People v. Carey

WOOD (Parker), J. Defendant was convicted, in a non-jury trial, of unlawfully possessing heroin. His notice of appeal (in propria persona) states, “I hereby appeal.” It will be assumed that he appeals from the judgment and the order denying his motion for a new trial. He contends that the court erred in not requiring the prosecution to disclose the name of an informer.

On March 11, 1958, about 5 p.m., an informer told Officer Stephenson by telephone “that the defendant was on Fifth Street [in Los Angeles] and had been seen in various bars, had considerable heroin in his possession and was selling it on Fifth Street.” The officer had known defendant for more than a year. During the preceding year and a half, the officer had received information from the same informer about 10 times, and the information had been reliable. About 15 minutes after receiving the information on the occasion involved here, Officers Stephenson and Labbey entered the bar portion of the Rose Room on Fifth Street and went to the archway entrance to the café portion of that place. While the officers were entering the café, through the archway, Officer Stephenson saw defendant sitting at the counter and looking toward the street. Then defendant arose and walked toward the front of the café. Officer Stephenson went behind the defendant and caught him by the elbows and said, “Police officers, you are under arrest. Are you holding Walter ? ’ ’ Then defendant put his hand in his coat pocket. Officer Stephenson withdrew defendant’s hand from the pocket and observed a plastic wrapped bindle in defendant’s hand. The officer forced defendant’s hand open and the bindle fell to the floor and the officer recovered it. That bindle (Exhibit 1) contained 10 bindles of heroin.

Officer Stephenson testified, among other things, that after the arrest the defendant said that there were eight bindles and he was going to take them to the “West Side” and deliver them to someone there. On cross-examination, the officer testified that defendant said that he had just gotten out of Mira Loma where he had been ‘‘ for an addiction charge ’ ’; after the arrest herein, the officers talked to defendant about some other arrests, and they also had conversation with him “with respect to why” he had not been an informer for them; prior to the arrest herein, the officers had talked to defendant about “making a buy” from one Mitchell, and they asked defendant to introduce an “under-cover officer” to Mitchell so that “a sale could be made”; defendant agreed to do that, but the [533]next time the officer saw defendant he (defendant) was under arrest for burglary.