People v. Hall

• Citation: 479 P.2d 664,92 Cal.Rptr. 304,3 Cal.3d 992
• Decision Date: 29 January 1971
• Docket Number: Cr. 14307
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 479 P.2d 664 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Joy HALL and Vernon White, Defendants and Respondents.

Page 304

92 Cal.Rptr. 304

3 Cal.3d 992, 479 P.2d 664

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Joy HALL and Vernon White, Defendants and Respondents.

Cr. 14307.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

Jan. 29, 1971.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Nelson P. Kempsky and A. Wells Petersen, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and appellant.

Colley & McGhee and Milton L. McGhee, Sacramento, for defendants and respondents.

McCOMB, Justice.

Defendants, Joy Hall and Vernon White, were jointly charged by information with one count of possession for sale of heroin, and Miss Hall was additionally charged with one count of sale of heroin (Health & Saf.Code, §§ 11500.5, 11501). At the preliminary hearing defendants' motion to dismiss was denied and they were held to answer. They moved in the superior court to set aside the information pursuant to section 995 of the Penal Code. The People appeal from the order of dismissal.

Evidence was presented to the magistrate at the preliminary hearing that Narcotics Officer Cozzalio, together with other officers, arrested defendants without a warrant and seized material evidence after a forcible entry of a motel room under the following circumstances. Prior to February 7, 1968, Cozzalio had information from reliable undisclosed informants that Miss Hall was trafficking in heroin and was bringing it to Sacramento, California, from Klamath Falls, Oregon. On February 7, 1968, with the assistance of an untested operative named Willie Williams, Cozzalio made arrangements with Miss Hall, who was then using the name 'Britton,' to purchase from her in Sacramento an ounce of heroin for $575. Miss Hall was to contact Williams about 4 p.m. that day, and the latter promised to contact Cozzalio. Shortly before 4 p.m. Williams notified Cozzalio that Miss Hall had been delayed but would be in later that night. About 10:30 p.m. Williams informed Cozzalio that he had made another contact with Miss Hall and was to meet her within the half hour at a designated service station in Woodland. Cozzalio and Williams were late in arriving. Cozzalio observed Miss Hall's car leaving just as they reached the service station. Later that evening Cozzalio observed Williams and a narcotics agent enter a bar where Miss Hall was supposed to be. Cozzalio was Miss Hall come out of the bar but did not see Williams and Miss Hall together. Cozzalio then advised Williams that since it was getting late and the officers wanted to observe everything that occurred they were calling off the transaction for that evening.

The next morning Cozzalio ascertained that Miss Hall was staying in room 111 at a certain motel in Sacramento. About 10 a.m. Williams and his car were searched, Williams was provided with $600 of recorded money and Williams drove to the motel. He parked alongside Miss Hall's car in front of room 111. He and his car were under constant observation from the time he was originally searched until he entered room 111 and after his exit from that room until, several blocks away, he handed Cozzalio a rubber contraceptive containing heroin. He and his car were then searched. Neither the $600 nor other narcotics were found on him or in his car.

Meanwhile room 111 had been kept under constant surveillance. No one else had entered or left. After receiving the heroin, Cozzalio talked to the manager of the motel, showed him a picture of Miss Hall, and was informed that she was registered in room 111 under the name of 'Olemphia Jackson' from Klamath Falls. Cozzalio obtained a key from the manager, went to room 111, inserted the key in the lock, pounded on the door and announced 'Police Officers.' Immediately thereafter Cozzalio heard a woman within the room start screaming. He then turned the key, opened the door until it was stopped by a night chain, observed a man, defendant White, sitting on a chair near the door, broke the door chain, and entered the room.

Cozzalio informed both occupants that they were under arrest and advised them of their rights. Miss Hall was unclothed. Defendant White was clothed, and search of his person revealed a .32 automatic in his waistband. Search of a purse, found on the floor next to the dresser and identified by Miss Hall as belonging to her, revealed $600 with serial numbers matching those on the state money given to Williams. When asked if the money was hers, she replied 'Yeah, it's mine, but I didn't steal it.' Search of the adjoining bathroom revealed a packet of heroin concealed within the folds of a towel. ¹

Defendants urged in support of their motion to dismiss complaints at the preliminary hearing and again on their motion to dismiss the information at the section 995 hearing that there was no reasonable or probable cause to arrest or search either defendant because the arrest was made on evidence received from an untested informer, in violation of their Sixth Amendment right of confrontation; that the only evidence against defendant White was his presence in the room where heroin was found; and that no circumstances were shown excusing strict compliance with section 844 of the Penal Code in making a forcible entry into the motel room (citing People v. Rosales (1968) 68 Cal.2d 299, 302, 66 Cal.Rptr. 1, 437 P.2d 489; People v. Gastelo (1967) 67 Cal.2d 586, 589, 63 Cal.Rptr. 10, 432 P.2d 706, and People v. Cain (1968) 261 Cal.App.2d 383, 67 Cal.Rptr. 922), and therefore they were deprived of their Fourth Amendment right to be secure in their homes from unreasonable police action.

