp. The area has busy traffic, with an apartment
building and a store nearby. The officer noticed that the cart
was immobile on the sidewalk with one of its wheels broken off.
The cart was blocking the sidewalk, forcing anyone trying to use
the sidewalk to go into the street in order to get past the
obstruction. Since the street is busy in that area, the officer
believed it would create a danger to the public.
-3-
One of the men by the cart, later identified as appellant,
stated to Officer Khan that the cart was broken and could not be
moved. Officer Khan told appellant that the cart would have to be
moved. He also told appellant that some of the contents of the
cart could be stored for up to 90 days. Appellant stated that he
wanted the entire cart stored. The officer told appellant that he
could not store pets, food or soiled clothes. Appellant became
upset and agitated, claiming that he was being harassed. Officer
Kahn warned appellant that he could be arrested and go to jail if
he did not move the cart, and his property would be either stored
or destroyed. Officer Kahn told appellant at least four times to
remove his property from the cart. Appellant knew that the
officer had given him orders. Another Fresno Police Officer gave
appellant the same order to move his belongings from the blocked
sidewalk hours before Officer Kahn arrived on the scene. At every
turn, appellant refused to move the cart or remove any of its
contents.
When appellant told Officer Khan that he was not going to
remove any of his property and began to turn and walk away,
Officer Kahn told appellant that he was going to be placed under
arrest for obstruction of the sidewalk. As appellant was walking
away, Officer Kahn reached out for appellant, grabbing his left
wrist and telling him that he was under arrest. Appellant was
directed to place both of his hands behind his back. Appellant
became rigid and tense. Appellant was saying that he did not want
to go to jail and began pulling away from the officer. Appellant
began to turn toward Officer Khan’s right side, which is where he
wears his gun, which made the officer nervous. Officer Kahn
-4-
activated his body cam when he started struggling with appellant.
Officer Khan ordered appellant to comply, but appellant refused
and said “no.” He also resisted having his hands put behind his
back, which prevented the officer from putting handcuffs on.
As appellant was trying to twist away, the officer swept his
legs out from under him and they both went to the ground.
Appellant continued to try to get up and get away from the
officer. The officer was able to pin appellant and get handcuffs
on him at that point. Despite many commands from the officer,
appellant continued to be uncooperative. At some point during the
arrest, Officer Khan had to call in backup officers when he felt
that he was “in over his head” and losing control of the
situation. Appellant repeatedly cursed officer Khan during the
arrest.
During the altercation, appellant stated “let me go” and “let
me do what I have to do” and that he did not want to go to jail.
After Officer Khan swept appellant’s leg with his own left leg,
and straddled him, he did not put his knee on appellant’s neck.
The officer thought it was possible that appellant was armed, but
he found no weapons after searching appellant.
III.
DISCUSSION
Appellant argues Officer Khan was not lawfully performing his
duties because the officer lacked probable cause to arrest him for
violating FMC section 13-109. In his view, FMC section 13-109
only prohibits a person from sitting or standing in the street,
and there was no evidence appellant himself was blocking the
-5-
sidewalk. Respondent counters it is reasonable to infer that “a
person’s belongings are inclusive of their person.”
1. Standard of Review
A judgment of conviction will not be reversed on appeal
unless there is no substantial evidence supporting it. (People v.
Bard (1968) 70 Cal. 2d 3, 4-5.) The reviewing court must review
the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment below
to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence – that is,
evidence which is reasonable, credible and of solid value – such
that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal. 3d
557, 578.)
In reviewing the record, the court may neither reweigh the
evidence nor evaluate witness credibility. (People v. Ochoa
(1993) 6 Cal. 4th 1199, 1206.) Resolution of conflicts and
inconsistencies in the testimony is the exclusive province of the
trier of fact. Moreover, unless the testimony is physically
impossible or inherently improbable, testimony of a single witness
is sufficient to support a conviction. (People v. Young (2005) 34
Cal. 4th 1149, 1181.)
