P.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Sosa moved to suppress evidence at his February 15, 2011 preliminary hearing. At the hearing, Orange County Deputy Sheriff James Karr testified that on April 15, 2010, he was assigned to a gang enforcement team working in Stanton. Karr and nine other officers from various agencies, wearing marked police vests and carrying firearms, arrived at Sosa’s residence to conduct a probation compliance check on Sosa’s brother, Angel. Angel had agreed to submit to searches and seizures as a condition of his probation. Karr knocked at the front door and announced the officers intended to conduct a probation search. Sosa answered the door and Karr announced the officers were there to check if Angel Sosa was complying with his probation conditions. The officers entered without asking permission and immediately began a protective sweep to make sure they “were safe while [they] were conducting the check.”

2 As part of the sweep, Karr walked down a hallway leading to the bedrooms. Santiago Chavez and Juan Gomez occupied a bedroom on the left. Karr did not recall if other officers opened the door to this bedroom or if the door was already open. Karr entered and…