Rojas

Defendant was charged on June 19, 1968, by an indictment returned by the Yolo County Grand Jury, with, count I, violation of section *769 11501 of the Health and Safety Code, unlawfully selling and furnishing a narcotic other than marijuana, to wit, heroin; count II, violation of section 11500, unlawfully possessing a narcotic other than marijuana, to wit, heroin; count III, prior conviction of a felony offense, to wit, violation of section 11501 of the Health and Safety Code.

Defendant moved to quash the indictment, under Penal Code section 995; the motion was denied, and defendant pleaded not guilty to counts I and II, and denied the prior felony conviction alleged in count III. The matter was set for jury trial, but the day before trial the court granted defendant’s motion to withdraw his plea of not guilty to count I of the indictment and to admit the prior felony conviction charged in count III. Defendant then entered a plea of guilty to count I, and admitted the prior felony conviction, whereupon the court granted the district attorney’s motion to dismiss count II in the interests of justice.

Defendant then moved to suspend criminal proceedings in order to…

I concur in the result, without disagreeing with People v. Flores, 276 Cal.App.2d 61 [ 81 Cal.Rptr. 197 ]. While I consider it the safer and better practice, and the one which I believe is employed in most counties, i.e., to permit the presence of only one witness at a time in the grand jury room, I question whether Penal Code section 939 requires it. If the Legislature had intended to forbid the presence at a grand jury session of more than one witness at a time, it seems to me that it would have used the singular, rather than the plural, of the word “witness.” It is not difficult to conjure situations wherein the presence of more than one witness in the grand jury room would greatly serve the convenience of the jurors and permit questions of more than one witness present, for purposes of clarification, without prejudice to the rights of a defendant. This may be why the Legislature-used the term, “witnesses.” Accordingly I would leave it to the Legislature or to the Supreme Court to make the clarification if either disagrees with the interpretation in Flores, supra.

Defendant was charged on June 19, 1968, by an indictment returned by the Yolo County Grand Jury, with, count I, violation of section 11501 of the Health and Safety Code, unlawfully selling and furnishing a narcotic other than marijuana, to wit, heroin; count II, violation of section 11500, unlawfully possessing a narcotic other than marijuana, to wit, heroin; count III, prior conviction of a felony offense, to wit, violation of section 11501 of the Health and Safety Code.

Defendant moved to quash the indictment, under Penal Code section 995; the motion was denied, and defendant pleaded not guilty to counts I and II, and denied the prior felony conviction alleged in count III. The matter was set for jury trial, but the day before trial the court granted defendant's motion to withdraw his plea of not guilty to count I of the indictment and to admit the prior felony conviction charged in count III. Defendant then entered a plea of guilty to count I, and admitted the prior felony conviction, whereupon the court granted the district attorney's motion to dismiss count II in the interests of justice.

Defendant then moved to suspend criminal proceedings in order to…