People v. Morris, Cr. 6034

• Decision Date: 22 January 1958
• Docket Number: Cr. 6034
• Citation: 157 Cal.App.2d 81,320 P.2d 67
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William Joseph MORRIS, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 67

320 P.2d 67

157 Cal.App.2d 81

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William Joseph MORRIS, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 6034.

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

Jan. 22, 1958.

Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., and Elizabeth Miller, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.

VALLEE, Justice.

In a nonjury trial defendant was convicted of a violation of section 11500 of the Health and Safety Code. On stipulation the cause was submitted on the transcript of the preliminary examination. Defendant appeals from the judgment.

On February 23, 1957 Officer Lowe of the Los Angeles Police Department contracted what he called 'a reliable confidential informant.' Lowe testified he had used this informer in the past and that the information the informer had given had been reliable. Lowe also testified he had done business with the informer for a year; Officer Olson had been doing business with him (the informer) for three years; the informer had given him (Lowe) information which he found reliable three times; 'Q. Any bad information received from him any time where he has been shown to be wrong? A. There has been times that we haven't found narcotics in the last three years; that we have missed.' The informer told Lowe that defendant and a Larry Prentis were in a room on the second floor of a hotel at 333 East Fourth Street in Los Angeles and that they had in their possession a fairly large quantity of narcotics.

About an hour after receiving the information from the informer, Lowe and another officer went to room 21 in the hotel at 333 East Fourth Street. While standing outside the door they heard bad springs squeaking. Without knocking or giving any warning of any kind, the officers broke the lock and entered the room. Defendant was sitting on the bed. The officers arrested him. They found a 'finger stall' with 10 bindles of heroin in it lying on the bed. Lowe testified: he asked defendant if there was any more stuff in the room; defendant said 'there wasn't. Larry had gone out with the rest of the stuff and all the money. * * * That is all the stuff I have got in the room'; he asked defendant if he used narcotics; defendant said he did, that he used about a paper and a half a day. Defendant did not testify or present any evidence other than by cross-examining Lowe.

Defendant's contention is that the arrest and the search and seizure were illegal in that the arresting officer did not have probable cause or a warrant for the arrest, and did not have a warrant for the search and that the evidence secured thereby was inadmissible. There is nothing in the record to show that the arresting officers did not have a warrant for the arrest of defendant or that they did not have a warrant to search his room. The question raised here was not raised either at the preliminary or at the trial In People v. Farrara, 46 Cal.2d 265, 294 P.2d 21, there was no evidence that the arrest was made without a warrant or that private premises were entered or the search made without a search warrant. The court held (46 Cal.2d 268, 294 P.2d 21, 23):

'[T]o reverse the judgment it would be necessary to presume that the officers acted illegally and that the trial court erred in admitting the evidence so obtained. It is settled, however, that error will not be presumed on appeal [citations], and in the absence of evidence to the contrary it must also be presumed that the officers regularly and lawfully performed their duties.'

Also see People v. Citrino, 46 Cal.2d 284, 287, 294 P.2d 32.

Since in the present case the record is silent as to whether the officers had a warrant for the arrest of defendant and is silent as to whether they had a search warrant, we must presume they regularly and lawfully performed their duties, that they had a warrant for the arrest of defendant, and therefore that they had reasonable cause for his arrest; and we must presume they had a search warrant and therefore that the search and seizure were lawful.

Defendant argues it was incumbent on the People to show literal compliance with section 844 of the Penal Code which provides, 'To make an arrest * * * a peace officer, may break open the door or window of the house in which the person to be arrested is, or in which they have reasonable grounds for believing him to be, after having demanded...