People v. Hall

Opinion

EPSTEIN, J.

Appellant Kenneth Lavelle Hall appeals from judgment sentencing him to prison for five years, imposed after a jury found him

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guilty of possession of a controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11350, subdivision (a) and he admitted three prior convictions, including two prior convictions within the meaning of Penal Code section 667.5, subdivision (b), and one within the meaning of the “Three Strikes” law. He contends the judgment must be reversed due to prosecutorial misconduct. For reasons explained in this opinion, we find this contention well taken. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand for retrial.

Factual Summary

The evidence, briefly recounted in the light most favorable to the judgment, proved that on March 3, 1999, appellant was arrested for being under the influence of drugs. A search incident to arrest revealed two small rocks containing cocaine, weighing .10 of a gram, in appellant’s right front pants pocket.

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As he was being transported to the police station, appellant said, “Officers, if you squash that rock, I’ll tell you where they’re selling around here.”

The evidence of the facts of appellant’s crime was presented through the testimony of one witness, Los Angeles Police Officer Scot Williams. The partner with whom he was working at the time of the arrest, Officer Tinsley, did not testify.

Appellant’s defense was that Officer Williams was not credible. In opening statement, defense counsel stated: “I expect that Officer Williams will come and testify that he detained Mr. Hall, that he felt that he was under the influence of a controlled substance, namely, cocaine, that his partner searched Mr. Williams and recovered cocaine from his pocket. [^] . . . [H] I am convinced that, at the end of the trial, after you have heard all of the evidence in this case, you will find that Mr. Hall was detained for no reason, that he was not under the influence of cocaine, and that he was arrested for no reason and searched for no reason, and that the only thing that Mr. Hall is guilty of in this case is having a bad attitude with L.A.P.D. officers. And that’s not a crime.”