An information will not be set aside if there is some rational ground for assuming the possibility that an offense has been committed and the accused is guilty of it. (Rideout v. Superior Court (1967) 67 Cal.2d 471, 474, 62 Cal.Rptr. 581, 432 P.2d 197.) 'On a motion to set aside an information, the question of the guilt or innocence of the defendant is not before the court, nor does the issue concern the quantum of evidence necessary to sustain a judgment of conviction. The court is only to determine whether the magistrate, acting as a man of ordinary caution or prudence, could conscientiously entertain a reasonable suspicion that a public offense had been committed in which the defendant had participated.' (People v. Jablon (1957) 153 Cal.App.2d 456, 458, 314 P.2d 824, 825.) Neither the trial court in a section 995 proceeding (People v. Landry (1964) 230 Cal.App.2d 775, 779, 41 Cal.Rptr. 202; Hacker v. Superior Court (1968) 268 Cal.App.2d 387, 392--393, 73 Cal.Rptr. 907) nor a reviewing court on appeal therefrom (Rideout v. Superior Court, supra, 67 Cal.2d at 474, 62 Cal.Rptr. 581, 432 P.2d 197; People v. Cirilli (1968) 265 Cal.App.2d 607, 612--613, 71 Cal.Rptr. 604) may substitute its judgment as to the weight of the evidence for that of the committing magistrate. 'Although the magistrate, in reaching his decision, may weigh the evidence, resolve conflicts, and give or withhold credence to witnesses, such a balancing of the evidence is not within the powers of a tribunal reviewing the magistrate's order.' (Perry v. Superior Court (1962) 57 Cal.2d 276, 283--284, 19 Cal.Rptr. 1, 5, 368 P.2d 529, 533.) Every legitimate inference that may be drawn from the evidence must be drawn in favor of the information. (Rideout v. Superior Court, supra, 67 Cal.2d 474, 62 Cal.Rptr. 581, 432 P.2d 197.) In the light of these rules we examine the issues here raised.

Questions: One. Was there reasonable or probable cause to arrest defendants without a warrant?

Yes. The narcotics officer's suspicions that Miss Hall was trafficking in heroin had been aroused by reliable tested informants. Williams was not known to the officer until February 7, 1968, but the reliability of his information was corroborated by the officer's own observations prior to the arrest. Miss Hall's car had been seen leaving a named place by the officer who arrived late for the pre-arranged meeting; she was seen leaving a named place that evening; she was found to be registered at a named motel the next morning; she was found to have registered under an assumed name and to be in room 111; Williams had been seen entering room 111 with recorded money and without heroin; and he was seen leaving that room without the money and with heroin. While defendant White's presence was not known to the officers until after they entered, the officers could reasonably conclude that persons inside the room when the sale took place had knowledge of the sale and were in constructive possession of heroin for sale. There was therefore a state of facts sufficient to lead Cozzalio, as a person of ordinary caution and prudence, to believe and conscientiously entertain a strong suspicion that a felony (sale of heroin) had just taken place and that a felony (possession of heroin for purposes of sale) was being committed and that there was probable cause for the arrest. (See People v. Benjamin (1969) 71 Cal.2d 296, 303, 78 Cal.Rptr. 510, 455 P.2d 438; People v. Berutko (1969) 71 Cal.2d 84, 90--91, 77 Cal.Rptr. 217, 453 P.2d 721; People v. Sandoval (1966) 65 Cal.2d 303, 307, 54 Cal.Rptr. 123, 419 P.2d 187.)

Two. Did the officer's failure to announce the purpose for which he demanded admittance vitiate the arrest and search which followed?

No. The arresting officer substantially complied with section 844 of the Penal Code ² under the particular circumstances shown. He gave notice of his demand for entrance through knocking and he identified himself as a police officer. (See Greven v. Superior Court (1969) 71 Cal.2d 287, 293, 78 Cal.Rptr. 504, 455 P.2d 432.) He did not...