People v. Lawton
| Citation | 186 Cal.App.2d 834,9 Cal.Rptr. 122 |
| Decision Date | 28 November 1960 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 7235 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Willie LAWTON, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals |
H. Clay Jacke, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and A. Douglas MacRae, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
In a nonjury trial defendant was convicted of unlawfully possessing heroin on November 30, 1959. His motion for a new trial was denied. He appeals from the judgment sentencing him to state prison.
On September 22, 1959 Spot Johnson, an informer, told Officers Leeds, Beckmann, and Drees of the Los Angeles Police Department that a person known to him as Cadillac Willie or Black Willie was selling heroin in large amounts on Central Avenue between 5th Street and 68th Street in Los Angeles. Johnson told the officers this person lived somewhere in the 1000 block on East 24th Street. At the same time, the officers talked to Ricky Pendergraft, another informer, who told them substantially the same thing.
The officers checked the 1000 block on East 24th Street and saw a 2-tone blue Cadillac bearing license number KPE-747 parked in front of 1006 East 24th Street. They checked with other police officers and were told Cadillac Willie or Black Willie was defendant Lawton. They checked their monitor file and found under 'Cadillac Willie' the name of defendant--William Lawton, his Los Angeles number, and a prior booking number. They checked to see if defendant had a prior police record and found he had a narcotic record.
The officers then checked Central Avenue from 5th Street to 68th Street. On several occasions they saw defendant on 5th Street between Stanford and Central Avenues in a Cadillac with license number KPE-747 talking to a Walter Gibson and a Tommy Bryant. Gibson and Bryant were known to the officers as narcotic users. The officers then talked to another narcotic user known to them as Jazz who lived at 68th Street and Central Avenue. Jazz told them Cadillac Willie was dealing in narcotics up and down Central Avenue and made regular runs on Central and on 5th Street. The officers then learned from an unidentified informer that defendant's address was 1043 South Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles. About 5:20 p. m. on November 30, 1959 Officers Leeds and Beckmann, in plain clothes, went to that address, an apartment house. A 2-tone blue Cadillac, license number SBY-256, was parked across the street. The officers walked to the entrance of the apartment house. As they did, they saw defendant standing in the entrance with a bag of groceries. They walked by him into the building and through the hallway to back stairs on the inside of the building. They went around the corner, as if to go up the stairway. Leeds remained on the floor level.
In a few minutes defendant walked down the hallway to room 106, took a key from his pocket, placed it in the door lock, and turned his hand. As he did so, Leeds approached him and identified himself as a police officer. Defendant pushed the door open, stepped inside, and as he did so Leeds reached the doorway calling, 'Police officers, Willie, Police Officers.' Defendant slammed the door. Leeds heard the door lock. As he tried the handle he heard footsteps hurrying away from the door. Leeds forced the door and entered the apartment. Defendant was coming away from the bathroom. Leeds told defendant he was under arrest.
Leeds and Beckmann searched the spartment. In the kitchen they found an unsealed package of empty balloons. Under the toilet seat in the bathroom they found a packet of 24 balloons containing heroin. In the bathroom the officers asked defendant how many balloons he had. Defendant said, 'about 24.' Asked if that was all he had, he said 'Yes.' When asked where he obtained...
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