People v. Gin Hauk Jue

GRIFFIN, J.

Defendant was charged with and convicted by a jury of the crime of possession of opium in violation of section 11500 of the Health and Safety Code.

He lived by himself in room 29 at a hotel in Visalia. On the night of January 12, 1949, the chief of police, accompanied by narcotic agents, encountered defendant at an address on Center Street. They suspicioned him as being a-

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user of opium. At the time he insisted he did not live in that city. He was taken to his hotel and the landlady pointed out his room (No. 29) to the officers. They obtained a key and found papers bearing defendant’s name and also found on defendant’s dresser two whiskey glasses containing a brown liquid which appeared to be an opium solution. Directly across the hall from defendant’s room was the shower room and toilet which was used by defendant as well as other guests. Under the sink in that room, in the presence of defendant, the agents found a paper-wrapped package containing a spoon, a hypodermic syringe, and a small bindle which appeared to be opium. The chief reached up through an attic opening above the shower and found three additional packages. One contained opium pipes, another needles, and a third contained a brown substance which appeared to be opium. Defendant was asked about the several articles. He admitted that the solution on the dresser was his. Analysis showed it contained about 20 c.e. of Ten Shee Suey (described as a solution containing 6% milligrams of opium and alkaloids which contained about % of an ounce of narcotics). According to the testimony of the officers, defendant admitted that the articles found under the sink in the shower belonged to him but denied ownership of the articles found in the attic. The bindle found under the sink contained ‘ ‘ Sam Low” which was described as “Ten Shee” with water strained through it many times, and was generally used in hypodermic form. The spoon, cotton and pipe stems contained traces of opium alkaloids. The opium found in the attic was described as a “good . . . grade of opium.” Defendant was asked by the officers as to the source of his supply. He answered that he was “afraid to tell.” He denied that these hypodermic needles were his. The officers pulled up his sleeves and found that both his arms were “full of puncture marks” apparently made by hypodermic needles.