People v. Gregoris

KNIGHT, J.

The defendant was accused of violating section 11530 of the Health and Safety Code, which declares that “No person shall knowingly plant, cultivate, cut, harvest, dry, or process any loco weed or cannabis sativa [marihuana] or any part thereof.” He was accused also of having been

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previously convicted of burglary, in Alameda County, and of having served a sentence therefor in the state prison at San Quentin. He was represented by counsel, pleaded not guilty to the main charge, and stood mute as to the prior conviction; whereupon the court directed that a denial thereof be entered in his behalf. A trial by jury was waived, and after hearing the evidence the trial court found the defendant guilty of the offense charged and that the allegations relating to the prior conviction were true. Motions for probation and a new trial were heard and denied, and defendant was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for the term prescribed by law; whereupon he took this appeal.

The only question presented by the appeal is whether the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain the conviction; and after an examination of the record it is our opinion that it is. Among the facts and circumstances disclosed thereby are the following :

Defendant was employed as a brewery truck driver in Oakland, and lived with his wife and two children on Twenty-second Street in that city. He had occupied the premises for about five years. The back yard was enclosed with a five-foot board fence and most of the yard was devoted to the raising of vegetables. On the day of defendant’s arrest, in response to a telephone message, two police officers and a state narcotic inspector drove to the premises, and looking over the fence they saw a number of marihuana plants growing among the tomato vines. Thereupon they entered the yard to examine the plants and found eleven of them. The plants were well matured and it was evident from the manner in which they were set in the soil, the size of the plants and the condition of the soil around them that they were not volunteer plants, but on the contrary had been purposely planted some months before and thereafter carefully cultivated. Ten of them were set in even rows, equal distances apart, between the tomato vines; there were no weeds growing around the marihuana plants, and the soil was damp and well cultivated. In fact, some of the plants were supported by stakes driven in the ground. One of the officers testified that when he first arrived at the premises and as he looked over the fence he saw the defendant standing on the back stairs; that he called to the defendant but he ran away.