Pleasant

After the magistrate and the trial court denied a motion to suppress evidence (Pen. Code, § 1538.5), 1 a jury convicted Monet Cleon Pleasant of being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 12021, subd. (a)(1)) and possessing an assault weapon (§ 12280, subd. (b)). In a bifurcated hearing, the court found he had a strike prior. (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 668, 1170.12.) The court dismissed the strike prior, sentenced Pleasant to the two-year middle term for being a felon in possession of a firearm, stayed execution of sentence, and placed Pleasant on three years’ probation including a condition he serve 365 days in custody. It stayed sentence for possessing an assault weapon. Pleasant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence.

FACTS

On November 22, 2002, San Diego police officers and sheriff’s deputies went to the residence of Ella Pleasant (Ms. Pleasant) at 1515 50th Street to conduct a probation search. After being admitted, Officer Michael Pridemore conducted a safety sweep. He came upon a locked door. Pridemore asked Ms. Pleasant if she had a key to the door. She told him it was her son’s room who was not home and her keys were on the…

I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the police officers had reasonable cause to believe that Ella Pleasant had joint control over the locked bedroom so as to place this room within the scope of her probation search waiver and I respectfully dissent.

The Fourth Amendment prohibits all unreasonable searches and seizures and warrantless searches are per se unreasonable unless they come within an established exception to the warrant requirement (Mincey v. Arizona (1978) 437 U.S. 385, 390 [ 57 L.Ed.2d 290 , 98 S.Ct. 2408 ]), such as a search conducted under an adult probationer’s search condition. (People v. Woods (1999) 21 Cal.4th 668, 674-675 [ 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 88 , 981 P.2d 1019 ] (Woods).) When conducting a search pursuant to a probation search clause, police “officers generally may only search those portions of the residence they reasonably believe the probationer has complete or joint control over.” (Woods, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 682 .) Stated differently, a probation search falls within permissible bounds if the police reasonably suspect that an area to be searched is jointly controlled by the probationer. Officers wishing to search a room under the sole control of a…