Clarida

A jury convicted appellant Staccato Tony Clarida of possession and sale of cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11350, 11352.) Sentenced to state prison, Clarida appeals his conviction, challenging (1) the sufficiency of evidence of possession of cocaine; and (2) his impeachment with a prior conviction. We affirm the judgment.

I. Facts

On June 26, 1986, 1 a confidential informant told San Mateo Deputy Sheriff Kenneth George that he could purchase narcotics at an apartment on Clark Street in East Palo Alto. Appellant Staccato Tony Clarida had told the informant a week or two earlier that he could “come there and buy dope.” The informant had a criminal record, but had provided accurate information to George before, providing the basis of many search warrants and leading to many arrests. At 8 p.m. that evening, the informant was searched, given county money, and outfitted with a transmitter. After completing an unrelated purchase nearby, George saw the informant drive up to 2387 Clark Street. At 9 p.m., officers observed him enter apartment 4 and heard the cocaine purchase being made. Conversation heard over the transmitter led the officers to believe that people in the…

I write separately to nail down what I perceive to be clear error: the trial court’s failure to state on the record its reasoning process in denying defendant’s motion to exclude the prior conviction.

Unlike my colleagues, I find nothing confusing about the California Supreme Court’s “signals” regarding what a trial court is required to do when presented with an Evidence Code section 352 1 objection in any context. (Cf. maj. opn., ante, p. 553.)

The starting place is People v. Green (1980) 27 Cal.3d 1 [ 164 Cal.Rptr. 1 , 609 P.2d 468 ], 2 wherein the court held that “on a motion invoking [§ 352] the record must affirmatively show that the trial judge did in fact weigh prejudice against probative value.” (Id. at p. 25.)

*555 The most recent pronouncement is by Chief Justice Lucas who, writing for the court in People v. Montiel (1985) 39 Cal.3d 910 [ 218 Cal.Rptr. 572 , 705 P.2d 1248 ], repeated the rule without modification or qualification: “We reiterated in People v. Green, supra, that ‘on a motion invoking [§ 352 grounds] the record must affirmatively show that the trial judge did in fact weigh prejudice against probative value .... [T]he reason for the rule is to furnish the…

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

CHANNELL, J.

A jury convicted appellant Staccato Tony Clarida of possession and sale of cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11350, 11352.) Sentenced to state prison, Clarida appeals his conviction, challenging (1) the sufficiency of evidence of possession of cocaine; and (2) his impeachment with a prior conviction. We affirm the judgment.

On June 26, 1986, [1] a confidential informant told San Mateo Deputy Sheriff Kenneth George that he could purchase narcotics at an apartment on Clark Street in East Palo Alto. Appellant Staccato Tony Clarida had told the informant a week or two earlier that he could "come there and buy dope." The informant had a criminal record, but had provided accurate information to George before, providing the basis of many search warrants and leading to many arrests. At 8 p.m. that evening, the informant was searched, given county money, and outfitted with a transmitter. After completing an unrelated purchase nearby, George saw the informant drive up to 2387 Clark Street. At 9 p.m., officers observed him enter apartment 4 and heard the cocaine purchase being made. Conversation heard over the…