People v. Valerio CA6

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY1

On September 25, 2013, defendant was a passenger in a car driven by “Mr. Honeycutt.” Santa Clara Police Officer Luke Erickson made a traffic stop after he noticed the car’s license plate was not properly illuminated and the driver was moving erratically inside the car. During the traffic stop, Officer Erickson pat searched defendant and found 0.63 grams of methamphetamine (a usable amount) in one of defendant’s pants pockets. Defendant has a long history of drug use, with prior drug convictions in 2000 and successful completion of a drug rehabilitation program in 2001. After his motions to suppress were denied, defendant pleaded no contest to one felony count of possession of methamphetamine (former Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a)). In September 2014, pursuant to the parties’ plea agreement, the court suspended imposition of sentence and placed defendant on two years’ probation under the provisions of Proposition 36 and Penal Code section 1210.

1 Some of the facts and procedural history is based on the record in case No. H041564. To add background and context to the issues presented here, we have taken judicial notice of the record in that…