Bowens

Petitioner seeks a writ of mandate commanding the Superior Court for the County of Alameda to grant his motion for disclosure of the identity of a confidential informer.

The matter was once before under consideration in this court when the petition was denied on November 7, 1974. Thereafter, on December 5, 1974, a petition for hearing by the Supreme Court was granted. The matter was then transferred to the Supreme Court, but was retransferred here with directions to issue an alternative writ of mandate, which this *129 court did on December 11, 1974. In its order retransfering the case, the Supreme Court referred to People v. Williams, 51 Cal.2d 355 [ 333 P.2d 19 ].

Petitioner was charged with one count of violating section 11352 (sale of a controlled substance) based on a purchase of narcotics allegedly made from petitioner on January 22, 1974, by Raymond Clark, an Oakland undercover police officer, at 724 Willow Street. The premises where the sale took place, a large Victorian type home with a number of rooms, had been under vice squad surveillance for narcotic violations since October 1973.

A complaint charging petitioner with the crime was filed in the municipal…