People v. Renz CA1/1

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Eric Michael Renz appeals from a judgment of conviction following a bench trial of one count of felony possession of child pornography (Pen. Code, § 311.1, subd. (a)).1 He raises a single issue on appeal—that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence recovered from his cell phone, which was searched subsequent to his arrest and without a warrant, and evidence recovered from his laptop, which was searched pursuant to a warrant based on the evidence recovered from the cell phone. We conclude the police acted in good-faith reliance on then binding California Supreme Court authority and, thus, the exclusionary rule does not apply here. We therefore affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In October 2013, defendant was arrested in his Millbrae home. San Mateo Police Officers Stephen Bennett and Shannon Hagan seized defendant’s cell phone at the time

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 of his arrest and examined it later the same day according to “standard procedure.” His cell phone contained sexually explicit material, including videos of defendant masturbating and performing sex acts with an…