Macabeo

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Paul Macabeo (defendant) appeals from the trial court’s order denying his motion to suppress evidence. He contends that the trial court erred when it found that the search of his cell phone incident to a stop for a minor traffic violation did not violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unlawful searches and seizures. The United States Supreme Court, in overruling People v. Diaz (2011) 51 Cal.4th 84 (Diaz), and while this case was on appeal, held that absent an emergency, law enforcement must secure a warrant before searching the digital content of a cell phone incident to an arrest. (Riley v. California (2014) __ U.S. __ [134 S.Ct. 2473] (Riley).) We hold that because Diaz was applicable at the time of the search, the officers’ conduct in searching the cell phone was in good faith and therefore the failure to exclude the evidence from the cell phone was not reversible error.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On July 19, 2012, City of Torrance Police Detective Craig Hayes was patrolling in a police vehicle with his partner, Officer Raymond, near 17200 Gramercy Place and Artesia Boulevard in Torrance. At approximately 1:40 a.m., Detective Hayes…