People v. Miller CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

At the time of his October 2009 arrest, defendant was in a parked car that had a strong smell of marijuana inside it. Defendant denied having any marijuana in the car. A search of the car, however, revealed “10 pills, one hypodermic needle, and four pounds of marijuana in the trunk.” Defendant told the responding Lake County Sheriff’s deputies that he “was going to get paid $1,500 for transporting and delivering the marijuana to Lake County.”

1 All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 In June 2011, defendant pleaded no contest to transporting marijuana. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11360, subd. (a)). Despite the fact that defendant had suffered two prior felony convictions, the court found that unusual circumstances suggested the interests of justice would be best served by granting probation. (§ 1203, subd. (e)(4).) At the August 29, 2011 sentencing hearing, the court granted probation based on the probation department’s report, which specified 20 different conditions. When the court asked the defendant if he understood and accepted those conditions, defendant said, “Yes, sir.” Among the specified conditions was the requirement that…