People v. Lynn

FILES, P. J.

Case 326106

By information, defendant was charged with violation of Health and Safety Code sections 11530.5 (possession of marijuana for sale) and 11500.5 (possession of heroin for sale). After a trial held before the court sitting without a jury, defendant was found guilty as charged. He appeals from the judgment.

On May 24, 1966, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, armed with a search warrant, went to 5930 Reseda Boulevard, apartment 70. The warrant had been obtained on information supplied by a confidential, reliable informant, to the effect that narcotics could be found at that location. There they found in a closet 50 kilo-sized blocks of a green, leafy substance later identified as marijuana. In the medicine cabinet were found two cellophane packages, each of which contained approximately 1 ounce of a whitish powder later

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identified as heroin. The only articles of personal property found in the apartment were one shirt and one pair of pants and a rent receipt made out to Jerry Alexander for apartment 70 from May 17 to May 29.

Five or ten minutes later, defendant entered the apartment and was taken into custody. He was then taken to the office of the apartment manager, where the officer heard the manager ask defendant what the trouble was. An officer stated that the man was under arrest. Then the manager asked, “ ‘Are you going to keep that apartment or can I clean it up?’ ” Defendant replied, “‘I am going to keep it until my rent is paid up . . . That is the 27th. ’ ’ ’

Defendant testified at the trial that, although he had rented the apartment in question under the name of Jerry Alexander, he had never lived there. He had rented the apartment because he had had a fight with his wife and needed a place to stay; but, since they reconciled soon after, he didn’t need it. He stated that on May 20 or 21, he met a man named “Jim” or “Tim” in a bar. He had first met this man in jail and knew very little about him. “Jim” or “Tim” indicated that he was having problems at home because there were so many people living there. Since he no longer needed the apartment, defendant suggested that his acquaintance might stay there. They then had a duplicate key made and defendant never saw him again. Although defendant denied having stayed overnight at the apartment, he testified that at one time he went there to change his clothes and noted paper plates and things in the kitchen which made it look as though someone had been there eating. Since he was not returning home that night, he had left the clothes in the apartment, intending to retrieve them later. It was while he was on this return mission that he was arrested.