Lozoya

—Petitioner Octavio Lozoya (Lozoya) seeks a writ of prohibition to restrain any further proceedings against him on a criminal information charging him with murder on the grounds he was committed by the magistrate without probable cause.

Because the magistrate’s finding of attenuation is not supported by the record, the petition is granted.

Factual and Procedural Background

On the evening of January 11, 1986, Michael Mosby (Mosby) was stabbed near the comer of 131 st Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles County, and died shortly thereafter.

On the morning of February 6, 1986, Lozoya was being interviewed at the police operations crash bureau at Avalon and 118th Street as a victim in an unrelated matter. At around 10 or 10:30 a.m., Lozoya was approached there by Detective Pietrantoni (Pietrantoni), who asked Lozoya if he were willing to discuss the murder of a Black man at 131st and Vermont. Lozoya agreed.

The detective’s interest in Lozoya arose from the fact that Mosby had perpetrated a residential robbery on December 15, 1985, at the Mendez home. One of the victims, Sophia Mendez, was Lozoya’s girlfriend. During an investigative interview of the robbery at the…