Murillo

The defendant was charged with a violation of section 11500.5 of the Health and Safety Code—possession for sale of a narcotic (heroin) other than marijuana. He was also alleged to have had two prior felony convictions. Sometime after his original pleas were entered, he finally admitted the second prior conviction, and the district attorney then moved to dismiss the first charge of a prior conviction. The court, sitting without a jury, found the defendant guilty, and, when he waived a probation officer’s report and requested immediate sentence, he was sent to state's prison.

Only one point is made on the appeal, namely, that the court erroneously admitted in evidence the contents of an attaché case, belonging to the defendant; it was locked and in the apartment of a woman named Tony Lira, who, unknown to the defendant, was an informant of the enforcement agents; the officers did not have a search warrant and the defendant did not give specific permission to unlock the case; entry into it was made by means of a key removed, without permission, from the defendant’s pocket by one of the law enforcement agents. In the attaché case, was a rubber contraceptive containing a large…