People v. Moran

463 P.2d 763, 1 Cal. 3d 755, 83 Cal. Rptr. 411
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 27, 1970
DocketCrim. 13525
StatusPublished

This text of 463 P.2d 763 (People v. Moran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Moran, 463 P.2d 763, 1 Cal. 3d 755, 83 Cal. Rptr. 411 (Cal. 1970).

Opinion

1 Cal.3d 755 (1970)
463 P.2d 763
83 Cal. Rptr. 411

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
THOMAS MORAN, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. Crim. 13525.

Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

January 27, 1970.

*758 COUNSEL

James W. Read, Jr., under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, Robert T. Jacobs and Howard J. Schwab, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

THE COURT.

An information charged defendant with selling lysergic acid diethylamine (hereinafter LSD) in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11912. At the trial the court instructed the jury on the lesser included offence of possession of LSD (Health & Saf. Code, § 11910). The jury found defendant guilty of sale and possession of LSD. Defendant waived application for probation, and the court sentenced him to the state prison for the term prescribed by law for the sale and to one year in the county jail for possession. It suspended execution of sentence on the possession conviction pending completion of service of sentence on the sale conviction, after which the suspension would become permanent. Defendant appeals.

During June 1967, Agents David Fuentes and Robert L. Mooney of *759 the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement were working in the Orange County area with Robert J. McNerney, a police informant. At 4:35 p.m. on June 13, 1967, the agents received a phone call from McNerney concerning a sale of drugs. The agents went to a shopping center in Capistrano Beach. Shortly after they arrived, McNerney drove up and parked beside Agent Fuentes. Defendant was a passenger in McNerney's car. Agent Mooney was nearby. Agent Fuentes left his car and went over to McNerney. He talked briefly with McNerney and then walked to defendant's side of the car. After a brief conversation, defendant handed 20 tablets to Agent Fuentes, who dropped $80 in defendant's lap. The tablets contained usable amounts of LSD.

Defendant took the stand in his own defense. He did not deny the sale but relied on the defense of entrapment. He testified that at the time of the sale he was 18 years old. He lived with his grandmother in Fontana, where he worked for the telephone company. He had stopped at a cafe in San Clemente while on his way to visit his mother in Carlsbad. Defendant had previously lived in San Clemente where he had gone to high school. McNerney was a friend and classmate who had lived near him in San Clemente. Leaving the cafe, defendant walked over to the pier where he met McNerney about 3 p.m. McNerney asked if defendant knew where he could buy LSD for a friend. McNerney explained that his friend asked him to obtain LSD and that he had been unable to do so. Defendant replied that he had none and did not know where to get any. McNerney said he was upset by not being able to buy any for his friend, who needed the drug badly.

A short time later McNerney returned and asked if defendant was certain he knew of no source of LSD. Defendant admitted having some tablets but said they were not for sale. McNerney then suggested that defendant sell him a few so that his friend would let him alone. McNerney appealed to their friendship, stating that if the roles were reversed he would help defendant. Defendant again refused, saying the tablets were for his own use, and the two parted.

As defendant was walking up the pier, McNerney approached him a third time. McNerney asked how many tablets defendant had, and defendant said 20. McNerney stated that his friend needed only a few and would pay well. When McNerney again appealed to their past friendship and said that he would sell defendant the tablets if their positions were reversed, defendant agreed to sell all 20. McNerney said the friend would pay $80.

The two then drove a short distance in McNerney's car to the location where defendant had hidden the tablets. They picked up the LSD and *760 then drove to the shopping center where they met Agent Fuentes. After a short conversation with McNerney, Fuentes asked defendant if he had the tablets. Defendant said "Yes," and Fuentes said, "Give them to me." Defendant handed the tablets to Fuentes, who dropped the $80 in his lap.

Fuentes testified that defendant said he had 20 tablets and wanted $80 for them and that defendant was not hesitant in making the sale. Defendant testified that he knew it was a crime to possess LSD and that he had the tablets for two months before the sale.

Defendant contends that the evidence establishes entrapment as a matter of law. The jury, however, was not required to believe his testimony that he was entrapped (People v. Benford (1959) 53 Cal.2d 1, 5 [345 P.2d 928]), and the prosecution evidence does not establish entrapment as a matter of law. (1) "Entrapment as a matter of law is not established where there is any substantial evidence in the record from which it may be inferred that the criminal intent to commit the particular offense originated in the mind of the accused." (People v. Terry (1955) 44 Cal.2d 371, 372-373 [282 P.2d 19].) (2) From the evidence that defendant sold 20 tablets containing LSD to Fuentes and that defendant had the tablets in his possession for two months the jury could infer that the intention to sell the tablets originated in defendant's mind (see People v. Diaz (1962) 206 Cal. App.2d 651, 671 [24 Cal. Rptr. 367]; disapproved on other grounds in People v. Perez (1965) 62 Cal.2d 769, 776, fn. 2 [44 Cal. Rptr. 326, 401 P.2d 934]; 19 Hastings L.J. 825, 844). Moreover, defendant's failure to call McNerney as a witness supports an inference that his testimony would not be favorable to defendant. (Evid. Code, § 412.)

Defendant also contends that the recent enactment of the Evidence Code overturns the holding in People v. Valverde (1966) 246 Cal. App.2d 318 [54 Cal. Rptr. 528], that the defendant has the burden of proving entrapment by a preponderance of the evidence. (3) Evidence Code section 501[1] subjects statutory burdens of proof in criminal cases to Penal Code section 1096,[2] which requires the prosecution to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant's burden to prove entrapment, however, is not subject to Penal Code section 1096, for the defense of entrapment in California is not based on the defendant's innocence. The courts have created the defense as a control on illegal police conduct "out of regard for [the court's] own dignity, and in the exercise of its *761 power and the performance of its duty to formulate and apply proper standards for judicial enforcement of the criminal law." (People v. Benford, supra, 53 Cal.2d 1, 9.) Moreover, this court acknowledged the continuing validity of the rule of the Valverde case in In re Dennis M. (1969) 70 Cal.2d 444, 457, fn. 10 [75 Cal. Rptr. 1, 450 P.2d 296].[3]

Defendant's contention that the trial court did not instruct the jury that a third party informer is to be treated as an agent of law enforcement officers for purposes of entrapment is likewise without merit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
463 P.2d 763, 1 Cal. 3d 755, 83 Cal. Rptr. 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-moran-cal-1970.