People v. Ford CA3

I. BACKGROUND

The facts are taken from the evidence presented at the hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress. A. Prosecution Case At around 6:00 p.m. on November 30, 2014, Sacramento police officers Christopher Clatterbuck and Tony Yager were dispatched to the Motel 6 on 30th Street in Sacramento in response to a report of possible prostitution solicitation activity occurring in room 241.2 The caller reported that there were two adult black males soliciting a girl for prostitution. Officer Clatterbuck was very familiar with this motel, which he described as an active community policing location with lots of narcotics and prostitution-related calls and arrests. He explained that the motel was his “project,” and that he was there on a daily basis conducting enforcement activities, responding to calls for service, making contacts with people, and performing probation and parole searches. On prior occasions, Officer Clatterbuck had assisted the motel owner in evicting tenants for prostitution- related activity. In such instances, the owners of the motel would ask the tenant to leave the property, typically with police officers standing by to facilitate the eviction. After an…