People v. Baca

• Decision Date: 22 December 1961
• Docket Number: Cr. 7711
• Citation: 198 Cal.App.2d 391,17 Cal.Rptr. 779
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. June BACA and Alvin Sanchez, Defendants and Appellants.

Page 779

17 Cal.Rptr. 779

198 Cal.App.2d 391

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. June BACA and Alvin Sanchez, Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 7711.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 2, California.

Dec. 22, 1961.

Manuel Valenzuela, Los Angeles, for appellants.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth Miller, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.

HERNDON, Justice.

After a non-jury trial, appellants June Baca and Alvin Sanchez were convicted of possession of heroin, in violation of section 11500, Health and Safety Code. As to appellant Sanchez, the charge of a prior felony conviction for a violation of the same statute was found to be true.

Appealing from the judgments of conviction, appellants advance as their sole ground of appeal the contention that the incriminating evidence against them was seized by police officers after an unlawful entry into an apartment occupied by appellants, and that the trial court erred in overruling their objection to the admission of such evidence.

Police Officers Fesler and Dorrell were employed by the police department of the City of Los Angeles and were assigned to the narcotics division. On December 21, 1960, Officers Fesler and Dorrell met appellants on Temple Street in said city and had conversations with them concerning the subject of narcotics. In the first of these conversations, both appellants being present, Sanchez told the officers that approximately a month previously he had been released from prison after serving a term for a narcotics offense. He said that he was not using narcotics yet, but that he had had one 'fix'. He said that he was living with his mother at an address on South Figueroa Street, which he gave to the officers. Appellant Baca stated that she was living with Sanchez. At the time Officer Fesler, an expert in determining whether marks were made by narcotic injections, examined both appellants for narcotic injection marks. He found marks on Miss Baca's arms, indicating that she was at that time currently using narcotics.

In a separate conversation with appellant Baca, she told the officers that Sanchez was dealing in narcotics, and that his connection was in East Los Angeles in the vicinity of Atlantic and Whittier Boulevards. She said that she would try to help the officers in catching Sanchez and his connection. She told the officers the kind of car used by Sanchez in the transportation of narcotics, but that she did not know the license number of the car. She said that she would get it and give it to them by telephone, and that, if possible, she would get in touch with them the next time Sanchez went to buy narcotics.

Between December 21, 1960, and January 3, 1961, Officer Fesler received two telephone calls from appellant Baca. In the first call she indicated that something had gone wrong with the deal, and that they hadn't gone to 'score'. In a later tall, she said that she and Sanchez had met a peddler in Pasadena where they had gone to buy narcotics.

On January 3, 1961, Officers Dorrell and Fesler went to the address on Figueroa Street which Sanchez had given as his place of residence. They entered the apartment house located at this address, and were informed that Sanchez occupied apartment 'F' on the second floor. The officers went upstairs and proceeded along a hallway which led to apartment 'F'. They did not have a search warrant or a warrant of arrest.

Officer Fesler stopped at the door marked 'F' while Dorrell proceeded further down the hallway to a window which opened onto a fire escape. When Fesler approached the door marked 'F' he found it partly open. He knocked but received no answer. He then looked inside the door and, observing that it led into another smaller hallway, he entered. He observed that the doors on his right and left were closed, but the door directly ahead of him was open. After a few seconds a woman appeared in the open doorway. Fesler displayed his police badge, and inquired whether Alvin Sanchez was there. The woman said 'Just a minute' and left after stating that she would be right back.

When the woman appeared, Fesler again asked her if Sanchez was there, and she replied in the affirmative. Through the open doorway, directly ahead of him, Fesler saw a man lying on a bed. He asked the woman if that was Sanchez. She said 'no' and moved to a point in the hallway opposite a closed door. When Fesler asked her if Sanchez was in there, she said, 'Will you step out in the hall?' At that time Fesler knocked on the door and a voice from within said 'Come in'.

Officer Fesler thereupon entered the room, a bedroom. Seeing appellants lying in bed, he said 'Hello'. Sanchez jumped 'straight up' in bed. Fesler said: 'Sit down. We just want to talk to you.' At this point, Sanchez jumped from the bed and grappled with the officer. While wrestling with Sanchez, Fesler saw Baca reach from the bed to an adjacent table, grab an object which appeared to be covered with a crumpled piece of tissue, and then withdraw her hand under the bed clothes. Fesler thereupon called to Officer Dorrell. Sanchez shouted something to Baca, whereupon she jumped out of bed entirely unclothed, and ran out of the room carrying the tissue-covered object in her hand.

Meanwhile, Officer Dorrell, who had stationed himself on the fire escape had heard the noise of the scuffling and shouting, which apparently came through an open window covered by a curtain. He pushed the curtain aside and looked into the room. He saw June Baca standing near the window and Sanchez grappling with Officer Fesler. Appellant Baca turned and started to rum toward the bedroom doorway. Officer Dorrell then left the fire escape, ran down the main hallway and through the door at which he had left Officer Fesler. He found appellant Baca in a bathroom, adjacent to the inner hallway. She was standing in front of a toilet, which was in the process of flushing. The officer pushed her to one side and retrieved from the toilet bowl an object wrapped in tissue paper. The contents were seventeen balloons and a cellophane wrapper containing 113 capsules of a powder, which, on chemical analysis, proved to be heroin. Appellants were...