People v. Banks

SHINN, P. J. In a court trial, William Banks was convicted of possessing marijuana and was sentenced to state prison. He appeals from the judgment.

Having received information that narcotic suspects were using the premises at 2835 Edgehill Drive as a “shooting gallery,” Officer Florrne Kennedy of the Los Angeles Police Department went to the location at 1:30 a. m. on December 17, 1957 in the company of two other officers. Officer Starkey went to the front door, Officer Uno to the north side of the house, and Officer Kennedy to the south side of the house. Starkey rang the front doorbell and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a French door on the south side of the house opened and Kennedy observed the hand of a male Negro throw out a package which struck him on the shoulder; the man was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a wide brown stripe. Kennedy retrieved the package, opened it and observed what resembled marijuana cigarettes. About 15 seconds later, a package wrapped in tinfoil came through the door and landed at Kennedy’s feet. This package had been thrown by a colored woman; it contained balloons similar to those used by narcotic addicts. Kennedy shouted to Starkey: “They are getting rid of it. Knock the door down. ’ ’ A female voice stated that the door would be opened and the officers entered the house.

The officers found Banks, a man named Taylor, and Banks’ codefendant Jessie Houston in the living room. Kennedy observed that Banks was wearing a light tan or cream-colored polo type of T-shirt with short sleeves and a wide brown stripe near the bottom just above the elbow. He identified appellant as the man who had thrown the first package through the French door. Taylor was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Before leaving the house, Kennedy rolled up Taylor’s sleeves to check [74]his arms for needle marks. When questioned by the officer, Banks denied knowing anything about the package.

Kennedy placed his initials on the package thrown by appellant, sealed it inside a manila envelope and delivered the envelope to the police property section for an examination of its contents.

It was stipulated that William G. Penprase was a qualified police chemist, and that if called as a witness he would testify that he received a sealed envelope marked in the case of Willie Banks, that he opened it and found it to contain a smaller envelope, that the smaller envelope contained a brown bag containing 20 cigarettes wrapped inside a piece of brown paper, and that he “chose ten at random” and found a leafy material consisting of marijuana.