People v. Salas

PULLEN, P. J.

This is an appeal from an order denying a new trial and from a judgment of conviction based upon an information in two counts charging the defendant with possession and transportation of morphine.

It is the contention of appellant that the evidence does not support the verdict, that the court erred in the admission of certain evidence, and that the trial judge was guilty of prejudicial misconduct.

The evidence shows that on the evening of March 26, 1936, defendant was arrested while driving an automobile on the main highway about two miles south of the city of Madera. In the automobile after the arrest was found a spoon, a bottle of water, a bottle of antiseptic solution and some cotton. A chemist called as a witness upon behalf of the People testified that he examined the spoon and analyzed certain deposits found therein and found the same to be morphine.

The appellant, at the time of his arrest, was stopped by two traffic officers who had observed a certain erratic manner in his driving. These officers trailed the car in which appellant alone was riding for some distance and sounded their siren to bring him to a stop. After the siren was sounded by the officers he was seen to be moving about in the ear. The morning after the arrest of the defendant a yellow box was found near the side of the

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highway at a point approximately 120 feet north of the point from where the siren was sounded. Upon examination the box was found to contain tablets of morphine. There is some question raised as to the relation of this box and the contents with the defendant, it having been found first by a witness who examined the same and threw it away, and it was later recovered by a member of the sheriff’s office and turned over to that officer.

Dr. Twining, called as an expert by the prosecution, testified that the contents of the spoon and the tablets of morphine sulphate found in the box were the same, and also that a small piece of cotton found in the box with the tablets was of the same grade as that of another piece of cotton found in the car of defendant. With these facts before the jury it then became a question of fact for them to' determine from all of the evidence whether or not the box found by the roadside near the point of arrest had been thrown there by the defendant.