People v. Pompa

HERNDON, J. Convicted in a non jury trial of illegal possession of narcotics, appellant brings this appeal from the judgment and from the order denying his motion for a new trial. The questions presented on this appeal are: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the judgment, and (2) whether the court erred (a) in the receipt of evidence, (b) in denying appellant the right to inquire into the validity of a search warrant, and (e) in permitting the district attorney to reopen the direct examination of a witness for the prosecution in order to establish probable cause for appellant’s arrest, regardless of the validity of the search warrant. We conclude that the judgment is well supported and that no prejudicial error has been shown.

The sufficiency of the evidence to show probable cause for appellant’s arrest and to support the judgment will be shown by a short résumé of the uncontradicted testimony adduced at the trial. In July of 1958, a deputy assigned to the narcotics detail met one Frankie who went to the front entrance of appellant’s house and, after speaking with a male person who emerged therefrom, returned and sold the deputy some marijuana. In the following October, the same deputy attempted to purchase narcotics directly from appellant. When the officer asked appellant whether he had any heroin, appellant replied that he might have some the following day, and, if he wanted, to come back. On December 3, another deputy observed one Martinez go to appellant’s house, meet with appellant and then drive away; when Martinez was arrested a few minutes later, a package containing heroin was found. A search warrant was obtained for the search of appellant’s residence and a group of officers from the narcotics detail returned in the afternoon of the same day. Upon searching the house, they found a paper bag containing marijuana debris, several small paper bags commonly used as containers in the sale of marijuana and two packages of “zigzag” cigarette paper. Marijuana seeds were found scattered around outside and underneath appellant’s house. A search of a shed between appellant’s premises and the home of two codefendants, and the vicinity thereof, netted a quantity of heroin and some gelatine capsules. Finally, officers searching a trunk outdoors, which may have belonged to two codefendants, found numerous small bags, containing marijuana or marijuana debris.

In the recent ease of People v. Valenzuela, 174 Cal.App.2d 759, 762-763 [345 P.2d 270], this court held that knowledge of [65]the presence and narcotic character of contraband and possession thereof might be inferred from circumstantial evidence and that control thereof might be inferred from its presence in a place to which the accused and others had joint access. And in People v. Montes, 146 Cal.App.2d 530 [303 P.2d 1064], it was held that the discovery on the accused’s premises of a druggist’s scale containing fragments of marijuana and the presence of a vial of marijuana outside but near the defendant’s house were sufficient to sustain a conviction of possession of narcotics. The evidence in the ease at bar was thus more than ample to support the conviction.