People v. Jones

[568]

GRIFFIN, J.

The information charges defendant in counts one and two, with violating section 496 of the Penal Code in this, that on December 7, 1951, he knowingly and unlawfully aided in concealing and withholding stolen property from the owner, i.e., a moving picture projector and an electric adding machine, knowing them to have been stolen. In count three it is charged that he possessed metal knuckles, in violation of the dangerous weapons control law (Pen. Code Appendix, pt. 3, § 1, p. 691), in count four with violating section 11476 of the Health and Safety Code in unlawfully possessing hypodermic syringe and needles without a proper written order, in count five with unlawfully having in his possession a narcotic, to wit, marijuana, in violation of section 11500 of the Health and Safety Code, and in count six with unlawfully giving away a narcotic substance, “codeine” without a written prescription. Defendant entered a plea of not guilty. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict of guilty on counts one to five, and not guilty on the sixth count.

Defendant’s counsel raises no question as to the sufficiency of the evidence as to counts one, two, and three. The main attack is directed toward counts five and six.

The first proposition is that certain tests conducted by the chemist upon the substance found in the container on defendant’s premises, as charged in count five, were insufficient as a matter of law to support a finding that the substance was marijuana, and that therefore the judgment on the fifth count should be reversed.

The next contention is that the evidence failed „ sufficiently to establish the corpus delecti as to the offense charged in count six before allowing a witness to testify that when the witness asked the defendant what became of the remainder of certain codeine tablets found in a box in defendant’s home defendant told him “that he (defendant) had given them to several fellows that he thought needed it”; and that even though he was acquitted on this count, the so-called admission of defendant so prejudiced him in the eyes of the jury that he did not have a fair trial on the remaining counts.

A brief relation of the facts shows that the defendant Joel Dane Jones, who also used the name James E. Brewer and various other pseudonyms, owned a pawnshop in Visalia. He and his wife lived in the rear of the premises. On December 6, 1951, defendant, together with a Mexican boy, walked into a drugstore in Visalia. The defendant made a purchase of