Benavidez

On September 1, 1977, a narcotics undercover agent, appearing before the Alameda County Grand Jury, testified that he had purchased heroin from respondent at her Hayward residence on two occasions in June. An indictment was issued on that same day; so was a bench warrant for respondent’s arrest.

On September 8 a member of the sheriff’s department went to respondent’s Hayward residence for the purpose of serving the warrant and was told that she no longer lived there. The warrant was returned to the sheriff’s department and put into the police information computer systems including the Police Information Network. A computer check reported respondent’s last known address as 6809 Brentcourt in Oakland. This information was relayed to the Oakland Police Department which attempted to serve the warrant but discovered that there was no such Oakland street. Officer Kelsey, the Oakland policeman attempting to serve the warrant, checked for streets with a name similar to Brentcourt and went to 6809 Brentford where the person to whom he spoke had never heard of respondent. The card and warrant were returned, once again, to the sheriff’s department with a notification that the…