People v. Taylor

• Citation: 1 Cal.Rptr. 86,176 Cal.App.2d 46
• Decision Date: 08 December 1959
• Docket Number: Cr. 6716
• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Samuel Lee TAYLOR, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 86

1 Cal.Rptr. 86

176 Cal.App.2d 46

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Samuel Lee TAYLOR, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 6716.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 2, California.

Dec. 8, 1959.

Minsky, Garber & Rudof, Los Angeles, for appellant.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jack K. Weber, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.

FOX, Presiding Justice.

Defendant was convicted of violating section 11500 of the Health and Safety Code, possession of heroin. He appeals from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment of conviction. His position is that there was no reasonable or probable cause for his arrest and the search of his person and house apart from certain information furnished by an informant whose identity the police declined to reveal. It is therefore necessary to state in considerable detail the circumstances leading up to defendant's arrest.

Officer Fesler, of the Los Angeles Police Department assigned to the Narcotics Division, began an investigation of defendant on May 7, 1958. He interviewed three narcotic users whom he had picked up in the vicinity of 5th Street and Central Avenue, and inquired of them as to who was the biggest peddler in that area. Two of them indicated he was a man known as 'Big Sam.' They informed Officer Fesler that he ran an auto wash rack near 6th and Central. One stated that he believed Big Sam secured his narcotics from 'a large Mexican' and that this Mexican drove a Buick. The officer obtained a description of Big Sam from two of these men.

On May 19, Fesler and Sergeant Stevenson staked out in the vicinity of 6th and Central. Fesler saw a man who answered the description of Big Sam enter a car and drive away. In the back seat was a person whom the officer recognized as a narcotic user.

On May 24, 1958, Fesler and Sergeant Burkland picked up a man named Charlie Bowers, and his wife. Bowers indicated several locations where narcotics were being sold, one of them being at a wash rack at 6th and Central by a 'Big Sam.' He thought Sam's connection was a large male Mexican who drove a Buick. Bowers described Big Sam's method of operation for the police. He stated that Sam carried no narcotics on his person but hid it up the alley in back of the wash rack, and at other places in the immediate vicinity.

On May 29th Fesler again placed the wash rack under observation. He saw several persons known to him as narcotic users go to the car in which defendant was seated, where there would be some conversation. On one or two occasions Big Sam would leave the car and walk up the alley with the other person. The officer also staked out this location on June 6th and 13th. On each occasion he saw narcotic users in conversation with defendant. The officer spoke to two of them on the 6th, and three of them on the 13th. He remembered only the name of Robert Patterson, who was a user. Patterson told the officers that Big Sam was dealing in narcotics but that he had not purchased any from him. About this time, the officer also interviewed Rudolph Johnson and George Gibson, two narcotic users he saw in the vicinity of the wash rack; both informed the officer that Big Sam was dealing in narcotics but neither admitted that he had purchased any narcotics from him. A day or so later, Fesler interviewed three men in Central Jail, two of whom he recognized as men he had seen at the wash rack; he was not able, however, to recall their names. They admitted having been at that location. They also reported that Big Sam was dealing in narcotics but denied that they had purchased any from him.

On July 22, Fesler instructed Officer Keefer to ascertain the name of the man known as Big Sam. He went to the wash rack on the pretext of having his private car washed. He conversed with Big Sam and learned that his name was Samuel Lee Taylor.

Fesler then went to the Police Building and checked the records of Samuel Lee Taylor and found a picture of him; he also found that Taylor had had three narcotic arrests plus burglary and robbery. It was hard to tell from the record, but Fesler concluded that Taylor had been convicted of narcotic addiction.

The next day Fesler went back to the wash rack. He observed a maroon Buick, in which was seated a large male Mexican who was engaged in conversation with Taylor. A few minutes later Taylor left the Mexican and walked up the alley to 5th Street where he met a man named Joe Hayes, who was known to Fesler as a dope peddler. Fesler returned to the Police Building and told his superior officers that he thought a transaction was about to be made at the wash rack. The officers went back to a lot across the street from the wash rack. Taylor soon returned, spoke briefly to the Mexican, entered his car, and left. A check was made on the maroon Buick, which disclosed that it belonged to one Pate Amador who lived in Aliso Village. Investigation of his record revealed that he had been arrested for violation of the federal narcotics act. His photograph showed that he was the same person that the officer had seen in conversation with Taylor.

Fesler observed Taylor in conversation with Alex Waters on the 29th and 30th. The officer later interviewed Waters and found him to be a narcotic user.

Shortly after Fesler identified Pete Amador, in the latter part of July, Officer Leeds inquired of Fesler whether he was acquainted with a man known as Big Sam. Leeds reported that he had heard of a man known as Big Sam who was dealing in large quantities of heroin. Fesler determined that their information had come from separate sources. Soon after this, Leeds advised Fesler that when Big Sam made delivery he went to the 800-900 block of West 50th Street, between Hoover and Vermont; that the person to whom he was to make a delivery would wait in his car, and that Sam would walk to the middle of the block. Leeds also told Fesler that he had made a check of Sam's record and had discovered that he formerly lived in that area on West 50th Street; that he had observed Sam in that vicinity.

At about noon on August 8th, Fesler and his partner placed under observation the block on West 50th Street between Hoover and Vermont. Soon thereafter they observed Taylor park in the center of the block, cross the street, and enter a house in the rear. Investigation disclosed that this house was in the rear of 852 West 50th Street. Fesler then called Leeds, who was standing by in the office, and told him that 'Sam had been to the spot and put down his stash.' Fesler testified: 'I planned to make the arrest the next time I saw him leave that house on foot.' At approximately 5:00 o'clock Taylor was out on the street. Officer Fesler approached him on foot on the sidewalk while three other officers approached in a car. Defendant was placed under arrest. In the search that followed, Officer McCarville removed from defendant's pocket two packages of...