Castro

Appellant and his roommate, Miss Dunn, were found guilty by a jury of five counts of possession of narcotics. Castro alone appeals from the ensuing judgment.

In the early morning of November 28, the two defendants were driving over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, moving to a new home and carrying their personal effects in the car. They were stopped by highway patrolmen for speeding and erratic driving. On the floor of the car, near the right front seat, was a metal wastebasket. In it was a paper bag containing a number of capsules of various narcotics, and a metal box containing another narcotic. Appellant admitted ownership of the wastebasket and the metal box, but denied possession of the narcotics and knowledge of their presence. Fresh needle marks were found in the arms of both defendants.

From the above brief summary, it is apparent that there is no merit in appellant’s assertion that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict. It is true that one Hammer testified that he had secreted the bag of narcotics in the wastebasket in appellant’s home two days before appellant’s arrest. But he also admitted that he had told nobody of this occurrence until he (Hammer)…