Robinson v. California

A California statute makes it a criminal offense for a person to “be addicted to the use of narcotics.” 1 This *661appeal draws into question the constitutionality of that provision of the state law, as construed by the California courts in the present case.

The appellant was convicted after a jury trial in the Municipal Court of Los Angeles. The evidence against him was given by two Los Angeles police officers. Officer Brown testified that he had had occasion to examine the appellant’s arms one evening on a street in Los Angeles some four months before the trial.2 The officer testified that at…