Court: Man needs new trial; no cause for search

A state appeals court has ruled that Huntington Beach police officers didn’t have probable cause to search a homeless man to find drugs that were used as evidence against him.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a ruling Tuesday on the case of Charles William Dignam, who pleaded guilty to drug possession charges and served 24 days in jail; according to the court, his plea should be thrown out and he should be given a new trial.

The incident in question took place Oct. 18, 2006, when police responded to calls of a suspicious vehicle and found Dignam sleeping in his car, according to the opinion.

Officers asked Dignam to get out of his car and asked if it “would be OK” to search him, then found methamphetamine on the man, according to the opinion. While authorities and the state attorney general called it a “consensual encounter,” a panel of judges ruled that because two squad cars blocked the path of Dignam’s car, he wouldn’t have felt free to leave — and thus was searched improperly.

— Michael Alexander