People v. Hickman

WOOD (Parker), J.

By information defendant was charged with violating section 11500 of the Health and Safety Code, in that, he unlawfully had heroin in his possession. At the time set for entering a plea to the charge, the defendant made a motion “under Section 995 Penal Code.” That section provides: “The indictment or information must be set aside by the court in which the defendant is arraigned, upon his motion, in either of the following cases: If it be an indictment: ... If it be an information: 1. ... 2. That the defendant had been committed without reasonable or probable cause.” The motion was granted. The People appeal.

The transcript of the preliminary examination shows that Officer Nall, a police officer of the city of Los Angeles, testified that he was one of the arresting officers; the arrest was made on October 10, 1955, at 8:30 p. m., at the intersection of 60th Street and Central Avenue; at the time of the arrest defendant was with one Kimble; prior to that time he (officer) had received information concerning possession of narcotics by Kimble; he had received that information several times, and the last time was about two weeks before the arrest; on the day of the arrest the officer (witness) was watching a house on 43d Street in which Joe Taylor lives, and “I had arrested him [Taylor] previously on narcotics and talked to him since his release from jail and he told me he would continue to deal with narcotics because he was safe in his house”; the officer went there for the purpose of “making a surveillance of the house in regard to narcotics”; about 8:10 p. m. he saw defendant go into the house; a few minutes later he (officer) saw defendant come out of the house with Kimble; he saw them get in a car; he and Officer Beckman followed the car and kept them under surveillance until they arrived at 60th and Central, when the officers stopped them; defendant and Kimble had stopped there for a red light, and the officers blocked their path with the officers’ car; the officers removed them from the car and told them

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they were under arrest for suspicion of narcotics; the officers searched them for weapons and narcotics but did not find any; defendant, who was driving the car, did not have a driver’s license, and the officer (witness) told him that they would have to arrest him “for suspicion of grand theft auto” and take him to the police station; the officer said to defendant, “I can’t see how you came out of that house without some narcotics on you”; defendant laughed, and the officer said, “Well, take your shoes off”; defendant took his shoes off, and the officer found a bindle of powder in defendant’s sock; the officer delivered the bindle to the property section of the police station; defendant said that he bought the bindle about four hours previously for a friend and he paid $4.00 for it. On cross-examination, the officer testified that he knew that Kimble was an associate of Taylor; after defendant came out of Taylor’s house with Kimble, defendant and Kimble drove about two miles before the officers stopped them; the car was registered in a name which was different from the name of defendant; the officer was told that the car was registered in the name of defendant’s mother.