Louis D. Ponce v. Walter E. Craven, Warden

This is an appeal from an order of the district court dismissing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by a State prisoner. No evidentiary hearing was held. We affirm.

Louis Ponce was tried and convicted by a judge without a jury in a California state court for the illegal possession of heroin. Cal.Health & Safety Code, § 11500.5. On November 24, 1964, Ponce was sentenced to the term prescribed by law.

Ponce exhausted his State remedies. His conviction was affirmed by the State Court of Appeal on June 20, 1966, in an unpublished opinion. Petition for hearing by the State Supreme Court was denied and petition for certiorari to the U. S. Supreme Court was denied. 386 U.S. 1026 , 87 S.Ct. 1377 , 18 L.Ed.2d 470 (1967).

THE FACTS

Late in the evening of July 30, 1964, Officers Reed and Lockhart of the South-gate Police Department Narcotic Detail, responded to a telephone call from the woman manager of the Fulton Motel. When they arrived they were told by the manager of the suspicious activities of a guest [Ponce]: (1) he changed $2 or $3 into dimes every day from her for use in making telephone calls; (2) he rarely slept; (3) he left the motel at all hours; (4) he kept his blinds…