People v. Hurst

• Decision Date: 29 July 1960
• Docket Number: Cr. 7033
• Citation: 6 Cal.Rptr. 483,183 Cal.App.2d 379
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arthur Lee HURST and Annie Hurst, Defendants, Arthur Lee Hurst, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 483

6 Cal.Rptr. 483

183 Cal.App.2d 379

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arthur Lee HURST and Annie Hurst, Defendants Arthur Lee Hurst, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 7033.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 3, California.

July 29, 1960.

Thomas H. Ludlow, Jr., Los Angeles, under appointment by the District Court of Appeal, for appellant.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Robert M. Sweet, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.

VALLEE, Justice.

In count I of an information defendants Arthur Lee Hurst and Anniece Jones were accused of unlawfully having heroin in their possession on May 18, 1959. In count II they were accused of unlawfully having marijuana in their possession on the same date. The court, sitting without a jury, found them guilty on both counts. Arthur Lee Hurst was sentenced to state prison. He appeals from the judgment and order denying a new trial. He will be referred to as the defendant. Anniece Jones did not appeal.

About 3:30 p. m. on May 18, 1959 Officer Garrahan of the Los Angeles Police Department received an anonymous telephone call at the narcotics division office in the Police Building. The person on the telephone said, 'If you want to find two pounds of marijuana look under the house at 309 West 83rd Street,' and hung up. Garrahan testified the voice sounded like that of a frmale and he had not heard it before.

Garrahan related the content of the call to Officers Hanks and Grennan, and the three officers drove to the address given by the caller, 309 West 83 Street, arriving there about 4 p.m. The building at that address was a single-story duplex. There were two residences, numbered 307 and 309.

After parking in front of the duplex the officers went directly to the residence at 309. Garrahan went to the front door; Hanks, to the rear of the building; and Grennan, to the side. As Garrahan approached the building, he saw a female Negro through an open window inside the house. On reaching the front door he knocked once, waited a few moments and knocked a second time, waited 'a period of time' and knocked a third time. Anniece Jones came to the door. Garrahan identified himself as a police officer. Anniece opened the door and he walked in. Aniece did not tell him he could enter. He did not force his way into the house. Annice did not say anything until he was inside. In the house, Garrahan told Anniece the officers had information there was marijuana at the house and asked her if she would mind their looking around. Annice said, 'My husband is not here. He will be home in about thirty minutes.'

Garrahan testified that immediately after Annice made this statement Hanks came to a window and 'yelled' that 'The stuff is under the house. Place them under arrest.' Garrahan then placed Anniece under arrest.

In the meantime, Grennan, at the side of the building, was looking through a screened window into the bathroom. He heard Garrahan knocking on the front door and in 'a matter of moments' after he heard the knocking, he saw Annice enter the bathroom and empty something from an ashtray into the toilet and flush it. He did not see what she flushed down the toliet. He immediately 'stated in a loud voice' that Anniece had flushed something down the toliet, walked around to the front of the house and went in. As he entered he heard Hanks calling in the rear window that the stuff was under the house, place them under arrest. He then heard Garrahan tell Anniece she was under arrest. He did not see what Hanks did at the rear of the house. He did not recover anything from the toilet.

When Hanks reached the rear of the house he noticed that the screen was off a vent hole underneath the bedroom window of 309. The screen was alongside the vent hole. The vent hole was about 12 to 14 inches long and about 8 inches wide. About six inches inside the hole he saw a large brown package. He could 'readily' see it standing outside. He reached under the house and got the package. The package was about a foot and a half long and 6 to 8 inches in diameter. There were two brown paper bags covering two plastic bags which, in turn, covered a large gray pillowcase. He felt of the pillowcase and felt 'a weedy, leafy material' inside one of the bags. He immediately knocked on the rear window and told Garrahan 'the stuff is under the house, place them under arrest.' In the second bag there were two 'condoms' containing a white powder, wrapped in a handkerchief. In the package there was also what looked like a 'hypodermic outfit.' He then entered the house and searched it. In a purse which was sitting on a dresser in the bedroom he found a bag which contained numerous green seeds, three packages of cigarette papers, and a gas bill made out to defendant at 309 West 83 Street. He found another purse which Anniece said was hers which contained two green seeds lying loose on the bottom. He also found two hypodermic needles and an eye dropper wrapped in a piece of paper in a 'poker chip box.'

