People v. Lovett

In People v. Lovett (1978) 82 Cal.App.3d 527, the warrant described the premises to be searched as 1227 1/2 West Washington Boulevard, a two-story building, tan brick in front. The warrant also authorized a search of the defendant by name, also known as Hippy Charles. The warrant was based on an affidavit in which the affiant-officer stated he had been told by a confidential informant that heroin was being sold and used at 1227 1/2 West Washington Boulevard by a man named Hippy Charles. With the informant's cooperation, a controlled buy of heroin from Hippy Charles had occurred earlier at premises described as 1227 1/2 West Washington Boulevard. The premises actually searched was defendant's second-hand goods store located at 1227 West Washington Boulevard. The premises at 1227 1/2 had been carved out of the store at 1227 about 10 months before the search. Prior to that time, 1227 1/2 was part of the defendant's store. At the time of the search the premises at 1227 1/2 were vacant. The source of the error was the placement of the numbers outside the two shops, which led the affiant to believe the defendant's store was 1227 1/2. In holding the mistake in the address did not invalidate the warrant the court stated at pages 531-532: "It is clear that the misdescription of the premises as '1227 1/2' rather than '1227' affected no substantial right of defendant. The magistrate obviously intended to authorize a search of the premises which were in fact searched, that is the premises occupied by defendant, which were inferentially the premises to which the confidential informant had referred and the premises from which the controlled buy had been made. Far more serious problems would have arisen had the police attempted to search the premises at 1227 1/2 about which nothing whatever had been said in the affidavit in support of the warrant. (Cf., Tidwell v. Superior Court (1971) 17 Cal.App.3d 780, 787.) If one thing is clear, it is that the magistrate intended to authorize a search of the premises occupied by 'Hippy Charles' whether the street designation was 1227 or 1227 1/2."