Hunter

A jury convicted John Kevin Hunter of residential burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460), vehicle theft (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)), and receiving and concealing a stolen vehicle (Pen. Code, § 496d). Hunter admitted prior convictions and was sentenced to two concurrent indeterminate prison terms of 25 years to life, with a consecutive five-year determinate term for a serious prior felony enhancement (Pen. Code, §§ 667, subd. (a), 668, 1192.7, subd. (c)).

Hunter argues that the trial court erred in denying a motion to suppress evidence seized in a warrantless search of his storage unit while he was incarcerated for parole violations, but before his parole was formally revoked. Hunter also argues that inculpatory statements he made to a police detective after learning that items had been seized from the storage unit should have been suppressed as the product of the warrantless search. As we will explain, we conclude that the warrantless search of the storage unit was permissible under the Fourth Amendment as a parole search because Hunter’s parole had not been formally revoked at the time the search occurred. Accordingly we reject Hunter’s arguments and affirm the…