People v. Williams

172 Cal.App.2d 345 (1959) THE PEOPLE, Respondent,

v.

ARTHUR LEE WILLIAMS, Appellant.

Crim. No. 6407. California Court of Appeals. Second Dist., Div. Two.

July 27, 1959. Rayfield Lundy for Appellant.

Stanley Mosk, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Robert M. Sweet, Deputy Attorney General, for Respondent.

ASHBURN, J.

Defendant was convicted of two charges of selling marijuana and one charge of possession of heroin. He has been represented by counsel at times, then in propria persona and finally by counsel.

He claims unlawful search and seizure, refusal to disclose the name of an informer, insufficiency of the evidence to support the convictions, perjured testimony on the part of Deputy Sheriff Brown, and inherent improbability therein. None of these contentions has substantial support in the record.

Count I of the information charges sale of marijuana on September 10, 1957. Deputy Sheriff Brown on that evening met defendant on the street, inquired if he had seen one "C.W." Defendant said he had not but he could help out because he had put "C.W." in business. He took Brown to his automobile, unlocked it and showed him a quantity of marijuana. Brown gave him five dollars and later defendant delivered a newspaper package of that plant to Brown. It became People's Exhibit 3.

Count II charges sale of marijuana on September 19, 1957. Deputy Brown, in the afternoon of that day, waved at defendant as the latter drove by in his car and defendant pulled over to join him. The officer talked about buying some marijuana and was told he could have it right then if he had the money, that it would be eleven dollars for a can of it. They then drove into the driveway of defendant's home, 1514 East 110th Street. Defendant went to his upstairs apartment and [347] soon returned to the car and delivered to Brown two newspaper packages of marijuana for which he was paid eleven dollars. This marijuana became People's Exhibit 4.

Count III alleges possession of heroin on October 11, 1957. On that evening, acting upon information furnished by a reliable informant to the effect that defendant was dealing in heroin and had some in his possession at 1514 East 110th Street, Officers Stephenson, King and Caskey parked their automobile nearby and watched suspicious actions of the occupants of three cars which drove up and soon left. Then Stephenson and King went to defendant's upstairs apartment, looked through a peephole in the door, knocked, a woman opened the door, they identified themselves and entered. Officer King found defendant in a bedroom where he was seated with a hypodermic in his hand, withdrawing it from a glass of water. On the table were three cellophane packages containing 108 capsules of heroin, a cigarette package containing 8 bindles and 9 capsules of heroin. (They became People's Exhibit 1.) Defendant was arrested and before leaving his home said he thought there were 120 capsules, as he had generally gotten that many out of a half ounce, and that was what he had bought that morning; that he had gone to a peddler to buy it and had just finished capping it. The informant was not present when any of these things occurred.