Weaver

Ameer Rashid Weaver appeals from a judgment entered after he pleaded guilty to second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187) and admitted a firearm use enhancement (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). He claims the judgment must be reversed because (1) section 1538.5, subdivision (j), under which the prosecutor was granted a de novo hearing on a previously successful suppression motion, is unconstitutional; and (2) the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. We reject both arguments and will affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant admitted murdering Maurice Campbell. His codefendants, Lavonce George Yeargin and David Jonathan Hamm, pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

The murder arose from a dispute over a drug debt. The victim, Campbell, his girlfriend, Bennie Alexander, and a third person, George Hill, lived together in an apartment in San Pablo. On June 13, 1994, Hamm and another man went to the apartment to encourage Hill to pay his drug debt. After they left, Hill noticed his apartment key was missing.

Later that evening, Campbell and Alexander were in the apartment when they heard a key in the front door. The door swung open, and Alexander saw Hamm…