P. v. Moore
Defendant appeals from the judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of possessing cocaine in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11350, subdivision (a). Because that conviction was defendant's third strike, and the trial court denied his motion to strike one or more of his prior strike convictions, the trial court sentenced defendant to serve a term of 25 years to life in state prison. Court had reversed defendant's conviction based on our conclusion that the police had violated defendant's rights under the Fourth Amendment when they conducted the search that netted the drugs.Court based it's reversal on People v. Sanders (2003) 31 Cal.4th 318 (Sanders), which held that police officers must know of the defendant's parole search condition to justify a warrantless search under that exception. The trial court had denied defendant's Penal Code section 1538.5 motion to suppress the cocaine because defendant was on parole at the time of the search and subject to a search condition. Because the Supreme Court decided Sanders after the suppression motion was heard, the prosecutor did not present evidence at the suppression hearing to show that the police knew of defendant's parole search condition at the time of the search. The Supreme Court granted review and has reversed and remanded the case to this court with directions to remand the matter to the trial court for a new suppression hearing at which the prosecution may present evidence to justify the search under Sanders or on any alternate grounds contained in the original motion and opposition thereto.
Because its reversal in this case is conditional, and depends on the outcome of the suppression motion, court must address the other issues defendant raised on appeal but which court did not address in its previous decision.
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