Rodgers

*511 Opinion

Defendant Richard G. Rodgers and his brother, Joseph, were charged with conspiracy to possess heroin for sale (count I) and with possession for sale (count II). After a court trial, defendant was convicted on count II, possession for sale, and his brother was acquitted on both counts. Defendant was placed on probation.

At defendant’s preliminary hearing, certain evidence found in his house was suppressed. The magistrate, however, refused to suppress heroin found on defendant’s person. In the superior court, a motion to suppress the evidence under section 1538.5 was also denied. Defendant’s motions for disclosure of the identity of an informant were denied by the magistrate as well as by the superior court.

Facts—Motion To Suppress

In January 1973, Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Johnson received information from an untested, unreliable, confidential informant that persons by the name of Linda and Richard were dealing in large amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana. The informant stated that they had lived in the West Los Angeles area on Butler, but that sometime in November 1972 they had moved to somewhere in the San Fernando Valley. The informant…

I concur. Even though defendant did not properly compel the People to elect to reveal the identity of the informant or not use the *520 information supplied by him, the record shows that the trial court in finding probable cause based its finding on the observations of the police officers and not on the information supplied by the informant.

A petition for a rehearing was denied February 5, 1976, and appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied March 24, 1976.

The following exchange between the court and Deputy District Attorney Rosen occurred prior to the court’s ruling on defendant’s motion to suppress:

Defendant Richard G. Rodgers and his brother, Joseph, were charged with conspiracy to possess heroin for sale (count I) and with possession for sale (count II). After a court trial, defendant was convicted on count II, possession for sale, and his brother was acquitted on both counts. Defendant was placed on probation.

At defendant's preliminary hearing, certain evidence found in his house was suppressed. The magistrate, however, refused to suppress heroin found on defendant's person. In the superior court, a motion to suppress the evidence under section 1538.5 was also denied. Defendant's motions for disclosure of the identity of an informant were denied by the magistrate as well as by the superior court.

In January 1973, Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Johnson received information from an untested, unreliable, confidential informant that persons by the name of Linda and Richard were dealing in large amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana. The informant stated that they had lived in the West Los Angeles area on Butler, but that sometime in November 1972 they had moved to somewhere in the San Fernando Valley. The informant furnished a phone number.…