People v. Diaz

• Decision Date: 09 December 1965
• Docket Number: Cr. 10529
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Frank DIAZ, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

Page 20

48 Cal.Rptr. 20

238 Cal.App.2d 636

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Frank DIAZ, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 10529.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4, California.

Dec. 9, 1965.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 28, 1965.

Hearing Denied Feb. 2, 1966.

Richard Sinsheimer, Beverly Hills, under appointment by the District Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thomas Kerrigan, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

JEFFERSON, Justice.

In a trial by the court, after waiving a jury, defendant was found guilty of violation of section 11530 of the Health and Safety Code (possession of marijuana). Defendant's motion for a new trial was denied. Proceedings were adjourned, and the sheriff was ordered to file a petition pursuant to section 6451 of the Penal Code for the purpose of determining whether defendant was addicted to narcotics or was in danger of being so addicted. Pursuant to Penal Code section 1237, subdivision 2, defendant appeals from the order denying his motion for a new trial. ¹

Two issues are raised by defendant, (1) whether the evidence which convicted him was secured through an illegal search and seizure and, (2) whether statements made by him after his arrest were elicited from him by the police in violation of the rule concerning warning of constitutional rights.

On the issue of probable cause, Officer Madama testified that, on June 10, 1964, he received a phone call from a man who identified himself and stated that he was the manager of a certain gas station located on Huntington Drive in Los Angeles. The man told the officer that four male Mexicans had entered his filling station at approximately 4:00 o'clock that day. They parked their car and went into the rest room. They stayed in the rest room for about half an hour. When they left he noted that the license number of their car, a green 1954 Buick, was GZW 933. He then went to the rest room to clean it, and found a trail of blood 'all over the floor.' On the floor he also found an empty balloon. These same men had used his rest room on past occasions and the 'same routine had transpired.' From this information, Madama, an experienced narcotics officer, formed the opinion that these persons were 'fixing' (using heroin).

The officer further testified that, on the following day, he and his partner, Officer Wilson, drove to the gas station in question. When they arrived at 4:00 p. m. they observed a green Buick, bearing license number GZW 933, pull out of the station. There were four or five persons inside the car and all appeared to be of Mexican extraction. Madama recognized the driver of the car as a man he had arrested in the past for possession of heroin. The officer stopped the Buick at Maycrest Avenue and Huntington Drive with the purpose of questioning its occupants. As they approached the car Officer Madama observed that the person sitting on the passenger side of the front seat 'placed his right hand up to his mouth and withdrew it in a hurried manner.' There were two persons in the front seat and three in the back seat. Defendant was seated in the center of the back seat. The five men were ordered to get out of the car and were placed under arrest. The car was then searched and a piece of crumpled paper was found lying in the center of the front seat. Inside the paper was a cigarette. (It was stipulated at the trial that a forensic chemist found that the cigarette contained marijuana.)

Well established is the rule that circumstances short of probable cause may nevertheless justify an officer in stopping motorists on the streets for questioning, and that, should the investigation then uncover reasonable cause to arrest a suspect, the officer may do so and conduct a reasonable incidental search. (People v. Mickelson, 59 Cal.2d 448, 450-451, 30 Cal.Rptr. 18, 380 P.2d 658.) Here the officers had received information that certain persons were engaged in activities which were highly suspicious and which suggested that narcotics violations were taking place. Although the reliability of the source of this information was not then established, and consequently, such information standing alone would not provide reasonable cause for a warrantless arrest or search, sufficient evidence was presented to justify the conclusion that the officer's reliance upon the information, as a basis for further investigation and interrogation, was reasonable. (See Willson v. Superior Court, 46 Cal.2d 291, 294-295, 294 P.2d 36.) When the officers arrived at the service station at 4:00 p. m. on the day following the incident described to them, they saw a car leave the premises matching the description given; it contained approximately the same number of persons; its driver was a person who had been arrested in the past for possession of heroin. Under these circumstances, the officers quite properly followed and stopped the car. When as they approached the vehicle, one of the officers observed the furtive movement of one of its passengers in seemingly attempting to dispose of contraband, the officers had reasonable cause to make the arrests and to conduct the incidental search thereafter undertaken which produced the marijuana.

