People v. Johnson

Charged by information with unlawfully possessing cocaine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a)) and a syringe (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4149) and with resisting arrest (Pen. Code, § 148), defendant C. Autrey Johnson pled not guilty and moved in superior court to suppress evidence (id., § 1538.5). When the court denied the motion, he entered a negotiated plea of guilty to cocaine possession and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. He appeals, challenging the suppression ruling. We affirm.

Background

Defendant first sought suppression at the preliminary hearing in municipal court, and the motion was denied. It was then renewed in superior court and denied there as well, based solely on the preliminary hearing transcript, with no new evidence presented. In these circumstances, the superior court judge did not hear the matter de novo. He had to accept the municipal court judge’s express and implied factual findings to the extent supported by substantial evidence and then independently apply the appropriate legal/constitutional standards to that state of the facts. Our review standard on appeal is the same. We defer to all supported municipal court findings, draw all…