Armendariz

On May 26, 1964, defendant pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one sale of heroin. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11501.) The information charged him with two prior narcotic offenses. On the People’s motion (Health & Saf. Code, § 11718) one of the two priors was stricken. The minimum sentence which defendant was to serve was thus reduced from 15 to 10 years. A probation report was ordered.

The probation report contained the following evaluation: “The defendant was cooperative with probation officer throughout the probation investigation. He is intelligent and articulate and seems sincere in his desire to overcome his narcotics problem. The difficulty in the present case, however, has to do with the fact that the defendant is presently on parole for narcotics and that his minimum sentence would appear to render him ineligible for the narcotics program. Probation officer believes that this is unfortunate because the defendant, it is felt, has the capacity to respond to the treatment program ...”

When the defendant appeared for sentencing on August 19, 1964, it appeared that the court had made extensive inquiries with the superintendent of the California Behabilitation…