The facts pertinent to the second issue follow.

At the time defendant was arrested he was interrogated--along with the other persons who were in the car--by Officers Madama and Wilson. The officers then took defendant and the other suspects to the Highland Park Police Station where they were further questioned. After a short time they were transported to the Narcotic Division of the Los Angeles Police Administration Building. Defendant was taken to an interrogation room and Officer Madama and another officer had a 'conversation' with him. After asking that the other suspects be released, defendant stated that the marijuana cigarette found in the car belonged to him; that he threw it in the front seat as the officers approached.

Defendant testified at the trial and denied that the cigarette found in the car belonged to him. He told the officers it was his cigarette at the suggestion of the men arrested with him whom he had known for approximately five years. During the period of time after they were arrested and before they reached the Police Administration Building, they had pleaded with him to say it was his cigarette, because he was younger and would probably get probation, while they had previous offenses and were likely to be dealt with severely. Defendant admitted that he knew what a marijuana cigarette was and that he saw a marijuana cigarette lying on the floor of the car before they were stopped.

Defendant's statement to the police constituted a full confession of guilt, was made at a time when he was in custody, and with suspicion focused on him. In addition, although the record does not indicate what questions were asked of defendant prior to his confession, it does show that he was 'interrogated' at the scene of his arrest; that he was questioned further at the Highland Park Station; that he was then taken alone to an interrogation room of the Police Administration Building Narcotic Division, where, during a 'conversation' with two officers, he made the statement above referred to. Under such circumstances and since the record clearly fails to show that the statement was not the result of a process of interrogation tending to elicit incriminating statements we must presume that the statement was the product of such a process of interrogation. (PEOPLE V. STOCKMAN, 63 CAL.2D 494, 47 CAL.RPTR. 365,² 407 P.2d 227 [decided Nov. 10, 1965]; PEOPLE V. LUKER, 63 CAL.2D 464, 47 CAL.RPTR. 209, 407 P.2D 9;³ People v. North, 233 Cal.App.2d 884, 887, 44 Cal.Rptr. 123.) After discussing factors to be considered in determining whether a statement is the product of a process of interrogation (as set out in People v. Stewart, 62 Cal.2d 571, 43 Cal.Rptr. 201, 400 P.2d 97), the court in PEOPLE V. STOCKMAN, SUPRA⁴, said (at p. 499 of 63 Cal.2d, at p. 368 of 47 Cal.Rptr., at p. 280, of 407 P.2d), 'The prosecution and the police are better able than the defendant to preserve evidence as to these factors for use at trial. Here no substantial evidence concerning such factors was presented. Therefore, it must be held that the prosecution did not sustain its burden.' At oral argument, although conceding that a 'process of interrogation' had begun at the time of defendant's arrest and had continued through his detention at the Highland Park Police Station, the Attorney General argued that the 'process' had stopped, and that the confession of guilt above discussed was a spontaneous and volunteered statement made before a new 'process' had begun. The record, however, does not support such assertion.

The Attorney General contends that 'here there was a clear waiver of the appellant's constitutional rights.' In support of this position, the Attorney General relies on the testimony of Officer Madama. On voir dire examination the officer was questioned by defense counsel as follows:

'BY MR. LARSON:

'Q Officer, at the time you spoke to Mr. Diaz had he been placed under arrest?

'A Yes.

'Q And had the other co-suspects also been placed under arrest?

'A Yes.

'Q Did you ever tell him at that time that anything he said to you would be used in evidence against him?

'A No, he did not.

'Q Was he ever told by you or any other officer in your presence that anything he said to you could be used in evidence against him?

'A No.

'Q Was he ever told before he spoke to you that he had a right to contact an attorney if he so desired?

'A No, he wasn't.

'Q Did he ever make any request to make any type of a telephone call before he spoke to you?

'A Not to me, no.

'Q And before he spoke to you or your fellow officer he had a right to call an attorney if he wanted to; was he told that?

'A Yes, he was.

'Q. And were you present at that time,...