Hidalgo

Roy Hidalgo appeals from a judgment of conviction of a violation of Health and Safety Code section 11911, possession of dangerous drugs (amphetamine sulphate tablets). Appellant was charged by information filed on December 4, 1967, and convicted by a jury on November 25, 1968. A motion to suppress evidence under Penal Code section 1538.5 was denied on November 19, 1968.

On November 5, 1967, at about 7 p.m., Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Smith and Barlow were on patrol near Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles County. As they approached a parking lot located near a beer bar, they saw two men acting in a suspicious manner standing beside the open trunk of a Corvair. One of the men, appellant, threw what turned out to be the car keys under the car, while the other ran off with some object and entered the beer bar. He was not pursued by either officer. The officers approached appellant. When they arrived the trunk was closed.

Officer Barlow asked appellant, “what he was doing in the trank of the vehicle and if the vehicle belonged to him. . . . The [appellant] stated that he had not been in the trank of the car; that he did not own the vehicle; and that he was merely relieving…