People v. Navarez

169 Cal. App. 3d 936, 215 Cal. Rptr. 519, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2338
California Court of Appeal·Decided June 28, 1985·No. F001903·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Opinion

MARTIN, J.

Defendant Benny Navarez was convicted after trial by jury of possession of heroin for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351), driving under the influence (Veh. Code, § 23152, subd. (a)), and driving a motor vehicle without a license (Veh. Code, § 12500, subd. (a)). Defendant admitted a prior prison term. The trial court denied probation and sentenced defendant to state prison for the upper term of four years on count I. The court also sentenced defendant to the Kern County jail for concurrent terms of six months each on counts II and III. The probation report and sentencing transcript are devoid of any mention of the admitted prior felony conviction for which defendant’s sentence should have been enhanced for one additional year. (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b).)

Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

Facts

On July 18, 1982, at approximately 2:30 a.m. defendant was arrested by a City of Delano police officer, Officer Harold White, for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Officer White transported defendant to the Delano jail where Diana Boyd was the custodial officer on duty. Ms. Boyd booked defendant at 2:42 a.m. She removed the property from his pockets and placed it on the counter. *939 The property included a belt, matches, comb, papers, $22 in currency, and $2.05 in change. Ms. Boyd then searched defendant. The search included defendant’s hair and body, but excluded the buttocks and crotch area.

Defendant was then seated in a chair and asked for factual information for booking purposes. 1 While defendant was seated in the chair, he placed his hands behind his back for about five minutes. He was not wearing handcuffs at the time. While defendant was seated, Ms. Boyd “heard like something of paper being crumpled or crunched up.” After the booking paper work was completed, Officer White advised defendant of his Miranda 2 rights and defendant declined to give any statement.

Defendant was then taken to be fingerprinted. When Ms. Boyd asked him to return to the booking area, he resisted. Ms. Boyd brought defendant back forcibly and seated him in the same chair. He was later taken to a detoxification cell. After placing defendant in the cell, Ms. Boyd returned to the booking area to complete her work. She took defendant’s chair to rest her leg while finishing his paper work. As she picked up the chair, she saw a tinfoil package on the floor. She opened the package and found several smaller packets inside. One of the packets contained a brownish powder. The tinfoil package was found approximately two inches from the back leg of the chair and three to four inches from a nearby wall.

Delano Police Detective Larry C. Jones contacted defendant on July 19 about 1:30 p.m. Another officer had advised Jones the tinfoil package contained heroin and Jones wanted to question defendant about it. Jones advised defendant of his rights and he agreed to waive them. Jones asked defendant about the suspected heroin found in the booking room. He initially denied all knowledge of the heroin and accused the officers of attempting to frame him or set him up. Upon further questioning, defendant admitted the heroin was his and that he had obtained it from a friend in Delano.

When first taken to the jail, defendant consented to a blood sample. After the tinfoil package was discovered, Officer White examined defendant’s arms. White saw no injection/pin hole marks on defendant’s arms except for the needle mark caused by the drawing of the blood sample. The Kern *940 County Sheriff’s crime laboratory determined the blood sample contained a 0.29 percent blood alcohol level.

Dan E. DeFraga, a criminalist with the Kern County Sheriff’s crime lab, analyzed the brown powder found in the tinfoil package. He concluded the substance was heroin. DeFraga indicated the large tinfoil package contained four smaller foil bindles with a light brown substance containing heroin, two smaller bindles with a darker brown substance containing heroin, and one empty bindle. The total amount of powder in the bindles was 933 milligrams, which DeFraga considered “a usable amount.”

Bakersfield Police Officer A1 Matthews testified he had served six years in the vice narcotics section of the Bakersfield Police Department and had extensive experience in street contact with heroin. In response to a hypothetical question, Officer Matthews concluded a person possessed heroin for sale where he was arrested with seven small tinfoil bindles containing a total of 933 milligrams of heroin, the suspect had no track marks, and he did not appear to be under the influence of heroin. Matthews believed the empty bindle was for a “burn,” i.e., going to be sold for heroin although actually empty.

Defense

Defendant did not testify on his own behalf to avoid impeachment with his prior conviction. However, defendant’s counsel made an offer of proof as to his proposed testimony. Counsel indicated defendant would deny any confession or admission to police and would deny possession of any narcotic.

Evaristo Pesina testified he was the custodial officer whose shift followed Diana Boyd’s. He did not recall removing defendant from his cell for an interview with any Delano Police Department officers.

Discussion

I. Did the Trial Court Properly Deny Appellant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Speedy Trial? *

*941 II. Did the Trial Court Properly Rule Defendant’s Confession Was Admissible?

Defendant contends his confession to Detective Jones should have been suppressed. He argues that once he invoked his privilege against self-incrimination, the police could not lawfully subject him to a new round of interrogation after repeating warnings of his constitutional rights.

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People v. Navarez, 169 Cal. App. 3d 936, 215 Cal. Rptr. 519, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2338 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985).

169 Cal. App. 3d 936 (People v. Navarez) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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