People v. Fierro

FRIEDMAN, J.

Defendant Fierro was tried and convicted of possessing heroin in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11500. Defendant contends that the heroin introduced in evidence was the product of an illegal search and seizure.

On July 13, 1963, Fierro registered at a motel in West Sacramento under an assumed name. The motel manager, John Sommer, suspected him of being a narcotic user and pusher because he usually left his room only at nighttime, did not want the maids to clean his room, had visitors after dark and had a number of incoming and outgoing telephone calls. On June 17 when defendant went to the motel office to

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pay for Ms room, Mr. Sommer noted that his eyes did not focus properly and that his features were not “content.” Mr. Sommer did not want a narcotic user or pusher living at his motel. Mr. Sommer waited until defendant left the premises, then entered his room. The first item he observed was a white scratch pad on the desk with a burn mark, which he thought had been caused by a very hot spoon. He cheeked the wastepaper basket in the bathroom and found candy wrappers, and observed candy bars lying about the room. He thought the candy reflected an addict’s need for sweets. He opened defendant’s closed but unlocked suitcase and saw four vials containing pills or capsules, a spoon and a glass vial with a rubber plunger. Sommer returned to his office, phoned the Yolo County sheriff’s office and reported what he had found. He spoke to a detective in the sheriff’s office, who told him to return to the room and get some samples of the pills and turn them over to him. Whereupon he returned to defendant’s room and took two pills and two capsules from the vials in the suitcase. He noticed a plastic bag containing 10 to 15 powder-filled rubber balloons and a folder paper containing white powders. He took two of the balloons and a sample of the white powder. Then he returned to his office and again called the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s detective arrived and Sommer gave him the materials he had taken from the defendant’s room. Defendant was then arrested. Upon analysis the powder in the balloons was identified as heroin and the paper bindle as cocaine. The capsules were seconal and the pills methadone.

Defendant presented no evidence, basing his defense on the contention that the narcotics found in his motel room were the product of an illegal search and seizure.