Hobbs

Following her plea of no contest, defendant was convicted of having under her control, and knowingly renting, leasing, or making available, a room or space for the purpose of manufacturing or storing, for sale or distribution, a controlled substance (methamphetamine). (Health & Saf. Code, § 11366.5, subd. (a).) The evidence against her was seized pursuant to a search warrant for stolen property that was based on information furnished by a confidential informant regarding several persons suspected of receiving stolen property.

In connection with the finding of probable cause to support the issuance of the warrant, the magistrate, at the time the search warrant application was presented to him, personally examined the informant to establish that person’s reliability. A tape recording of that proceeding, and a transcription of *955 it, as well as a separate confidential attachment to the search warrant application identified as “Exhibit C,” were thereafter placed under seal in order to avoid disclosing the identity of the informant.

The trial court thereafter conducted a hearing, a portion of which was held in camera, on defendant’s related motions to disclose the sealed…

I dissent.

A search warrant containing no information other than the address of a home to be searched. Not a word as to what the government seeks to discover and seize.

*978 A government informer, his—or, indeed, her—identity kept secret from the suspect, the suspect’s counsel, and the public.

Both the suspect and counsel barred from a closed proceeding before a magistrate. No record of the proceeding given to the suspect or counsel.

Based entirely on the foregoing, a court order approving an unrestricted search of the suspect’s home.

Did this scenario occur in a communist dictatorship? Under a military junta? Or perhaps in a Kafka novel? No, this is grim reality in California in the final decade of the 20th century.

In this conflict between the right of privacy in a person’s home guaranteed by the Constitution of California and the United States Constitution on the one hand, and on the other the desire of law enforcement personnel to protect an informer’s identity and to prevent cross-examination and impeachment, the majority of this court opt for the latter at the expense of the former. I would respect the constitutional guaranties: I would affirm the judgment of the Court…

Following her plea of no contest, defendant was convicted of having under her control, and knowingly renting, leasing, or making available, a room or space for the purpose of manufacturing or storing, for sale or distribution, a controlled substance (methamphetamine). (Health & Saf. Code, § 11366.5, subd. (a).) The evidence against her was seized pursuant to a search warrant for stolen property that was based on information furnished by a confidential informant regarding several persons suspected of receiving stolen property.

In connection with the finding of probable cause to support the issuance of the warrant, the magistrate, at the time the search warrant application was presented to him, personally examined the informant to establish that person's reliability. A tape recording of that proceeding, and a transcription of it, as well as a separate confidential attachment to the search warrant application identified as "Exhibit C," were thereafter placed under seal in order to avoid disclosing the identity of the informant.

The trial court thereafter conducted a hearing, a portion of which was held in camera, on defendant's related motions to disclose the…