By Lea Barrios
WOODLAND – A man, during a remote preliminary hearing in Yolo County Superior Court Monday, was charged with possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of a firearm, possession of narcotic paraphernalia and driving under the influence, among his 10 charges, after he fell asleep in an In-N-Out drive-through.
The defendant, Brian Warner, was held to answer by Judge Timothy Fall.
Carryn Warren, the Deputy District Attorney prosecuting his case, called Det. Pheng Ly as a witness. He was the third officer to respond to the call by the restaurant reporting the defendant holding up the line.
When he arrived, the defendant was talking to two other officers. He noticed the defendant had red, droopy eyes and a raspy voice, like he just woke up.
With his permission, the detective moved the defendant’s car out of the drive-through and parked it in front of the restaurant. He waited for Officer Morgan Hatcher to arrive to perform his field sobriety test.
Ly searched the car and found a marijuana roach, which is the end of a finished joint or blunt, as well as a pipe which he determined from his training and experience to be a methamphetamine pipe, dime bags of marijuana, and a Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun.
The defendant’s defense counsel asked the witness why he and the other officers waited for Officer Hatcher to arrive and perform the sobriety test.
He answered that it was because the incident occurred around 6 p.m. and the other officers were on the day shift so they would have to be done by 7 p.m. Additionally, officer Hatcher’s “beat” was in south Davis, where the eatery is located.
Deputy DA Warren interviewed Officer Hatcher, who stated she performed the Romberg test (for the body’s sense of positioning) and the lack of convergence test.
When he was unable to cross his eyes, it indicated to her that he may be under the influence of marijuana, said Hatcher, who then performed the Romberg test. She noticed he had sway in each direction, indicating he was under the influence of a drug.
She found a money bag in his car containing two larger bags of heroin, six small bags of meth, pills that were later identified as Suboxone and $315 in cash.
His defense counsel stated that the defendant received a score of 27 on the tests, which is considered passing, but Officer Hatcher failed him because of his performance in another test and the swaying he did during the test.
The last witness called was Matthew Milliron from the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, who was consulted about whether the substances in the defendant’s possession were for personal use or for sale.
He agreed that the amount of heroin in the larger bags, which weighed 29.7 grams, was for sale, as well as the six smaller bags of methamphetamine in sizes referred to “dime bags.”
The defendant’s license was suspended, the registration of the car had expired, and he has previously been convicted of a felony, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
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