2. Analysis
A defendant may not be convicted of an offense against a
peace officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties,
unless the officer was acting lawfully. (In re Manuel G. (1997)
16 Cal. 4th 805, 815; People v. White (1980) 101 Cal. App. 3d 161,
166.) “An officer is under no duty to make an unlawful arrest.”
(People v. Curtis (1969) 70 Cal. 2d 347, 354, disapproved on other
grounds in People v. Gonzalez (1990) 51 Cal. 3d 1179, 1222.) An
-6-
officer who arrests a citizen but lacks probable cause to make the
arrest is not lawfully performing his duties. (Id. at p. 354.)
“The rule flows from the premise that because an officer has no
duty to take illegal action, he is not engaged in his ‘duties,’
for purposes of an offense defined in such terms, if his conduct
is unlawful.” (People v. Gonzalez, supra, 51 Cal.3d at p. 1217,
superseded on other grounds in Satele v. Superior Court (2019) 7
Cal. 5th 852.) Moreover, “it is no crime in this state to
nonviolently resist the unlawful action of police officers.” (In
re Michael V. (1974) 10 Cal. 3d 676, 681; see People v. White,
supra, 101 Cal.App.3d at pp. 164, 168 [any duty not to resist
arrest “does not apply to a single charge of resisting arrest”
under section 148]; People v. Moreno (1973) 32 Cal. App. Supp. 3d 1,
10 [same].)
Every arrest is unreasonable and violates the Fourth
Amendment, unless supported by probable cause. (Dunaway v. New
York (1979) 442 U.S. 200, 208.) Probable cause is “defined in
terms of facts and circumstances ‘sufficient to warrant a prudent
man in believing that the (suspect) had committed or was
committing an offense’” (Gerstein v. Pugh (1975) 420 U.S. 103,
111, internal citation omitted.) “If an officer has probable
cause to believe that an individual has committed even a very
minor criminal offense in his presence, he may, without violating
the Fourth Amendment, arrest the offender.” (Atwater v. City of
Lago Vista (2001) 532 U.S. 318, 354.)
FMC section 13-109 provides:
No person shall stand or sit upon any street so as in
any manner to hinder or obstruct the passage therein
of person passing along the same, or so as in any
-7-
manner to annoy or molest persons passing along the
same, or stand in or at the entrance of any church,
hall, theatre, or place of public assemblage so as in
any manner to obstruct such entrance. (Emphasis
added.)5
This is a case of first impression as to the interpretation
of FMC section 13-109 and whether, based upon that
interpretation, the arrest of appellant was lawful. In reviewing
the interpretation of a statute, a legal question, we apply a de
novo review standard. (People v. Gonzales (2018) 6 Cal. 5th 44,
49.) We are guided by the rules of statutory construction listed
in People v. Arias (2008) 45 Cal. 4th 169, 177, to wit:
(1) Courts look to the Legislature’s intent to
effectuate a statute’s purpose.
(2) Courts give the words of a statute their usual and
ordinary meaning.
(3) A statute’s plain meaning controls the court’s
interpretation unless the statutory words are
ambiguous.
(4) If the words of a statute do not themselves
indicate legislative intent, courts may resolve
ambiguities by examining the context and adopting a
construction that harmonizes the statute internally
and with related statutes.
(5) A literal construction does not prevail if it is
contrary to the apparent legislative intent.
(6) If a statute is amenable to two alternative
interpretations, courts will follow the one that leads
to the more reasonable result.
(7) Courts may consider legislative history, statutory
purpose, and public policy to construe an ambiguous
statute.
(8) If a statute defining a crime or punishment is
susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, courts
5 A violation of FMC section 13-109 may be charged as a misdemeanor offense.
(FMC § 1-304, subd. (b).) In fact, appellant was separately charged by the
Fresno City Attorney with a misdemeanor violation of FMC section 13-109, in
Fresno County Superior Court case number M18929127. That case trailed this
matter and was ultimately dismissed at appellant’s sentencing hearing.
-8-
will ordinarily adopt the interpretation more
favorable to the defendant.
