Head

Kelli Jeanette Head appeals after pleading guilty to felony and misdemeanor possession of a narcotic (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subds. (a) and (b)). Granted probation with imposition of sentence suspended, she challenges denials of her motions to suppress evidence seized under warrant on grounds that a delay in filing a return to the warrant violated her Fourth Amendment rights. We uphold the denials and judgment.

This case involves a warrant concededly valid in its issuance and execution. The issue is whether police negligence in not filing the return timely compelled suppression of the evidence seized. The officers who executed the warrant obtained probable cause through the arrest of a woman, Beatrice Robinson, who related that narcotics were being sold at the residence. Robinson's information was conveyed through a police report in support of the warrant's issuance, but she could not be located to testify at the preliminary hearing. When a defense investigator tried to contact her in late July of 1993, over a year after the search, the investigator learned that Robinson had moved earlier that month without leaving a forwarding address.

Head sought…