The People v. Escarsega CA3

BACKGROUND

1 After the partial denial of his Pitchess motion and the denial of his motion to suppress made pursuant to Penal Code2 section 1538.5, defendant pled guilty to 1 possession for sale of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11378) and child endangerment (§ 273a, subd. (a)) and admitted a prior strike conviction and that he had served a prior prison term (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 667.5, subd. (b), 1170.12). The trial court sentenced defendant to the stipulated term of 10 years, four months in prison. Defendant appealed his conviction to this court in case No. C064565, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress and the partial denial of his Pitchess motion as to one peace officer and asking us to review the records of another. Defendant‟s Pitchess motion had sought to discover the personnel records of Officers Huff and McCutcheon, the officers involved in the challenged search. The trial court summarily denied the motion as to Huff, finding the threshold for an in camera review of the records had not been met. The trial court conducted an in camera review of McCutcheon‟s file and ordered two of three…