People v. Corona

Appellant, James Bradley and Richard Smoot were charged by information with possession of heroin in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11500. The superior court appointed separate counsel for each of the three. Each pleaded not guilty and waived a trial by jury. After a court trial, appellant and Bradley were found guilty as charged and Smoot was found not guilty. Corona alone is here appealing from the judgment.

Facts

In stating the case we assume in favor of the judgment the existence of every fact which the trial judge could have deduced from the evidence. (People v. Hills, 30 Cal.2d 694, 700 [ 185 P.2d 11 ].)

Officer Miller, a deputy sheriff assigned to the narcotics detail, was looking for defendant Bradley, who was suspected of having robbed a drugstore. Miller had also been investigating appellant, and knew that appellant lived in the Longfellow Hotel and that Bradley had visited there on many occasions. Shortly after midnight on January 31, 1964, Miller saw Bradley’s automobile in the parking lot back of the hotel. Officer Miller and Sergeant Jones went to the hotel office, where they learned that appellant was registered in room 319. They then proceeded to the…