Robert Bustamonte v. Merle R. Schneckloth, Superintendent, California Conservation Center

This appeal is taken from an order of the District Court denying without hearing appellant’s petition for a writ of ha-beas corpus.

On April 21, 1967, appellant was convicted in the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County of a violation of California Penal Code, § 475a: possession of a completed check with intent to defraud. Judgment was affirmed on appeal to the California District Court of Appeal. People v. Bustamonte, 270 Cal.App.2d 648 , 76 Cal.Rptr. 17 (1969). Hearing was denied by the State Supreme Court.

In his petition for habeas corpus Bust-amonte asserts that his state conviction resulted from a refusal of the state trial court to suppress evidence obtained as the result of an unlawful search and seizure.

In January, 1967, the proprietor of a carwash in Mountain View discovered that his business office had been broken into and that a check protector and a number of blank checks had been stolen. Later that month a Ford car with six occupants, one of whom was appellant, was stopped by a Sunnyvale police officer at approximately 2:40 A.M. The officer had noticed that a headlight and the license-plate light were burned out. He asked the driver for his license.…