Callahan v. Samuel Z.

Opinion

ELKINGTON, J.

Samuel Z., a minor, appeals from a “judgment” of the juvenile court concluding that he had violated the provisions of Health and Safety Code section 11912 and that he was a person described by Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, and committing him for placement in the Alameda County Boys’ Camp.

At the time of the juvenile court proceedings Samuel was 15 years old. He had a considerable record of delinquency including a robbery charge (purse snatching) which was reduced to grand theft and for which he was on probation. The proceedings which resulted in commitment to the boys’ camp concerned his sale of restricted dangerous drugs to a 13-year-old junior high school student whom we shall call Steven.

The record before us discloses the following. Steven testified he had spent: “the night [of March 8, 1969] under my friend’s house and on the next morning” there “was a thing I kicked over and under the stack I saw a box, a box and I looked inside, and so I looked inside and marijuana cigarettes were there, and the papers and the match box and his dad came in. I think he saw Michael, so he called the Sheriff’s Department and they came. So he took Mike upstairs. He asked him up to get Richard to find out whose they were. Michael—first, his dad said, ‘Is Richard there’ and

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he said, ‘No, he is asleep.’ So Mike came back and his dad saw him so his dad knew and he watched him.” It was Sergeant Souza of the sheriff’s department, and perhaps others, who had arrived at the scene. Steven also testified he “could have just put the stuff away, but I decided to keep it, . . . so the officer grabbed me and took me outside, so they just started searching me and they looked in my back pocket” where they found what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette. Sergeant Souza, a few weeks later, received a laboratory report that the cigarette taken from Steven contained marijuana. Three or four days later, on April 16, 1969, he went to Steven’s school; his “purpose was to go to the school and arrest him for possession of marijuana on the date that the cigarette was taken from his possession.” Steven was taken out of the classroom to the vice-principal’s office where the officer “advised him why he was being arrested and also advised him I was going to search him prior to taking him to the station.” When the search started Steven removed from his pocket four red capsules, stating, “I might as well give you these.” The capsules were secobarbitol, a barbituric acid derivative and a restricted dangerous drug. (See Health & Saf. Code, § 11901.) Steven said he had bought 12 of them from Samuel for $3 the day before. The juvenile court proceedings against Samuel followed.