People v. Tabb

WOOD, P. J. The judgment of the trial court in this ease, made on April 6, 1961 (adjudging defendant guilty of unlawfully posessing heroin), was affirmed by this court in an opinion filed on October 16, 1962. (People v. Tabb, 208 Cal.App.2d 567 [25 Cal.Rptr. 541.].) Thereafter, pursuant to direction of the Supreme Court of the United States, the remittitur herein was recalled and the judgment of this court was vacated in order to consider (in the light of Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 [83 S.Ct. 814, 9 L. Ed.2d 811]) the matter of appointment of counsel for defendant who had appeared in propria persona when this appeal was previously before this court.

This court appointed Mr. Justin M. Groshan as counsel for defendant.

The facts of the case were stated, in substance, in the [751]former opinion. The contentions of appellant, which were made when he was acting in propria persona, are discussed therein. The former opinion (People v. Tabb, 208 Cal.App.2d 567 [25 Cal.Rptr. 541]) is adopted by reference as a part of the present opinion.

Counsel for appellant asserts in effect that the court erred in receiving the heroin (Exhibit 1) in evidence, for the reason that the ofScers obtained it as a result of their illegal conduct in driving the police ear quickly and diagonally across the intersection toward appellant and thereby so intimidating him that he threw the heroin away.

Defendant was accused of unlawfully possessing heroin.

Some of the facts as stated in the former opinion were as follows:

“Prior to the arrest on the occasion involved herein, Officers Crowe and Hannon knew that the defendant was a user of narcotics—Officer Crowe had arrested him previously, and the defendant had told Officer Hannon that he was a user of heroin.

“On December 10, 1960, about noon, while police officers Crowe and Hannon were in a ‘black and white’ police car, travelling south on Compton Avenue, in Los Angeles, near 56th Street, they saw six or seven persons on the sidewalk at the southeast corner of the intersection of those streets. The officers knew that the interesection was frequented by narcotic addicts. Officer Crow, who was driving the car, drove it diagonally across the intersection to the curb at the southeast corner of the intersection where the persons were standing.