People v. Castro

DRAPER, P. J.

Appellant and his roommate, Miss Dunn, were found guilty by a jury of five counts of possession of narcotics. Castro alone appeals from the ensuing judgment.

In the early morning of November 28, the two defendants were driving over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, moving to a new home and carrying their personal effects in the car. They were stopped by highway patrolmen for speeding and erratic driving. On the floor of the car, near the right front seat, was a metal wastebasket. In it was a paper bag containing a number of capsules of various narcotics, and a metal box containing another narcotic. Appellant admitted ownership of the wastebasket and the metal box, but denied possession of the narcotics and knowledge of their presence. Fresh needle marks were found in the arms of both defendants.

From the above brief summary, it is apparent that there is no merit in appellant’s assertion that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict. It is true that one Hammer testified that he had secreted the bag of narcotics in the wastebasket in appellant’s home two days before appellant’s arrest. But he also admitted that he had told nobody of this occurrence until he (Hammer) had been convicted and sentenced

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for other felonies. Appellant also testified that he had taken a prescribed nonnarcotic drug by injection, thus inferentially explaining the needle marks in his arm. But the jury was not required to believe either assertion, and the inference of knowing possession clearly was warranted.

Before opening of the trial, and out of the presence of the jury, appellant’s counsel stated that the ear in which defendants were arrested was stolen, and that he would object to any reference to that fact before the jury. In his opening statement, the prosecutor said that the car and its license plates were stolen. Appellant objected. The court pointed out that defendants were not charged with ear theft. The prosecutor asked his first witness, a police officer, for the result of a registration check on the automobile. Appellant’s objection was sustained. Motion for mistrial was denied. Another officer was asked whether he had any conversation with defendant Dunn about the automobile. Objection was sustained and a partial answer stricken. There was no further reference to ownership of the automobile. Appellant claims that these circumstances constitute reversible error. We do not agree.