By Tiffany Yeh
Both Arturo Medina and Pedro Perez Reyes face possession of methamphetamine, possession of meth for sale, and transfer of meth for sale charges. Mr. Medina also has a false ID charge. Thirteen one-gram bags of suspected meth were in question in this preliminary hearing.
Arturo Medina is being represented by Conflict Attorney Rod Beede and Pedro Perez Reyes is being represented by Deputy Public Defender Charles Butler. Deputy District Attorney Rachel Resneck is representing the prosecution. Judge David Reed presides.
On December 14, 2015, at 12:40, although it was not made clear if this was a.m. or p.m., Officer Andrew Ha of the West Sacramento Police Department noticed a car turning left without using its turn signal.
The vehicle was facing west, and made a left onto Glide Avenue, turning to go south.
Officer Ha made a traffic enforcement stop, with his police car’s lights on, at West Capitol Ave. and Glide Ave. The driver of the vehicle repeated the words, “No inglés.” There was a passenger in the vehicle, also Latino and male.
Officer Ha got the driver’s and the passenger’s names and dates of birth using some phrases of Spanish he knew. He described himself as only knowing broken Spanish, saying he worked at a restaurant for ten years and some people there spoke Spanish. He asked the driver for his driver’s license, whereupon the driver shook his head “no.” There was a language barrier. Officer Ha contacted a FBI translator to come and help him translate.
The passenger, Mr. Medina, initially told the officer that his name was “Raul Sanchez.” The officer ran a records check. “Raul Sanchez” came up as unknown and Mr. Reyes (the driver of the vehicle) came up as having a Mexican consulate card.
The FBI translator was the go-between for the officers and the two men. The officer asked the translator to ask the driver for consent to search his vehicle. The officer and translator did not have flashlights, no guns drawn, and did not yell. The officer described the translator’s voice as “pretty soft,” and said that the translator was kneeling on the sidewalk, asking questions of the two people inside the car.
At the beginning of the preliminary hearing, DDA Resneck asked Officer Ha if he had the information about the FBI translator’s Spanish qualifications. Officer Ha replied that the translator told him that he has been speaking Spanish his whole life, for 44 years, and still speaks Spanish at home.
Upon the defense’s objections of the lack of foundation about the FBI translator’s Spanish skills and experience, the judge repeated twice during the preliminary hearing that DDA Resneck needed to lay a foundation. Because the translator was the person speaking directly to the two defendants, and Officer Ha did not know exactly what words the translator used, the prosecution needed to lay a foundation, to show that the search of the vehicle was consented to.
DDA Resneck replied a couple times about hearsay, that having a translator does not add another level of hearsay.
Perhaps she had not realized that it was not a hearsay objection so much as it was a lack of foundation objection. Consent to a search, and the exact words and phrasing, along with the demeanor of the person asking the driver in question for consent to search his vehicle, matters.
At one point, Judge David Reed gave a scenario describing his point, stating something along the lines of …that we did not know if the translator said, “Do you give consent for us to search your vehicle?” or “Get out of the car, we’re searching your car, you motherf—s!”
DPD Butler cited case law about having live witnesses in court. Judge Reed stated that, for purposes of the preliminary hearing and due to CA Proposition 115 (the Crime Victims Justice Reform Act in 1990), foundation was not needed, but for the suppression motion (Penal Code section 1538.5), it was needed. Prop. 115 allows hearsay evidence under certain circumstances.
The officer was present as the translator asked the defendants questions, but the officer did not know exactly what was being asked.
Officer Ha was present when the vehicle was searched but did not conduct the search himself. Both defendants were not handcuffed and were sitting in a sheltered bus stop. After the meth was found, then the defendants were placed in handcuffs. An officer, a couple feet away from Officer Ha, said, “Here it is,” then Officer Ha traded places with that officer and subsequently took a quick photo of the meth.
The meth was found in two places—under the front passenger floor carpeting and in a passenger compartment near the right of the gear shift (the panel was removed to access this meth). The two places were pretty close together in the vehicle. The search of the vehicle took 15 to 20 minutes, Officer Ha estimated.
The preliminary hearing resumes on Monday, March 21, 2016, at 9 a.m. DDA Resneck stated that she would try to get the FBI translator to testify then.
