Linn

— After the Napa County District Attorney filed a criminal complaint in Napa County Superior Court charging defendant Nicole Theresa Linn with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol, defendant filed a motion under Penal Code section 1538.5 to suppress the evidence upon which the People relied. She contended she had been unlawfully detained prior to the police obtaining this evidence in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. The trial court, a court commissioner presiding, agreed and granted her motion. The appellate division of the superior court reversed this decision, concluding defendant’s encounter with the police officer who arrested her was consensual up to the time that he reasonably suspected she had been driving under the influence.

The appellate division certified the case for transfer to this court to resolve a conflict among our appellate courts regarding the significance of a police officer taking a person’s voluntarily offered identification card in evaluating whether their encounter is consensual or a detention. We ordered the case transferred. We agree with the appellate division’s rejection of a…