People v. Reade

198 Cal. App. 2d 633, 18 Cal. Rptr. 1, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 2587
California Court of Appeal·Decided December 28, 1961·No. Crim. No. 7492·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

WOOD, P. J.

In count 1 of an information defendants Sanchez and Reade were accused of unlawfully possessing heroin. In count 2 Reade was accused of unlawfully selling, furnishing and giving away heroin, and in count 3 he was accused of driving a vehicle on a public highway while addicted to use of narcotic drugs. Reade admitted allegations of the information that he had been convicted previously of three felonies (burglary, grand theft, and violation of narcotic laws).

In a trial by jury, Sanchez was convicted on count 1, and Reade was acquitted on that count. Reade was convicted on counts 2 and 3, and he was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison. He appeals from the judgment and sentence. His [635]*635notice of appeal states that he also appeals from “the denial’’ of his motion for a new trial. Since the record does not show that he made a motion for a new trial, his purported appeal therefrom will be dismissed.

Appellant contends that there was no probable cause for forcibly entering his home; that the court erred in receiving in evidence, over his objection, Exhibits 4, 5, 6, and 7 (torn paper, note pad, sugar can and hypodermic needle, and finger stalls) which were taken from his home; that the court erred in not striking out all the testimony of Officers Burley and Caraway; that the evidence was not sufficient to support verdicts as to counts 2 and 3.

On May 19, 1960, about 9:30 p.m., while four deputy sheriffs were observing defendant Reade’s house (residence) from their position in an automobile across the street from his house, Reade came out of the house and entered a pickup truck and drove away. The officers followed him while he traveled approximately a mile to a Mobil Service Station at Florence Avenue and Avalon Boulevard. He stopped the truck in the alley behind the station, got out of the truck and went into the men’s rest room. The automobile in which the officers were riding was stopped by the curb on the other side (of the street). After Reade had been in the restroom a minute or two he came out, entered the truck and drove away. Deputy Caraway (one of the four deputies) went into the rest room immediately after Reade left and no one else was there. He (deputy) “reached back up under the sink’’ between the sink and the wall and pulled down a package (wrapped in white tissue paper) in which there were two finger stalls containing a white powder (later identified as heroin). Then, after putting the package in the place where he found it, he returned to the other officers and told them what he had found. One of the officers then drove away in the direction which Reade had driven. The three other officers went behind a fence at the rear of the station and kept the door of the rest room under observation. About an hour later Deputy Caraway returned to the rest room, entered a commode section, and waited there. About 10 minutes thereafter (11:10 p.m.), the defendant Sanchez entered the rest room, went directly to the sink, knelt down and reached up behind the sink, and then left the room. Thereupon Deputy Burley (who had been behind the fence) entered the restroom, and immediately Deputy Caraway examined the place where the package had been and found that the package was gone. From the time Reade left the rest[636]*636room to the time Sanchez entered it, no one other than the officers had entered it. Deputy Burley went to an automobile, wherein defendant Sanchez was sitting in the right front seat, and observed that Sanchez leaned forward hurriedly and then straightened up. The deputy observed a piece of white tissue paper in Sanchez’ hands and a finger stall on the floor near Sanchez ’ feet. He arrested Sanchez, and recovered the finger stall which was on the floor and another finger stall which was under the front seat. The deputies took Sanchez to a sheriff substation and searched him and found two pieces of paper—on one of which there were the written words, “Main and Hooper, Shell One,” and on the other one there were the written words, “Florence—Avalon, Mobile Two.” Deputy Caraway, who was qualified as an expert witness with reference to methods used in illegal narcotic transactions, testified that in his opinion the words on one of those papers indicated one finger stall was to be picked up at the Shell station, and the words on the other paper indicated that two finger stalls were to be picked up at the Mobil station. The deputies went to the Shell station at Main and Hooper Streets, but nothing was found there.

Then the deputies returned to the home of Reade and went upon the porch. Deputy Caraway testified that he knocked on the door and said, “Sheriff’s office”; then through a peep hole in the upper part of the door, he saw someone running, and he could hear someone running; the deputies forced entrance into the house; Reade, his wife, and a child were there; the deputies searched the house and found a hypodermic needle, an empty Merck milk-sugar can, some rubber finger stalls, a scratch pad, and some fragments of paper.

One of the fragments or torn pieces of paper was marked Exhibit 4 for identification. The piece of paper on which the words “Florence-Avalon, Mobile Two” were written was marked Exhibit 3 for identification. Deputy Caraway testified that he made a comparison of the two pieces of paper, Exhibit 4 (found in Reade’s house) and Exhibit 3 (found in searching Sanchez), and it appeared to him that the two pieces matched ‘1 much as a matter of a jigsaw puzzle. ’ ’ He also testified that he noticed that there were fresh scab formations on Reade’s left arm and that there were 19 scabbed puncture wounds on his right arm; his eyes were “tearing,” there was goose flesh on his arms, and there was some nasal secretion; in the opinion of the witness (Deputy Caraway), Reade was addicted to the use of narcotic drugs.

[637]*637A chemist testified that the two finger stalls (part of Exhibit 1—the stalls which were in the Sanchez automobile) contained heroin.

Mr. Mire, who was qualified as a handwriting expert and as an expert in examining questioned documents, testified in substance that, in his opinion, Reade wrote the words, “Main and Hooper, Shell One” and “Florenee-Avalon, Mobile Two,” on the pieces of paper which were found in the possession of Sanchez; and that, in his opinion, Exhibit 3 (the piece of paper regarding the Mobil station) and Exhibit 4 (a torn piece of paper found in Reade’s house) were at one time one piece of paper and that that “one piece” of paper had been torn in two.

The deputies did not have a search warrant or a warrant of arrest.

At the close of the prosecution’s case when the prosecution offered in evidence the exhibits which had been received for identification (the heroin, finger stalls, hypodermic needle, sugar can, pieces of torn paper), the defendant Reade objected thereto on the ground that there was no probable cause for entering his house or arresting him. He also made a motion to strike out all the testimony of Deputies Caraway and Burley on the ground there was no probable cause for such entry or arrest. Testimony on the subject of probable cause was presented in the absence of the jury. The objection was overruled and the motion was denied.

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People v. Reade, 198 Cal. App. 2d 633, 18 Cal. Rptr. 1, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 2587 (Cal. Ct. App. 1961).

198 Cal. App. 2d 633 (People v. Reade) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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