Barajas v. Appellate Division of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County
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In a published opinion reversing the trial court's order granting petitioner's motion to dismiss and overruling People v. Ward (1986) 188 Cal.App.3d Supp. 11, the Superior Court Appellate Division held that suppression of illegally obtained evidence cannot be litigated on a motion to dismiss under Penal Code section 991. Petitioner argued that the Fourth Amendment demands a mechanical application of the exclusionary rule at a probable cause hearing under section 991 in the event the magistrate determines evidence was obtained via an unlawful detention.
The Court of Appeal held that this argument conflates several unrelated principles, and in doing so blurs the lines between various objectives trial courts must discharge as well as the procedures trial courts are required to use to achieve those objectives. The court explained that a Fourth Amendment violation may lead to an exclusionary rule analysis, but there is no guarantee evidence will be excluded. Accordingly, the court agreed with the Appellate Division that suppression of illegally obtained evidence cannot be litigated on a motion to dismiss under section 991 and denied the writ petition.
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