De Conti v. Superior Court

On these mandate proceedings petitioners De Conti

and Parlante seek to set aside an order denying a Penal Code section 1538.5 motion to suppress certain evidence. The issue is whether substantial evidence supported the superior court’s conclusion that a police officer reasonably and in good faith believed a landlord’s agent had authority to consent to his entry into a rented garage.

Following the substantial evidence rule we set forth the evidence with reasonable inferences derivable therefrom, as it reasonably tends to support the superior court’s decision. (See People v. Stout, 66 Cal.2d 184, 192 [ 57 Cal.Rptr. 152 , 424 P.2d 704 ]; Bergeron v. Superior Court, 2 Cal.App. 3d 433, 436 [ 82 Cal.Rptr. 711 ].)

One Jim Guthrie was the tenant on a month-to-month basis of a residence with a detached garage. He had been given permission to have “one couple living there” but instead other occupants, the petitioners, were brought in. Guthrie himself was in the habit of leaving for several weeks at a time. The rent being delinquent, the landlord’s agent decided to go “down there to ask them to move.” Apparently expecting trouble, before doing so she called the sheriff’s office.…