People v. McChristian

In People v. McChristian (1966) 245 Cal. App. 2d 891, at the preliminary hearing, police officers testified that, on two separate occasions they observed the defendant in possession of multi-colored balloons. They failed to recover any of the balloons, which appellant tried to swallow, or otherwise destroy. The officers stated their opinion that the balloons contained heroin, based upon prior experience that in most cases involving similar balloons, upon chemical analysis the balloons were found to contain heroin. ( Id. at p. 895.) The superior court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the information, and the court of appeal affirmed, holding that the officer's testimony based upon the outward appearance of the balloons was "speculative and conjectural." ( Id. at p. 897.)