Defendant Arthur Hurst arrived at the house in a Ford about 4:45 p. m. As he walked toward the front door Grennan and Hanks stepped out, identified themselves, and asked him who he was. Defendant said he was Arthur Hurst. He was immediately placed under arrest. Hanks searched the car and under the dashboard on the driver's side found one brown paper cigarette.

Officer Grennan had a conversation with defendant in the house in which defendant stated he did not know anything about any marijuana being in the house or underneath it; he knew the two needles had been in the house; they belonged to a couple of friends of his up north; he had been 'to the joint twice, once for marijuana and once for heroin'; he knew what it was all about but none of the 'stuff' they found belonged to him; he did not know anything about the cigarette found in the car, he did not 'know how it could have got there.'

The package found under the house contained 20 grams of heroin, four pounds of marijuana, and a hypodermic outfit. The seeds found in the purses were marijuana. The cigarettes found in the house and in the car contained marijuana. The items memtioned were all admitted in evidence. Defendant made appropriate and timely objections to their admission. The objections were overruled.

The officers had neither a search warrant nor a warrant for defendant's arrest.

The first point made for reversal is that the police in searching defendant's home and automobile and in arresting him, did so without probable cause in violation of Article I, section 19, of the Constitution of California which provides that 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, shall unreasonable seizures and searches, shall not be violated.' A peace officer may, without a warrant, arrest a person whenever he has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a felony. Pen.Code, § 836, subd. 3. Reasonable cause is a suspicion founded on circumstances sufficiently strong to warrant a reasonable man in the belief that the charge is true. People v. Brite, 9 Cal.2d 666, 687, 72 P.2d 122; People v. McMurray, 171 Cal.App.2d 178, 184, 340 P.2d 335. The defendant makes a prima facie case that the arrest or search was made without reasonable cause when he establishes that the arrest without a warrant or search without a warrant was made, and the burden then rests on the prosecution to show proper justification. People v. Silvestri, 150 Cal.App.2d 114, 118, 309 P.2d 871. It is appearent that the officers embarked on the trip to defendant's home without reasonable cause to believe a felony had been committed or that defendant had committed a felony. All they had was a telephone call from an unknown party. Information from an unknown party alone is not a sufficient basis for a lawful search. Willson v. Superior Court, 46 Cal.2d 291, 294, 294 P.2d 36.

Where the only information received by the police is from an anonymous informer, evidence must be introduced that would justify the conclusion that reliance on the information was reasonable. Such evidence may be supplied by the personal observations of the police. Willson v. Superior Court, 46 Cal.2d 291, 294-295, 294 P.2d 36; People v. Prewitt, 52 Cal.2d 330, 337, 341 P.2d 1. If, before the search and seizure, Officer Garrahan was justified in making an arrest, it is immaterial that the search and seizure preceded the arrest. People v. Simon, 45 Cal.2d 645, 648-649, 290 P.2d 531.

The question is: Were the observations of the officers at defendant's home sufficient to establish reasonable cause for the search? In determining whether an arresting officer had reasonable cause to believe a person had committed a felony and therefore was justified in placing him under arrest, the court looks only at the facts and circumstances presented to the officer at the time he was required to act. People v. Cantley, 163 Cal.App.2d 762, 765, 329 P.2d 993. As Garrahan approached the house he saw a female through an open window. Garrahan knocked on the front door. No one answered. He waited 'a short period of time' and knocked again. No one answered. He knocked a third time, and Anniece Jones opened the door. While Garrahan was knocking on the door, Grennan saw Anniece enter the bathroom, empty something from an ashtray into the toilet, and flush it....