People v. Patillo

4 Cal. App. 4th 1576, 6 Cal. Rptr. 2d 456, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2822, 92 Daily Journal DAR 4425, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 453
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 1, 1992
DocketA054395
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 4 Cal. App. 4th 1576 (People v. Patillo) 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. Patillo, 4 Cal. App. 4th 1576, 6 Cal. Rptr. 2d 456, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2822, 92 Daily Journal DAR 4425, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 453 (Cal. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

Opinion

WERDEGAR, J.

Defendant pled no contest to one count of sale of cocaine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352) and was placed on probation for a period of three years. Among the probation conditions was a requirement that he participate in an AIDS education program. On appeal defendant contends imposition of this condition was improper because he was convicted of selling, rather than using or possessing, illegal drugs. We hold that the AIDS education condition is within the sentencing court’s discretion where, as here, the record supports an inference that the probationer’s criminal conduct could expose the probationer or others to risk of HIV infection. We affirm.

Facts

According to testimony at the preliminary examination, in November 1990 defendant sold a rock of cocaine to an undercover officer on a Berkeley street corner. The probation officer’s report shows defendant’s involvement with illegal drugs may have begun as early as 1982, when he was first arrested for possession of cocaine for sale. In 1986 he was convicted of possession for sale and placed on probation. At that time he told the probation officer he had been freebasing cocaine and using marijuana. While on probation he tested positive for cocaine several times; the probation officer described him as a “heavy user of cocaine.” He was sent to state prison and eventually paroled. He was subsequently found to have violated [1579]*1579his parole by possessing heroin. (The date of this violation is not clear from the record.) Despite defendant’s statement that he did not currently use cocaine or heroin, the probation officer concluded “[h]is main problem appears to be that of drug abuse.” The officer recommended defendant’s probation be conditioned by several requirements related to potential drug use, including testing, counseling, and participation in an AIDS education program. After a hearing, at which defendant did not object to any of the conditions, the court imposed the recommended conditions.

Discussion

In granting probation the court may impose any “reasonable conditions” in the interests of justice, for amends to society, for redress of the victim’s injuries, and for reformation and rehabilitation of the probationer. (Pen. Code, § 1203.1.) The statute confers broad discretion on the trial courts to determine what conditions will best promote rehabilitation and protect the public. (People v. Bauer (1989) 211 Cal.App.3d 937, 940 [260 Cal.Rptr. 62].) “A condition of probation will not be held invalid unless it ‘(1) has no relationship to the crime of which the offender was convicted, (2) relates to conduct which is not in itself criminal, and (3) requires or forbids conduct which is not reasonably related to future criminality . . . .’ [Citation.] Conversely, a condition of probation which requires or forbids conduct which is not itself criminal is valid if that conduct is reasonably related to the crime of which the defendant was convicted or to future criminality.” (People v. Lent (1975) 15 Cal.3d 481, 486 [124 Cal.Rptr. 905, 541 P.2d 545], quoting in part People v. Dominguez (1967) 256 Cal.App.2d 623, 627 [64 Cal.Rptr. 290].)

Participation in an AIDS education program is reasonably related both to the crime for which defendant was convicted, sale of cocaine, and to the future criminal conduct for which defendant is at risk. Defendant was convicted of selling cocaine, apparently in smokable form. But as this court has previously noted, cocaine powder may also be dissolved in water and injected into the bloodstream; many users also combine it with heroin in a single injection known as a “speedball.” (See People v. Davis (1979) 92 Cal.App.3d 250, 255 [154 Cal.Rptr. 817]; see also People v. Dyer (1988) 45 Cal.3d 26, 42 [753 P.2d 1] [“speedball” is injectable combination of cocaine and heroin].) Sale of cocaine, then, is an offense which can create a risk that others—the consumers of the drug—will be exposed to HIV infection through the needles used for intravenous injection.

The relationship of AIDS education to possible future criminality is even clearer. As revealed in the probation officer’s report, defendant has a long [1580]*1580history of using and selling illegal drugs; this background includes use and sale of cocaine and possession of heroin, a drug that is commonly taken through intravenous injection. The trial court could reasonably anticipate a danger that, at some ftiture time, defendant will be tempted to sell or to consume an injectable drug, thereby putting himself or others at risk for HIV infection. If a program of AIDS education dissuades defendant from such criminal behavior, the court will have succeeded, albeit to a small extent, in both protecting the public and reforming the probationer.

“Probation is granted in hope of rehabilitating the defendant and must be conditioned on the realities of the situation, without all of the technical limitations determining the scope of the offense of which defendant was convicted.” (People v. Miller (1967) 256 Cal.App.2d 348, 356 [64 Cal.Rptr. 20].) Tlie fact that defendant’s offense did not involve intravenous drug use did not in itself make imposition of the AIDS education condition an abuse of discretion. A trial court may properly go beyond the exact confines of the current offense to consider all the relevant circumstances regarding the probationer. (See, e.g., People v. Smith (1983) 145 Cal.App.3d 1032, 1033-1035 [193 Cal.Rptr. 825] [requirement that probationer, convicted of possessing phencyclidine (PCP), abstain from alcohol use held proper condition in light of probationer’s emotional instability, poorly integrated personality, and “the nexus between drug use and alcohol consumption”].)

Our reasoning and conclusion are strongly supported by People v. Henson (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 172 [282 Cal.Rptr. 222], In Henson, the defendant was convicted of possessing methamphetamine, which she testified she had been ingesting nasally for several months. (Id. at p. 181.) As a condition of probation, the trial court ordered that she participate in an AIDS education program pursuant to Penal Code section 1001.10 (hereafter § 1001.10).1 On appeal, the defendant challenged the condition on the ground that section 1001.10 mandates AIDS education only for probationers whose drug offense involved intravenous use of a controlled substance. (Id. at p. 176.) The appellate court agreed. (Ibid.) The court held, however, that although no evidence suggested defendant was using drugs intravenously, conditioning [1581]*1581her probation on participation in an AIDS education program was not an abuse of discretion. “While there may be no natural progression from nasal ingestion of methamphetamine to injecting it, it is an alternative method of sorption that might be readily available to appellant through her drug connection(s).” (Id. at p. 181.) Noting that one of the stated legislative purposes of the AIDS education program was to prevent HIV infection through discouraging the use of needles, the Henson

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Bluebook (online)
4 Cal. App. 4th 1576, 6 Cal. Rptr. 2d 456, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2822, 92 Daily Journal DAR 4425, 1992 Cal. App. LEXIS 453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-patillo-calctapp-1992.