Yuna

This is an appeal from a conviction of possession of methamphetamine and LSD (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377). Appellant contends that the warrantless search of his car as well as a jacket found in its passenger compartment was unlawful. We uphold the search of the car but find that the search of the jacket was invalid because unjustified by any of the exceptions to the warrant requirement.

On April 11, 1978, at 8:20 p.m., a Santa Clara city policeman was patrolling an area of the city with a high incidence of criminal activity when he observed what appeared to him to be a drug transaction. Parked in the lot of a local shopping area, he saw suspicious activity in a Pinto occupied by three men, two seated in front and one in back, which was parked three feet from his patrol car. Noting that the heads of the two men in front were lowered and that their shoulders were moving, the officer concluded that they were “drinking beer, rolling a marijuana cigarette or engaging in other illegal activity.” One of the men then turned to hand a dark object to his companion in the back seat and for the first time noticed the patrol car. At this point, the man in the back seat got out of…