Applying those rules of statutory construction, it is
abundantly clear that FMC section 13-109 would not support an
arrest of appellant in this case. The statute unambiguously
deals with persons standing or sitting on a street, which
includes a sidewalk. There was no evidence presented that
appellant (his person) was standing or sitting on the sidewalk in
such a way as to obstruct the passage of anyone passing along it.
Instead, it was appellant’s cart filled with his personal
possessions that was blocking the sidewalk. The plain language of
FMC section 13-109 only prohibits blocking a street with one’s
body, not one’s property. Thus, Officer Kahn was mistaken when he
concluded that appellant was violating FMC section 13-109.
The focus of our inquiry turns to whether Officer Kahn’s
mistake of law was objectively reasonable under the facts of the
case to support the probable cause to arrest appellant. (Heien,
supra.) In Heien, the United States Supreme Court considered an
officer’s reasonable but erroneous interpretation of a motor
vehicle statute. In that case, a North Carolina Sheriff’s Deputy
observed a vehicle traveling along the highway with a
malfunctioning brake light. Believing the faulty brake light to
be a violation of the state’s motor vehicle code, the officer
executed a traffic stop. During the stop, the officer located
controlled substances in a duffel bag. (Heien, supra, 574 U.S. at
pp. 57-58.)
Heien sought to suppress the evidence uncovered during the
search, contending that the stop had violated his rights under the
-9-
Fourth Amendment. The trial court denied the suppression motion,
but the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the
initial stop was invalid because driving with only one working
brake light was not actually a violation of North Carolina law.
The State appealed, and the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed,
holding that the officer's interpretation of the motor vehicle code
— even if incorrect — was not unreasonable and thus not a violation
of the Fourth Amendment. (Heien, supra, 574 U.S. at pp. 58-60.)
The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. The
court’s majority opinion noted that “the ultimate touchstone of the
Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness.’” (Heien, supra, 574 U.S. at
p. 60, internal citation omitted.) After explaining that “[t]o be
reasonable is not to be perfect,” and that the Fourth Amendment
allows for reasonable mistakes of fact, the Chief Justice went on
to explain that the Fourth Amendment reasonableness inquiry applies
to mistakes of law just as it applies to mistakes of fact:
[R]easonable men make mistakes of law, too, and such
mistakes are no less compatible with the concept of
reasonable suspicion [than mistakes of fact]. Reasonable
suspicion arises from the combination of an officer's
understanding of the facts and his understanding of the
relevant law. The officer may be reasonably mistaken on
either ground. Whether the facts turn out to be not what
was thought, or the law turns out to be not what was
thought, the result is the same: The facts are outside the
scope of the law. There is no reason, under the text of
the Fourth Amendment or our precedents, why this same
result should be acceptable when reached by way of a
reasonable mistake of fact, but not when reached by way of
a similarly reasonable mistake of law. (Id. at p. 62)
In so holding, the majority added, this “inquiry is not as
forgiving as the one employed in the distinct context of deciding
whether an officer is entitled to qualified immunity for a
constitutional or statutory violation.” (Heien, supra, 574 U.S.
-10-
at p. 67.) Based on the language of the North Carolina statute,
the Court concluded that the officer's error of law was
objectively reasonable and thus provided the officer with
reasonable suspicion to justify the traffic stop. (Id. at p. 68.)
Justice Kagan, joined by Justice Ginsburg, wrote a concurrence
that contained several important points, giving context to the
majority’s observation that the “inquiry is not as forgiving[.]”
Critical to her concurrence was her belief that erroneous
interpretations of the law will be reasonable only when the law at
issue is “‘so doubtful in construction’ that a reasonable judge
could agree with the officer's view.” (Heien, supra, 574 U.S. at
p. 70, internal citation omitted.) Thus, “[i]f the statute is
genuinely ambiguous, such that overturning the officer's judgment
requires hard interpretive work, then the officer has made a
reasonable mistake. But if not, not.” (Ibid.) Such cases must
necessarily involve a “really difficult” or “very hard question of
statutory interpretation” and will thus be “exceedingly rare.”
(Ibid.)
