People v. Litle

CRAIG, J.

The defendant was charged by an information containing two counts with the commission of two felonies. In the first count it was alleged that he illegally gave and furnished to one Madge Serber a preparation of cocaine on September 22, 1926, and the second count charged that he illegally sold a preparation of morphine to the same person on September 26, 1926. At the trial he was convicted upon both counts, and appeals from the judgment pronounced by the court and from its order denying his motion for a new trial.

The prosecution, over the objection of counsel for the defendant, introduced evidence tending to show that the defendant had committed a number of other acts similar to those named in the information. The prosecuting witness, in

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response to questions of counsel for the People, related that she had purchased cocaine from the defendant upon a number of occasions other than September 22, 1926. To permit this was error. No rule of evidence is more fully recognized than that upon a trial under an indictment or information charging the commission of one offense, proof that the defendant has committed another crime is irrelevant and inadmissible.

People

v.

Avila,

78 Cal. App. 415 [248 Pac. 693],

People

v.

Smith,

64 Cal. App. 344 [221 Pac. 405],

People

v.

Morales,

45 Cal. App. 553 [188 Pac. 58],

People

v.

Amort,

60 Cal. App. 29 [212 Pac. 50], and

People