People v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Opinion

ZELON, Acting P. J.

—In the absence of exigent circumstances, if the police could have obtained but did not obtain a warrant to search a person’s residence, and entered the person’s residence illegally based on an invalid consent, does the fact that they could have obtained a warrant, or later obtained a warrant when they wanted to return to search the home again, excuse their failure to obtain a warrant before the initial entry? The answer is no.

Here, an unarmed alleged stalker was arrested inside the home of his victim and then questioned extensively despite his repeated invocation of…