P. v. Rickabaugh

Filed 2/21/07  P. v. Rickabaugh CA4/2

Reposted to correct rules citations in boxed material

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b).  This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

            APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County.  Martin W. Staven, Judge.  (Retired judge of the Tulare Super. Ct. assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to art. VI, §  6 of the Cal. Const.)  Affirmed.

            Elizabeth Corpora, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

            Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Gil Gonzalez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Theodore M. Cropley, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

            Defendant Robert Norman Rickabaugh pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, §  11377, subd. (a)) and being under the influence of a controlled substance (Health & Saf. Code, §  11550, subd. (a)).  He also pled no contest to resisting an officer.  (Pen. Code, §  148, subd. (a).)  As a result of the plea, defendant was sentenced to formal probation for a period of 48 months and committed to the custody of the Riverside County Sheriff's Office for 365 days.  He appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

            A police officer detained defendant after being dispatched to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked for an extended period of time in a quiet residential neighborhood late at night.  The officer found a vehicle which matched the description given to him by the dispatcher, but no one was inside.  He also found a bicycle sitting in the middle of the sidewalk next to the vehicle.  Defendant was standing nearby behind a bush.  The officer ordered defendant to sit on the curb, and he complied.  When questioned, defendant told the officer the bicycle belonged to him.  Defendant also claimed the vehicle belonged to him, and he had been parked in this location about 30 to 40 minutes because he had â€