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Name: People v. Lopez
Case #: B166729
Opinion Date: 06/01/2004
Division: 6
Citation: 119 Cal.App.4th 132
Summary

The trial court did not err in denying appellant’s motion to suppress evidence seized during a pat search, because the search was supported by reasonable suspicion. Police approached appellant after a witness reported that he had threatened her with a gun. Evidence at the scene corroborated the witness’s report, and appellant was belligerent and refused to talk to police or allow himself to be patted down. Further, he was wearing baggy pants that could have concealed a weapon, and kept reaching toward his pockets. The Court of Appeal held that the case was distinguishable from other cases in which a suspect was detained merely for refusing to identify himself to police, since here, the officers had reasonable suspicion under the totality of the circumstances to believe that appellant was armed and posed a threat to officer safety. However, the court found that permitting multiple punishment for both unlawful possession of a weapon and for unlawful possession of ammunition that was loaded into that weapon would violate section 654, and thus stayed the sentence for possession of ammunition.