Justice Kagan’s concurring observation of an objectively
reasonable mistake of law is instructive in deciding the issue in
this case. A number of state and federal courts have adopted or
acknowledged this view. (See Jones v. Commonwealth (Va. 2019) 836
S.E.2d 710, 713 (citing Justice Kagan’s concurrence for
proposition that the statute must be “genuinely ambiguous” and
require “hard interpretative work” to find a reasonable mistake of
law); Harris v. State (Ga. 2019) 810 S.E.2d 660, 663 (same); State
v. Stoll (Ariz. 2016) 370 P.3d 1130, 1134 (same); United States v.
Stanbridge (7th Cir. 2016) 813 F.3d 1032, 1037 (same); State v.
-11-
Eldridge (N.C. 2016) 790 S.E.2d 740, 743-744 (same); People v.
Gaytan (Ill. 2015) 32 N.E.3d 641, 652 (same); State v. Hurley (Vt.
2015) 117 A.3d 433, 441 (noting Justice Kagan’s view that “the bar
is high in cases in which a stop is predicated on a mistake of
law”); State v. Houghton (Wis. 2015) 868 N.W.2d 143, 158-160
(noting Justice Kagan’s view that objectively reasonable mistakes
of law will be “exceedingly rare”).)
Here, while there is no published case law addressing or
interpreting FMC section 13-109, its language is straightforward.
It requires no “hard interpretative work,” nor is it “genuinely
ambiguous.” Instead, the code says what it means – that a person
shall not sit or stand upon the street so as to block passage.
Simply put, where the statute is not ambiguous, “``Heien does not
support the proposition that a police officer acts in an
objectively reasonable manner by misinterpreting an unambiguous
statute.” (United States v. Stanbridge, supra, 813 F.3d at p.
1037.) It was unreasonable for Officer Khan to suspect
appellant’s conduct was illegal under FMC section 13-109. Thus,
appellant’s arrest for violating that provision of the Fresno
Municipal Code lacked probable cause. Likewise, appellant’s
failure to heed the officer’s commands cannot support a violation
of section 148 for delaying or obstructing the officer in his
duty, because the officer was acting unlawfully.
We emphasize the prosecution’s choice to proceed solely on a
theory of violating FMC section 13-109, constrains our review
under the sufficiency-of-the-evidence test.6 On request of the
6 The concept that probable cause for an arrest exists so long as the evidence
may arguably give rise to probable cause to arrest on any criminal statute (see
Davenpeck v. Alford (2004) 543 U.S. 146, 153), is contrary to the sufficiency-
-12-
parties, the trial court took judicial notice of FMC section 13-
109. There was no other evidence elicited in the trial record to
support Officer Khan’s arrest of appellant. The prosecutor
argued to the jury that the officer saw a “clear” violation of
FMC section 13-109, while appellant countered he was unlawfully
arrested because he did not violate FMC section 13-109. Under
the narrow circumstances of this case, we find that it was not
objectively reasonable for Officer Kahn to read FMC section 13-
109 expansively, giving rise to probable cause to arrest
appellant for a violation of it. (See Atwater v. Lago Vista,
supra, 532 U.S. at p. 354; People v. McKay (2002) 27 Cal. 4th 601
607; People v. Gomez (2004) 117 Cal. App. 4th 531, 538-539.)
IV
DISPOSITION
The judgment is reversed.
Dated this _____ day of May, 2020.
________________________________
Hon. D. Tyler Tharpe
Judge of the Appellate Division of
the Fresno County Superior Court
WE CONCUR,
__________________________________
Hon. F. Brian Alvarez
Acting Presiding Judge of the
Appellate Division of the Fresno
County Superior Court
of-the-evidence test applicable in this case, where we review “record evidence”
put before the jury. (Jackson v. Virginia (1979) 443 U.S. 301, 318; see People
v. Johnson, supra, 26 Cal.3d at p. 562 [we review “the whole record” in the
light most favorable to the judgment].)
-13-
___________________________________
Hon. Kristi Culver Kapetan
Judge of the Appellate Division of
the Fresno County Superior Court
-14-