People v. Watson

Opinion

BRAY, J.

*

Defendant appeals from conviction of violation of section 11530, Health and Safety Code (possession of marijuana), after court trial, jury having been waived.

Question Presented

Was the search unreasonable?

Record

Defendant was charged in an information with violation of section 11530, Health and Safety Code (possession of marijuana). He waived trial by jury. He moved under section 1538.5 of the Penal Code to suppress evidence. His motion was denied. The parties then stipulated that defendant be tried

by the court

on the basis of the transcript of the proceedings at the preliminary examination augmented by the testimony on the motion to suppress. Defendant was found guilty and sentenced to county jail for a period of 120 days and three years probation.

Evidence

On March 2, 1969, shortly after midnight, a police radio broadcast in Sacramento reported an armed robbery perpetrated by a male Negro and a female Negro, riding in a yellow 1958 or 1959 Cadillac, bearing a partial license number of OCX. The woman involved was described as wearing a black dress with a v-neck and was approximately 5 feet 3 inches tall.

Approximately 24 hours later, Officer William Johnson of the Sacramento Police Department, who had heard the report, noted a parked light yellow 1959 Cadillac, license number XQC 335, containing three adult male Negroes. In the immediate vicinity was a female Negro, standing on the curb

[133]

and talking to the driver. The vehicle subsequently pulled away from the curb with the three males inside and went approximately two blocks, at which time it was stopped by Patrol Officer Johnson. Both the officer and the driver, defendant, alighted and defendant was asked to identify himself. The officer informed defendant that he was stopped because of a robbery the preceding night in which a similar vehicle was used.