PEOPLE v. GROOM (1963)

In a nonjury trial in which he was represented by counsel and in which the evidence consisted of the transcript of the preliminary hearing, defendant was convicted of the possession of marijuana and was granted probation on condition that he spend the first nine months in the county jail. He appeals from the order granting probation as from a judgment.

Defendant's brief contains a fair and adequate statement of the evidence, as follows: Defendant was seen walking on Sunset Boulevard near Laurel Canyon in a westerly direction at 5:30 a. m., on June 6, 1961. He appeared to look in the direction of a police car in which two Los Angeles Police Department officers were riding which was traveling in an easterly direction on Sunset Boulevard. The police vehicle was unmarked. The police car made a U-turn and the defendant reversed his direction and proceeded walking east towards the oncoming police car. The officers saw the defendant drop or throw a white object which fell behind a news stand on the western side of that stand and thus out of the officers' sight. The officers stopped the defendant. One of the officers (Monty B. Madison) went to the vicinity to where he had seen the white object dropped or thrown. The officer found a white wrapped cigarette which contained marijuana. The defendant was asked ‘where he got the marijuana cigarette’ and the defendant stated that the cigarette was not his, that there were thousands of people walking daily by the corner of Laurel Canyon and Sunset Boulevard, and that if he were carrying just one marijuana cigarette, he would never throw it, he would swallow it.

It is contended that the evidence was insufficient to prove that defendant dropped the cigarette or that he knew it contained marijuana.

If defendant had testified that he did not throw away the cigarette, the court might have believed him, but in the absence of any denial the court was bound to believe that the officer saw him throw it away as they approached. And it was a reasonable inference that he threw it away because he knew it contained marijuana.

The judgment is affirmed.

SHINN, Presiding Justice.

FORD and FILES, JJ., concur.