People v. Tahtinen , 50 Cal. 2d 127 ( 1958 )

CARTER, J., Dissenting.

I do not agree with the holding of the majority that the arresting officers had reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of a crime and that the search of his automobile was legal, and therefore the heroin found therein was admissible in evidence against him.

In the first place the officers had no reason to be more than merely suspicious that Hernandes was selling drugs, near whose home defendant had parked his car. The officers had arrested three persons on separate occasions who had told them they had obtained the drugs from Hernandes at his home. It does not appear what they were arrested for or that they had possession of or dealt in narcotics.

Secondly, the officers had no reason whatsoever to believe that defendant was committing a crime. They knew nothing of him until they drove by Hernandes’ house and saw defendant in a parked car across the street. That certainly gave them no grounds to believe he was committing a crime even if we assume Hernandes was selling narcotics. Next, defendant got out of his ear and went into the alley near Hernandes’ home. Such conduct gives rise to no grounds for belief of the commission of a crime. There are many reasons why he may have gone into the alley wholly inconsistent with the theory that he had launched on a course of criminal conduct. Later, when defendant drove away in his car for a time and stopped his car, and reached toward the ground, the officers had no reason to believe he was picking up narcotics. There are likewise many reasonable causes for stopping having no connection with criminality. To say that it appeared that defendant had first gone to Hernandes ’ house and- made arrangements to buy some narcotics and later picked them up is pure speculation. If he were going to get narcotics he would have gotten them when he went down the alley, since he apparently was unaware of any police surveillance. The assumptions that must be made are too many and too great. It must be assumed that he went to Hernandes’ house merely because he was near there; that Hernandes was selling narcotics; and that he picked up narcotics from the base of the tree although it was not known whether he picked up anything. The majority opinion states he was acting in a furtive manner but there is nothing to show that he was acting furtively or skulking. There is no more here than there was in People v. Martin, 46 Cal.2d 106 [293 P.2d 52], where two men were searched merely because they were in a car parked in lovers’ lane. I refer to my discussion there (46 Cal.2d 108) as being clearly applicable to the case at bar.

Because the evidence against defendant was obtained as the result of an illegal search, I would reverse the judgment.