People v. Hochstraser, No. H032765

Trial court's conviction of defendant for first degree murder is affirmed where: 1) exigent circumstances justified a warrantless police entry into defendant's apartment to determine whether a missing domestic violence victim and her two year old child were injured or safe; and 2) the search of defendant's mother's car, in which the domestic violence victim's dismembered body parts were found, was amply supported by probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime would be found therein and was subject to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement.     

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Filed October 27, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge McAdams

Counsel

For Appellant:  Maribeth Halloran

For Appellee:  Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Rene A. Chacon, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Bruce Ortega, Deputy Attorney General.