People v. One 1959 Plymouth Sedan

Appellant Galvin, the registered owner of the involved automobile, and appellant First Western Bank and Trust Company, the legal owner, appeal from a judgment declaring the automobile forfeited to the State of California because it “was used to unlawfully keep, deposit, and transport narcotics” in violation of section 11610 of the Health and Safety Code. Appellants’ contentions that (1) the respondent did not produce sufficient evidence of violation of section 11610 to support the judgment of forfeiture, and (2) the trial court, sitting without a jury, committed prejudicial error, cannot be sustained. Respondent produced sufficient evidence from which the trier of fact properly could infer that the registered owner, when riding in the car immediately prior to his arrest, possessed narcotics. Nor did the trial judge’s remarks, though perhaps somewhat informal, constitute prejudicial error.

The testimony discloses that on May 31, 1959, at 11 p.m., Officers Bigarani and Cuneo, while walking east along Union Street in San Francisco, were informed that an accident had just occurred at the intersection of Union Street and Grant Avenue. They proceeded toward the intersection, met two…