People v. Medrano

[116]Opinion

THE COURT.* Appellant was convicted after jury trial of two counts of sale of heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352). The jury found that on each occasion the substance sold exceeded one-half ounce. The trial court sentenced appellant to prison for concurrent, four-year middle base terms.

Appellant contends that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to institute narcotics addict commitment proceedings (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3051).

The RPO contains this pertinent information: “Regarding the use of drugs and narcotics, the defendant reports that at age 15 he began using marijuana and has used occasionally to the present date. Further, approximately ten years ago, the defendant began using heroin approximately once every other month. For a seven-month period approximately two years ago, the defendant was using on a daily basis. The defendant reports that for the last fourteen months, he has been on methadone and has used heroin only rarely. When interviewed, your officer observed old narcotic tracks on the defendant’s arms.”

At the sentencing hearing, appellant’s trial counsel asked the trial court to consider section 3051 proceedings. The probation officer iterated the information quoted above and opined that appellant was neither addicted nor in imminent danger of becoming addicted “at this time.” The deputy district attorney had no comment. The trial court found that appellant was “not in imminent danger of becoming addicted to narcotics, and is not engaging in the repeated use of narcotics at this time.”

At the pertinent time, section 3051 provided, in pertinent part: “Upon conviction of a defendant for any crime in any superior court, or following revocation of probation previously granted, whether or not sentence has been imposed, if it appears to the judge that the defendant may be addicted or by reason of repeated use of narcotics may be in imminent danger of becoming addicted to narcotics he shall adjourn the proceedings or suspend the imposition or execution of the sentence and order the district attorney to file a petition for commitment of the defendant to the Director of Corrections for confinement in the narcotic [117]