The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Adam Sergio Rodriguez, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The court held that trial courts have discretion to determine whether the judge who previously granted a suppression motion is available under Penal Code section 1538.5(p), but that discretion is constrained by the statute's same-judge requirement. A judge may be deemed unavailable only after the court takes reasonable, good-faith steps to arrange for that judge to hear the motion and makes the unavailability finding on the record; the trial court failed to do so here, and the error was prejudicial. Justice Corrigan, concurring, agreed with the result and core rule but disagreed with the majority's comparisons to prior authority and characterization of the prosecution's conduct.