People v. Juan G.

Opinion

STEPHENS, Acting P. J.

On February 20, 1980, Los Angeles Police Officer Armenta observed Juan walking in a staggering manner. Juan was holding a sock to his nose. His eyes were bloodshot, there were silver particles around his lips and there was the odor of paint about his body. Juan was unable to converse coherently. Officer Armenta concluded that Juan was under the influence of paint and arrested appellant.

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A cursory search for weapons was made and a monocular spyglass was recovered. This spyglass turned out to have been stolen from a Mr. Simco in a burglary.

Juan was transported to a hospital where he was examined and declared fit for booking. He was then taken to the police station and booked. A decision was made to request that a juvenile petition be filed. Juan was asked about the paint sniffing and the monocular. He admitted the sniffing but stated he had acquired the monocular from a “Sleepy” who had informed Juan that it had been stolen. Juan was then released from the station after he was given what is referred to as a “cite-back,” which instructed him to return to the police station for further discussion with another officer, Detective Rayaevski, who was involved with the investigation of robberies and burglaries. Before Juan returned for his discussion, Officer Armenta talked to Detective Rayaevski about him.

[769]

On Juan’s return to the station on February 26th, in compliance with the “cite-back” notice,

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Detective Rayaevski noticed Juan’s apparent similarity to the robber description given in a “Grant/Stegall” robbery. Juan was photographed and released with a request that he call the detective at 1 p.m. that same day.

Juan proceeded to then involve himself in yet another robbery and was rearrested. This latter robbery is not involved in the present case. As to the “Grant/Stegall” robbery, Juan was identified as one of the persons who had accosted two persons, Grant and Stegall, with a knife and forced them to part with their funds. The picture taken of Juan on February 26th was used in the identification by the victim, Stegall.