People v. Finn

232 Cal. App. 2d 422, 42 Cal. Rptr. 704, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1481
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 18, 1965
DocketCrim. 134
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 232 Cal. App. 2d 422 (People v. Finn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Finn, 232 Cal. App. 2d 422, 42 Cal. Rptr. 704, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1481 (Cal. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

STONE, J.

Defendant was found guilty by a jury of violation of Health and Safety Code section 11500, possession of narcotics. He appeals from the judgment entered on the jury verdict.

After keeping defendant and the place of his residence under surveillance for some time, law enforcement officers obtained a warrant to search the premises, and a separate warrant to search the person of defendant. The officers went to the door of the house, demanded admittance, but received no reply. Upon hearing what sounded to them like rushing water inside the premises and suspecting that someone within the house was flushing contraband down the drain, they tried the door, found it locked, and forced an entry. No one was there. The officers searched the premises and found marijuana in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and beneath the gas meter outside the house.

Two days later, while defendant was at the office of his parole officer in Fresno, state narcotics agents arrested him. One of the officers advised defendant he was being arrested *425 pursuant to a felony warrant of arrest. A search of defendant’s person revealed fragments of marijuana in his clothing. Defendant, without being advised of his constitutional rights, was questioned by the arresting officers and admitted living at the premises which previously had been searched. In addition to admitting that he lived in the house, defendant said that he used the bathroom and that he had seen cigarette papers and a matchbox there, but he denied any knowledge of the presence of marijuana.

The premises were rented by one Bobby May Nealy, who was charged, along with defendant, with possession of narcotics, violation of Health and Safety Code section 11500.

At the preliminary hearing the narcotic substances were received in evidence, and defendant and Bobby May were bound over for trial. On the morning of trial, Bobby May changed her plea to guilty. As a defense witness she testified that although defendant lived in her house, he was merely a roomer, that he occupied the back bedroom, and that the only other part of the house to which he had access was the bathroom. She also testified that the marijuana on and in defendant’s clothing was sprinkled there by her to “get even with him" for consorting with another woman. Additionally, she said that she purchased all the marijuana discovered on the premises where defendant lived, that she placed it where it was found, and that defendant had no knowledge of its presence. Defendant did not testify in his own behalf at the trial.

Reversible error is asserted in the admission of the marijuana seized in the search of the house in which defendant lived, and the introduction of the marijuana fragments taken from his clothing. The record reflects that defense counsel made no objection to the introduction of the evidence at either the preliminary hearing or at the trial, and he cannot now raise it for the first time on appeal. (People v. Ibarra, 60 Cal.2d 460, 462 [34 Cal.Rptr. 863, 386 P.2d 487].) There are a number of eases so holding, but we cite Ibarra since counsel appears to rest his right to raise these questions for the first time on appeal upon that case. The holding of Ibarra is not so broad as defendant contends, as the reversal there rested upon the ground of inadequate representation which deprived the defendant of a fair trial. Here, defendant’s attorney was not ignorant of the applicable law, as counsel apparently was in Ibarra. Defendant was, and is, represented by a Harvard-trained lawyer experienced in the *426 practice of criminal law at both trial and appellate levels. Furthermore, an objection in the lower court would have been unavailing. The officers, armed with a search warrant, were justified in entering the house upon receiving no response to a demand for admittance and hearing rushing water which made them think someone might be flushing contraband down the drain. Under like facts a search was held to be legal in People v. Villanueva, 220 Cal.App.2d 443 [33 Cal.Rptr. 811].

The search of defendant’s person at the time of his arrest was valid since the arrest was made pursuant to a warrant of arrest. (People v. Winston, 46 Cal.2d 151, 162 [293 P.2d 40].) The officers had a warrant to search the person of defendant, but the record is silent as to whether it was served. When the record reflects that an officer making an arrest has a search warrant, but it is silent as to whether it was served, and no objection is made to the evidence in the trial court, it will be presumed that the seizure was lawful. (People v. Moulton, 210 Cal.App.2d 673 [27 Cal.Rptr. 132]; People v. Jaquish, 170 Cal.App.2d 376 [338 P.2d 974].)

Defendant next argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove his knowledge of the presence of, and his dominion or control over, the marijuana found at the house where he resided. Both of these elements of the crime of violation of Health and Safety Code section 11530 can be proved by circumstantial evidence. (People v. Redrick, 55 Cal.2d 282, 289 [10 Cal.Rptr. 823, 359 P.2d 255]; People v. Hamilton, 223 Cal.App.2d 542, 544 [35 Cal.Rptr. 812].) Furthermore, possession may be constructive as well as physical, and it need not be exclusive. (People v. Villanueva, supra, p. 450; People v. Prieto, 191 Cal.App.2d 62, 71 [12 Cal.Rptr. 577]; People v. Hamilton, supra, p. 545.)

Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to respondent, as we must (People v. Sweeney, 55 Cal.2d 27, 33 [9 Cal.Rptr. 793, 357 P.2d 1049]), there is little room to question the circumstantial evidence proving defendant’s knowledge of the presence of narcotics in his clothing and his knowledge of the nature of the substance. The other circumstantial evidence was that marijuana was found concealed in the bathroom adjoining defendant’s bedroom, and in the kitchen. It is. not contradicted that defendant used the bathroom and it is not unreasonable to deduce from the testimony of the codefendant that the kitchen and other parts of the house were frequented by defendant. It is true that *427 Bobby May testified that defendant’s use of the premises was limited to his bedroom and the bathroom. However, defendant was more than just her roomer; she admitted that he is the father of her child born the preceding year.

The circumstantial evidence of defendant’s possession of the marijuana and knowledge of its narcotic character is sufficient to sustain the judgment. As an appellate court we are not bound to review the evidence according to the rule of reasonable doubt; that rule applies to the trial court.

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Bluebook (online)
232 Cal. App. 2d 422, 42 Cal. Rptr. 704, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-finn-calctapp-1965.