Lovejoy

The People have appealed from a superior court order setting aside an information based upon a motion made pursuant to Penal Code section 995.

The order was grounded on the testimony taken at the preliminary examination. Following the earlier hearing, the magistrate, a municipal court judge, had found reasonable and probable cause to believe that each of the defendants, Dallas Arnold Lovejoy, Dennis Ray Venegas, Jimmy Lloyd Brummell, and Richard Chester Allen, were guilty of the offense of possessing marijuana, in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11530.

In the superior court proceedings the court concluded, contrary to the previous finding of the magistrate, that the only evidence against the defendants resulted from a police invasion of their Fourth Amendment rights.

It is fundamental that on a dismissal motion under section 995 the superior court may not reweigh evidence, or draw inferences contrary to those reasonably drawn by the magistrate. (People v. Massengale, 261 Cal.App.2d 758, 763 [ 68 Cal.Rptr. 415 ].) This rule applies with equal effect where an issue resolved by the magistrate is a claimed Fourth Amendment violation. (Badillo v. Superior Court,…