People v. Johnson

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Wendell Phillips Johnson was charged with two counts of attempted possession of a controlled substance (Pen. Code, § 664; Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a)). Before trial, defendant filed a motion under Evidence Code sections 1043 through 1047 (known as a Pitchess motion named after the California Supreme Court’s decision in Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531 [ 113 Cal.Rptr. 897 , 522 P.2d 305 ] (Pitchess)). (All further statutory references are to the Evidence Code unless otherwise specified.) On information and belief, defendant’s counsel’s declaration asserted a Santa Ana police officer untruthfully claimed defendant asked to purchase “chiva” (slang for heroin) and “powder” (slang for cocaine) from the officer and the defendant “maintains he never asked the officer for ‘chiva’ or ‘powder’ or negotiated for the purchase of either substance.” Defendant’s motion sought to discover the officer’s personnel records pertaining to incidents “involving dishonesty, and/or the filing of false reports.” The trial court summarily denied defendant’s Pitchess motion.

At trial, the officer testified he had been posing as a drug dealer in an…