People v. Fields

Opinion

FRANSON, Acting P. J.

This appeal tests the scope and applicability of Penal Code section 135 1 which prohibits the knowing destruction or concealment of any “book, paper, record, instrument in writing, or other matter or thing,... about to be produced in evidence upon any trial, inquiry, or investigation whatever, authorized by law...” (italics added). The precise question is whether the statute applies to the destruction of contraband (marijuana) by a jail inmate for the purpose of preventing the contraband from being used as evidence in a future criminal proceeding. We hold that the…