People v. Ouellette

271 Cal. App. 2d 33, 76 Cal. Rptr. 346, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2353
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 24, 1969
DocketCrim. 3509
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 271 Cal. App. 2d 33 (People v. Ouellette) 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. Ouellette, 271 Cal. App. 2d 33, 76 Cal. Rptr. 346, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2353 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

COUGHLIN, J.

Defendant was charged with possession of marijuana; moved to suppress evidence, i.e., marijuana he alleges was the product of an unlawful search and seizure, which was denied; was found guilty by the court without a jury; moves for a new trial, which was denied; and appealed pursuant to the provisions of former Penal Code section 1237, subdivision 2, contending the denial of his motion to suppress evidence was error.

On the afternoon of June 4, 1967, a member of the Navy Shore Patrol named Shank saw defendant Ouelette and his codefendant, Hewitt, at the corner of Third and Broadway, in San Diego; stopped them because defendant fitted the description of a serviceman wanted for unauthorized absence ; and asked them if they were in the military service. Hewitt stated he was and produced identification. Defendant stated he was not and when asked “if he had any kind of identifica *35 tion on him, draft card, school card, maybe going to school,” stated he did not have any identification. Hewitt said he did not know defendant. Shank continued to engage defendant in conversation; saw a key in the latter’s hip pocket; asked where the key belonged and was told “to a locker club.” This information indicated to Shank defendant was in the service and prompted him again to ask whether defendant was in the service to which the latter replied he was but “that his I.D. card and his liberty card” were in the locker club. Thereupon Shank asked defendant “if we could go get his papers,” and defendant said “Yes.” Shank told defendant he was in custody; put him in the back of a truck; took him, Hewitt and a police officer, whom Shank had called in the meantime, to the locker club. The lockers in the club were “almost exclusively used by military people.” Shank asked defendant to get the latter’s papers out of his locker. In response to this request defendant opened the locker and produced the papers. While the locker was open the police officer, who was standing nearby, noticed 1 ‘ a corn cob pipe sitting on the top shelf, and a wax—what appeared to be a wax paper bag with some sort of debris of something inside”; the bag “contained something dark in substance.” The officer had experience and training in narcotics investigation; knew “marijuana was commonly carried in wax paper bags”; also knew corncob pipes frequently are used by marijuana smokers ; and because the wax paper bag containing the dark substance was alongside the pipe he “felt strongly that it contained marijuana.” At the hearing on the motion the officer testified: “I saw the bag, I saw the corn cob pipe, and the close proximity of the two together, the fact that there was something in the wax paper from previous experience I felt that I saw marijuana in a wax paper bag.” He took the bag from the locker; examined its contents; and identified the contents as marijuana. Thereupon defendant was arrested for possession of marijuana.

The trial judge hearing the motion to suppress concluded at the time the waxed paper bag was removed from the locker the officer had reasonable cause to believe a public offense was being committed in his presence by the defendant, and that seizure of the marijuana in the bag was not unlawful.

Defendant contends that Shore Patrolman Shank unlawfully detained and placed him in custody; the seizure of the marijuana was the product of this unlawful conduct; the evidence thus obtained was inadmissible under the “fruit of *36 the poisonous tree” doctrine; and cites People v. Stoner, 65 Cal.2d 595, 598 [55 Cal.Rptr. 897, 422 P.2d 585], and People v. Stewart, 241 Cal.App.2d 509, 515 [50 Cal.Rptr. 630], in support of his position. (See also People v. Franklin, 261 Cal.App.2d 703, 705 [68 Cal.Rptr. 231].)

Under the laws of the United States a military person absent without leave is subject to apprehension and court-martial. (10 U.S.C.A. § 886.) The shore patrolman, Shank, because defendant fitted the description of a serviceman wanted for unauthorized absence, had probable cause to stop and interrogate defendant for the purpose of identification, (People v. Mickelson, 59 Cal.2d 448, 450-452, 454 [30 Cal.Rptr. 18, 380 P.2d 658]; People v. Cruppi, 265 Cal.App.2d 9, 11-12 [71 Cal.Rptr. 42]; People v. Hawxhurst, 264 Cal.App. 2d 398, 400-401 [70 Cal.Rptr. 253].) The interrogation developed suspicious circumstances furnishing probable cause for further detention and investigation when defendant denied he was in the military service; stated he had no identification whatever on his person; and then admitted he was in the military service. (People v. Mickelson, supra, 59 Cal.2d 448, 454; People v. Cruppi, supra, 265 Cal.App.2d 9, 13; People v. Smith, 210 Cal.App.2d 252, 257 [26 Cal.Rptr. 620].) It was not unreasonable to take defendant to his locker after he told the shore patrolman he had his identification and liberty card there and offered to obtain and show them to him. (People v. Mickelson, supra, 59 Cal.2d 448, 454.) In addition, at this juncture the shore patrolman was authorized to take defendant into custody because he was in violation of Naval regulations requiring enlisted personnel on active duty to carry the “Armed Forces Identification Card” issued him. (Bureau of Naval Personnel Manual, § B-2103, subd. (1); Uniform Code of Military Justice, art. 92 [10 U.S.C.A. § 892]; Uniform Code of Military Justice, art. 7 [10 U.S.C.A. §807].)

Both trial and appellate courts of this state must take judicial notice of the statutory law of the United States (Evid. Code, §§451, subd. (a), and 459); and may take judicial notice of regulations issued by or under the authority of the United States or any public entity in the United States, and of official acts of the Executive Department of the United States. (Evid. Code, §§ 452, 459.) 1

*37 Shore Patrolman Shank testified he took defendant into custody after learning he was a member of the military services and did not have on his person any identification. Whether this “custody” consisted in the temporary detention of defendant as a part of the investigation to ascertain whether he was the person whom the shore patrolman suspected of being absent without leave, or in apprehension for violation of Naval regulations, probable cause existed for such detention and apprehension. Under these circumstances the “custody” was not illegal, and defendant’s opening his locker was not the product of illegal conduct.

Defendant contends, nevertheless, the shore patrolman acted illegally in that, as admitted by him, he did not comply with article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (10 U.S.C.A. § 831), which in pertinent part provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 Cal. App. 2d 33, 76 Cal. Rptr. 346, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ouellette-calctapp-1969.