Court Opinion

ID: 9532472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:21:39.784739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:46.069606
License: Public Domain

SHINN, P. J.
I concur in the judgment. As I read the record the officers arrested the defendant before they discovered any objects in his car or observed any scars on his arms. They acted upon the information they had received from informers, plus their own observations of defendant’s actions as related to his surroundings. It is my opinion that neither the information received by the officers nor their observations of defendant’s conduct, standing alone, would have furnished reasonable cause for the arrest.
Whatever may be our opinion of the character of informers in general and their reliability, we must realize that they have a necessary part in the fight against the traffic in narcotics. Scores of cases with which we are familiar establish *568this fact. I do not imply that all informers are venal. I do not doubt that there are unwilling addicts and former addicts who believe they have a duty to join in the fight against criminal and vicious activities that have assumed alarming proportions. But I do not believe that even those who are completely blind to the evils of illegal and dishonorable methods of law enforcement would go so far as to say that one citizen can cause the arrest of another by merely pointing a finger at him and calling him a law breaker. Accusations coming from an informer should be regarded as merely a starting point of an investigation. If the investigation does not develop facts which furnish substantial corroboration of the statements of the informers there is no reasonable cause for an arrest. There can be no formula for determining the sufficiency of the corroborative circumstances. Purveyors of narcotics are cunning. They have “ways that are dark and tricks that are vain.” Conduct of those under suspicion of handling narcotics may be of major significance to a trained officer although in any other connection it would not even arouse suspicion. It is within the discretion of the trial court, in a hearing properly conducted in the absence of the jury, to determine whether the information, and the relevant corroborating circumstances justify the presentation to the jury of the entire evidence concerning the arrest and the discovery of contraband. I do not doubt that the evidence in the present case established the legality of the arrest. The observations of the officers as to the location of the house, the identity of Zaeei and Johnnie (defendant is named Juan), the car described by the informants in which defendant was seated, the fact that one informant shortly before the arrest entered the house and came back stating that he had learned that the narcotics were in plain sight on the front seat of the ear and that there were “a hell of a lot of them,” the parking of the car in front of the house on separate occasions, and the fact that defendant answered the description of one of the men, furnished sufficient verification of the information the officers had previously received. The house under surveillance was the one described by the informers and it turned out to be the right house.
In the absence of the incriminating information there would have been no reason whatever for the surveillance or the arrest.
I agree with Mr. Justice Vallée that when the People make use of the statements of informers as proof of reason*569able grounds for an arrest they waive the right to conceal from the court and the accused the name or names of the informers, but it does not follow that in every case the court must compel the disclosure of the names if the defendant demands it. It is a matter for the court, and not the prosecutor or the witness to decide. If concealment is unfair to the defendant—if nondisclosure would probably hamper his defense or if disclosure might furnish relevant evidence not otherwise available, concealment ought not to be permitted. Doubts should be resolved in favor of the defendant. He should not suffer from the court’s mistakes.
In Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 [77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639], quoted by Mr. Justice Vallée, the court, through Mr. Justice Burton, spoke as follows: “We believe that no fixed rule with respect to disclosure is justifiable. The problem is one that calls for balancing the public interest in protecting the flow of information against the individual’s right to prepare his defense. Whether a proper balance renders nondisclosure erroneous must depend on the particular circumstances of each case, taking into consideration the crime charged, the possible defenses, the possible significance of the informer’s testimony, and other relevant factors. . . .
“This is a case where the Government’s informer was the sole participant, together with the accused, in the transaction charged. The informer was the only witness in a position to amplify or contradict the testimony of government witnesses. Moreover, a Government witness testified that Doe denied knowing petitioner or ever having seen him before. We conclude that, under these circumstances, the trial court committed prejudicial error in permitting the Government to withhold the identity of its undercover employee in the face of repeated demands by the accused for his disclosure.”
I cannot see that permitting concealment of the names of the informers was an abuse of discretion or that it resulted in any prejudice to the defendant. If the informers had been called as witnesses their testimony would not have tended to establish any affirmative defense. At most, defendant could have hoped that they would deny having given any information to the officers. But when the entire evidence was before the court and it was established that the conditions observed by the officers corresponded with the facts stated by the informants there would have remained no rea*570son to believe that the officers had not been given the information. In the fight against the narcotic traffic there are clear advantages in encouraging the cooperation of addicts and others in the detection of criminal activities. Much of this would be lost if information could not be given in confidence. The names of informers need not be disclosed when there is no reason to believe that concealment would be unfair to the defendant because disclosures might in some manner strengthen his defense.
The court did not abuse its discretion in preserving the anonymity of the informers and defendant suffered no prejudice.