Campa

Defendant Jeffrey Michael Campa was arrested in his home pursuant to warrant on charges of murder and attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§187 and 664/187) 1 and taken to a police station where, after extensive interrogation, he made a statement admitting complicity in the *876 crime. In a pretrial proceeding pursuant to section 1538.5, 2 the trial court ordered his statement suppressed on the grounds that the arrest was illegal because the affidavit in support of the warrant failed to establish probable cause. The trial court also ruled that the statement should in any event be suppressed at trial because the interrogation was conducted in violation of defendant’s rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [ 16 L.Ed.2d 694 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 10 A.L.R.3d 974 ], When the People conceded that they had no other evidence to sustain a conviction, the trial court dismissed the charges on its own motion (§ 1385), and the People have appealed.

Since the alleged crime occurred prior to the adoption of Proposition 8 (initiative measure, June 1982 Primary Election), we have no occasion to consider the impact of that measure upon otherwise applicable principles of California…

I dissent with reluctance, since I realize fully that in the long run it will make little difference whether this prosecution aborts because of a defective arrest warrant or the painfully obvious Miranda-Honeycutt violation disclosed by the record.

In brief, I believe that the court’s opinion draws too heavily on the law relating to declarations against interest as an exception to the hearsay rule, while giving insufficient weight to the facts of this particular case and the very limited purpose for which Martinez’ identification of Campa was used. People v. Leach (1975) 15 Cal.3d 419, 439 [ 124 Cal.Rptr. 752 , 541 P.2d 296 ] condemned the use of nondisserving portions of declarations against interest at trial, on the issue of guilt. Here we are concerned with probable cause justifying an arrest and our only point of contact with the exception to the hearsay rule is the commonsense notion that when people make statements which are clearly against their interest, the chance that they are telling the truth is comparatively good.

What the majority ignores when talking in the abstract about declarants in police custody who seek to exculpate themselves by implicating others, is that…

Defendant Jeffrey Michael Campa was arrested in his home pursuant to warrant on charges of murder and attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187 and 664/187) [1] and taken to a police station where, after extensive interrogation, he made a statement admitting complicity in the crime. In a pretrial proceeding pursuant to section 1538.5, [2] the trial court ordered his statement suppressed on the grounds that the arrest was illegal because the affidavit in support of the warrant failed to establish probable cause. The trial court also ruled that the statement should in any event be suppressed at trial because the interrogation was conducted in violation of defendant's rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [ 16 L.Ed.2d 694 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 10 A.L.R.3d 974 ]. When the People conceded that they had no other evidence to sustain a conviction, the trial court dismissed the charges on its own motion (§ 1385), and the People have appealed.

Since the alleged crime occurred prior to the adoption of Proposition 8 (initiative measure, June 1982 Primary Election), we have no occasion to consider the impact of that measure upon otherwise applicable principles of…