Jones

This appeal in a civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 requires us to determine the constitutionality of the City of Santa Monica’s procedure for determining probable cause after a warrantless arrest. Petitioner Carolyn Jones asserts that the City’s procedure violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments because it does not provide an arrestee with an opportunity for personal appearance before the magistrate at the time the probable cause determination is made and because the application for probable cause submitted to the magistrate is made on a pre-printed form. We conclude that the City’s procedure does not violate the Constitution.

Jones also contends that the City failed to meet Fourth Amendment standards of establishing probable cause in her particular case. A trial was held on that issue and at its conclusion the district court granted the City judgment as a matter of law. We dismiss Jones’s appeal of that ruling because she failed to provide a trial transcript sufficient to permit appellate review.

Factual Background

On October 20, 2000, Jones was arrested without a warrant for grand theft, in violation of CAL. PENAL CODE § 487(b)(3), and the…