By Dorrin Akbari and Linhchi Nguyen
SACRAMENTO – The prosecution needed just one witness—even though it had planned two—to win its preliminary hearing here in Sacramento County Superior Court Monday.
Sacramento Police Officer Michael Bowman testified to defendant Aaron Addison’s unlawful possession of methamphetamine and heroin. And when the defense couldn’t make any headway in cross, Deputy District Attorney Emilee Divingracia excused her second witness, ending the hearing early without much debate.
Addison was charged with unlawful possession of narcotics while on parole. He was detained by Sacramento police officers, including Bowman, who testified he found drugs, a BB gun, and cash in Addison’s vehicle and on his person.
Despite Addison claiming not to be aware of the drugs, Bowman suspected Addison was the owner of the narcotics with intent to sell.
Officer Bowman testified to observing Addison among a group of individuals setting off fireworks on the night of June 28, 2020, noting it is illegal to possess aerial fireworks in the state of California.
Upon seeing the officers, the group dispersed in various directions. Bowman and his partner were able to detain two people, Addison and another individual identified as Addison’s roommate. The individual was stopped while trying to leave the scene in a car found to be registered under the defendant’s name.
Bowman and his partner learned that Addison was on active parole. The two conducted a parole search on Addison’s vehicle, which led to a discovery in the driver’s side door—a Ziploc bag containing 6.67 grams of heroin and an additional bag containing 22.8 grams of methamphetamine.
Inside a box behind the driver’s seat, the officers also found a “realistic looking revolver.” Bowman noted that though the item was actually a BB gun, it was made of metal and had a cylinder similar to that of a working revolver.
Bowman attested that, in his experience, individuals possessing narcotics for sale often arm themselves for protection from rival dealers and clientele trying to steal from them. He then highlighted that it is common for people who can’t obtain a firearm, whether legally or illegally, to acquire realistic replicas to give the impression that they are armed.
Following these findings, Bowman conducted a pat search of Addison. He located $239 in cash in the defendant’s pocket along with another 1.86 grams of methamphetamine.
Bowman stated that Addison asserted he was unaware the methamphetamine and heroin were in his vehicle. Addison did, however, admit that the vehicle in which the substances were discovered belonged to him and that he had driven to his current location in that vehicle.
Addison was also said to have maintained that his roommate, who was detained by the officers while in the defendant’s car, could not have been the owner of anything found within the vehicle.
Taking into account all items found both in the defendant’s vehicle and on his person, Bowman concluded his testimony with an assertion of the defendant’s guilt:
“I believe that based on the large quantity of narcotics, the variety of narcotics, the fact that there was also a replica firearm present in the vehicle…All of these things lead me to believe that the narcotics were possessed for the purpose of sale.”
Following a long pause, Assistant Public Defender Brooks Parfitt began his four-question cross-examination of Officer Bowman.
Parfitt asked him where he found the drugs, to which Bowman responded that they were located in the “driver’s side door pocket.” Parfitt also asked whether Bowman saw Addison handing his car keys to his roommate, and whether the roommate already had the keys in his possession. Bowman stated that the keys were already in the ignition when he approached the car.
With one final stretch of silence, Parfitt affirmed that he had no further questions for the prosecution’s witness.
Divingracia, who initially planned on calling a second witness for the hearing, decided that it would be no longer necessary. Parfitt also did not offer any witness for the defense.
Judge Kevin J. McCormick ruled the defendant to answer on his charges at trial. Both parties are expected to return to court for a Trial Readiness Conference on March 17 in Dept. 63. Addison’s trial is set for March 22.
Linhchi Nguyen is a fourth year at UC Davis, double majoring in Political Science and English. She currently lives in Sacramento, California.
Dorrin Akbari graduated from UC Berkeley in 2019 with a B.A. in Legal Studies and a minor in Persian. She is from San Jose, CA.
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