Opinion
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County No. BA315474, George G. Lomeli, Judge. Affirmed.
Jermaine Edwards, in pro. per., and Richard L. Fitzer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.
VOGEL, J.
As part of a negotiated plea entered after the trial court denied Jermaine Edwards’s motion to suppress evidence (Pen. Code, § 1538.5), he entered a no contest plea to one count of possessing cocaine base for sale and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351.5; Pen. Code, § 12021, subd. (a)(1)), and was sentenced to state prison for a term of three years. Edwards filed a notice of appeal, and we appointed counsel to represent him. On November 16, 2007, Edwards’s lawyer filed an opening brief in which no issues were raised. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436; People v. Kelly (2006) 40 Cal.4th 106.) On the same day, we notified Edwards that he could submit any issues he wanted us to consider, and he responded with a supplemental brief in which he contends trial counsel was ineffective. The contention lacks merit.
Three police officers on patrol in a marked police car saw a vehicle “spin out” while crossing a train track. When the officers attempted a traffic stop, the car sped off at more than 60 miles per hour in a residential area. The officers gave chase, and ultimately caught up when the car stopped with its front wheels on the sidewalk. The driver ran off but the passenger (Edwards) got out of the car and walked to a nearby house, at which point he was detained. In response to questioning, Edwards told the officers he was on probation and that he “had a little bit of weed” (which the officers found in his pocket). After determining that Edwards lived in the house he had been about to enter, the officers asked for and obtained permission to search the house -- where they found rock cocaine and two guns.
Edwards was arrested and charged, and the trial court thereafter denied his motion to suppress, finding ample probable cause to support the officers’ detention, questioning, search, and seizure. The record supports these findings and, conversely, defeats Edwards’s claim that trial counsel was ineffective because he did not file a Pitchess motion. (Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531; Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 668, 694; People v. Ledesma (1987) 43 Cal.3d 171, 217-218.) Edwards’s assertion that the officers might have had “something to hide” is pure speculation and wholly insufficient to support a Pitchess motion.
We have independently reviewed the record and are satisfied that counsel has fulfilled his duty, and that no arguable issues exist. (People v. Wende, supra, 25 Cal.3d 436; People v. Kelly, supra, 40 Cal.4th 106.)
The judgment is affirmed.
We concur: MALLANO, Acting P.J, JACKSON, J.
Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.