Galante

Defendant Joseph Galante was convicted of possessing cocaine for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351) after he had agreed to a submission of the cause upon the transcript of his preliminary hearing in a fashion that was tantamount to a plea of guilty. He appeals contending: “I. The trial court erred when it failed to order disclosure of the identity of the informant. U. Appellant was denied due process when the court failed to obtain immunity for a defense witness.”

The determinative facts have never been contested. On January 22, 1981, a search warrant was executed at appellant’s residence and a large quantity of co caine was recovered from a locked file cabinet located in the master bedroom occupied by appellant. In addition appellant was found to have the key to this cabinet in the pocket of his trousers when he was arrested.

At appellant’s preliminary examination, his counsel, apparently not feeling constrained by any consideration for reality, posited various mutually inconsistent hypotheses that might, theoretically, explain how a person could conceivably find himself in appellant’s position without necessarily being guilty of the offense charged. It was never once…