Opinion ID: 1158815
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Questions: One. Was there reasonable or probable cause to arrest defendants without a warrant?

Text: Yes. The narcotics officer's suspicions that Miss Hall was trafficking in heroin had been aroused by reliable tested informants. Williams was not known to the officer until February 7, 1968, but the reliability of his information was corroborated by the officer's own observations prior to the arrest. Miss Hall's car had been seen leaving a named place by the officer who arrived late for the pre-arranged meeting; she was seen leaving a named place that evening; she was found to be registered at a named motel the next morning; she was found to have registered under an assumed name and to be in room 111; Williams had been seen entering room 111 with recorded money and without heroin; and he was seen leaving that room without the money and with heroin. While defendant White's presence was not known to the officers until after they entered, the officers could reasonably conclude that persons inside the room when the sale took place had knowledge of the sale and were in constructive possession of heroin for sale. There was therefore a state of facts sufficient to lead Cozzalio, as a person of ordinary caution and prudence, to believe and conscientiously entertain a strong suspicion that a felony (sale of heroin) had just taken place and that a felony (possession of heroin for purposes of sale) was being committed and that there was probable cause for the arrest. (See People v. Benjamin (1969) 71 Cal.2d 296, 303 [78 Cal. Rptr. 510, 455 P.2d 438]; People v. Berutko (1969) 71 Cal.2d 84, 90-91 [77 Cal. Rptr. 217, 453 P.2d 721]; People v. Sandoval (1966) 65 Cal.2d 303, 307 [54 Cal. Rptr. 123, 419 P.2d 187].)