ANONYMOUS CALL, NO SOURCE OF PROBABLE CAUSE, NO PROBLEM
Well, the outrage of the week has three actual outrages in it. The police get an anonymous call of a disturbance outside a house, and maybe one guy has a gun. The police respond and see the defendant and another, and try to detain them. The defendant resists arrest.
First issue: the detention is unlawful under Florida v. J.L. (529 U.S. 266). The Court of Appeal relies on Dolly (40 Cal.4th 458) and finds the facts here just like those in Dolly, and affirms. Right, except for that little J.L. case, with facts right on point.
Second issue: Harvey-Madden. If we demand it, the DA has to bring in somebody to prove the call wasn't stiffed in by the police. Oh, no problem, the level of detail here means that the caller was either the officer himself or the dispatcher was clairvoyant. The point of the rule is to avoid the police calling these in themselves, and you're just assuming that the police didn't do that.
Third issue: even if there wasn't reasonable cause to detain, the defense can't get suppression. Why not? Well, the defendant committed a crime. The crime, of course, is resisting arrest. Lots of officers saw it. The defendant's decision to commit a new crime, you guessed it, dissipates the taint of any preceding illegality. Come on.
In re Richard G.; 2009 DJ DAR 6883; DJ, 5/14/09; C/A 2nd, Div. 6
