Tockgo

Challenging the sufficiency of a warrant for the seizure of stolen property, defendant appeals from an order denying his motion to suppress (Pen. Code, § 1538.5, subds. (a) and (j)). We transferred the appeal under rule 62(a), California Rules of Court. At issue is the sufficiency of the description of the property to be seized. We find the search warrant on its face fails to “particularly describe” the property to be seized. We further find this failure is neither excused nor cured by the several theories advanced by the prosecution.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

The search warrant in question was issued upon the affidavit of Los Angeles City Police Officer Frank Barkowski, which recited the following facts. On January 26, 1982, two other Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers arrested one Ramirez, and another individual, who were attempting to burglarize a tractor-trailer of Certified Grocers (Certified), a wholesaler. Officer Barkowski interrogated Ramirez, who admitted that since December of 1981, he had been engaged with a former Certified employee in burglarizing Certified’s trailers of cigarettes and candy and selling hundreds of cases of the stolen…