People v. Symons

• Decision Date: 27 March 1962
• Docket Number: Cr. 7356
• Citation: 201 Cal.App.2d 825,20 Cal.Rptr. 400
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Alfred Glen SYMONS, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 400

20 Cal.Rptr. 400

201 Cal.App.2d 825

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Alfred Glen SYMONS, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 7356.

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

March 27, 1962.

Rehearing Denied April 10, 1962.

Hearing Denied May 23, 1962.

Alfred Glen Symons, defendant and appellant, in pro. per.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth Miller, Calvin W. Torrance, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

JEFFERSON, Justice.

In an information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, defendant was charged with illegal possession of heroin in violation of section 11500 of Health and Safety Code. The information further alleged that defendant had previously been convicted of two felonies, to wit, possession of narcotics in the District Court of the United States in 1948, and in the State of California in 1952 for violation of section 11500 of Health and Safety Code. Defendant pleaded not guilty and denied prior convictions. Trial was by the court, trial by jury having been duly waived by defendant personally and by all counsel. The cause, pursuant to stipulation of defendant and counsel, was submitted to the court on the testimony contained in the transcript of the proceedings had at the preliminary hearing, and both sides stipulated that neither would introduce additional testimony.

At the commencement of the trial the judge indicated for the record that he had read and considered the evidence produced at the preliminary hearing. No additional evidence was offered and the matter was submitted to the court for decision. The court found defendant guilty as charged and found the prior convictions as alleged in the information to be true. A probation report was ordered. Probation was denied and defendant was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law.

Officer Sanchez of Los Angeles Police Department testified he had been assigned to the narcotics division for two years prior to the preliminary hearing. He had talked to people who were narcotic addicts; he had seen people taking narcotics intravenously and had seen the effects on those people after they had been injected and had listened to them talk in the parlance they ordinarily used.

On August 31, 1959, officer Sanchez directed that twenty-four hour surveillance be placed on Apartment 207a, 3445 South LaBrea Avenue in the City of Los Angeles. The person who was living in that apartment at the time was Robert Hernandez.

On September 3, 1959, officer Sanchez was in an apartment on the second Floor of a building that was next to 3445 South LaBrea Avenue. There was a breezeway between the two buildings. Apartment 207 was on the second floor of 3445 South LaBrea Avenue, and officer Sanchez was stationed directly across the breezeway from apartment 207. He did not have any electrical instrument or other device with which to amplify and sound.

Officer Sanchez overheard a conversation which was taking place inside apartment 207 between Hernandez and a woman named Helen Lavario who were about twenty feet from the officer. She asked Hernandez to call a person named 'Glen' and get him to bring her some 'stuff'. Soon afterward officer Sanchez followed Hernandez to a phone booth where he appeared to be making a phone call. About forty-five minutes later a 1949 Mercury automobile arrived at the rear of the apartment. The occupant, subsequently identified as defendant, left the car, went to 3445 South LaBrea and entered apartment 207. Officer Sanchez went to the door of the apartment and heard a male voice say 'Here is your stuff.' Defendant left the apartment and officer Sanchez followed him to 4825 1/2 West 111th Street in the city of Inglewood.

On September 6, 1959, officer Sanchez overheard a conversation between Hernandez and Miss Lavario while he was in the hall outside apartment 207. Miss Lavario asked Hernandez to call 'Glen' and 'ask him to bring over some stuff' because she needed a 'fix'. After an argument, Hernandez went to the phone booth at Jefferson and LaBrea and appeared to make a telephone call. About forty-five minutes later, the defendant arrived in a car and entered apartment 207 at 3445 South LaBrea. Defendant left the apartment and officer Sanchez observed through a window that Miss Lavario was heating a spoon with a match.

On Saturday, September 12, 1959, officer Sanchez heard Miss Lavario ask Hernandez to call 'Glen' and 'have him bring over some stuff.' He overheard a heated argument between Miss Lavario and Hernandez and Miss Lavario left the apartment. The officer went to 4825 1/2 West 111th Street. There he saw defendant leave the house, get into his car and drive to 3445 South LaBrea Avenue and go into apartment 207. Officer Sanchez overheard a male voice say 'Here is your stuff--I scored again.' After some other conversation about a half hour later, the officer heard a male voice say 'Let's take a fix.' Officer Sanchez testified 'stuff' meant heroin. The expression 'to take a fix' meant to take an injection of heroin and it was his experience that persons using narcotics hypodermically, dilute the heroin with water and heat it with a match, in a spoon.

On September 13, 1959, officer Sanchez, accompanied by two other officers, placed Hernandez and Miss Lavario under arrest in apartment 207, 3445 South LaBrea Avenue, for violation of the narcotic laws. On the same day, the three officers proceeded to the home of defendant at 4825 1/2 West 111th Street. Officer Sanchez found the screen door locked and the wooden door open. He knocked on the door and a male voice asked 'Who is it?' The officer answered 'Telegram'. Defendant came to the door. Officer Sanchez identified himself as a police officer and told defendant to stay where he was. Defendant ran out of sight to another room. Officer Sanchez broke through the screen door with his shoulder and was followed by the other two officers.

Officer Sanchez went into the kitchen and saw defendant over a sink with a faucet running in a small-type prescription jar, which was held in his right hand. He appeared to be dumping the contents into the sink. Officer Sanchez took this jar from defendant. Officer Sanchez placed defendant under arrest. Defendant was handcuffed and officer Sanchez questioned him in the presence of the other officers. Officer Sanchez asked defendant how much heroin was in the jar when he tried to dispose of it. Defendant answered he did not know whether it was heroin. Officer Sanchez inquired of defendant why he ran when the officer told him they were police officers. Defendant stated he had some socks in the sink and that he was washing them and wanted to attend to them.

Officer Sanchez conducted a search of the remainder of the residence and found a hypodermic syringe and two needles lying on the top of the kitchen sink. He found powder in a glass prescription jar which was on the top of the sink. It was testified by William King, a forensic chemist assigned to the scientific investigation division, that a chemical analysis had been made of the powder and that in his opinion the...