People v. Anthony

202 P.2d 776, 90 Cal. App. 2d 122, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 947
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 14, 1949
DocketCrim. 4226
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 202 P.2d 776 (People v. Anthony) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Anthony, 202 P.2d 776, 90 Cal. App. 2d 122, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 947 (Cal. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

*123 YORK, P. J.

In an amended information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, defendant Jesse Houston, together with Fred Anthony, was charged with three counts of robbery and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder. Such information further charged that at the time of the commission of said offenses, defendants were armed with deadly weapons, to wit: two revolvers; and also charged three prior convictions of felonies against defendant Houston.

Defendant Houston was duly arraigned on August 15, 1947, and regularly entered his plea of “Not Guilty as charged in each count of the amended information.” Also, on August 15, 1947, the public defender was appointed as said defendant’s counsel by the court, and the case set for trial on December 1,1947. In some manner, the public defender was not notified of such appointment and he failed to appear on December 1, 1947. On this latter date, the public defender’s office was notified of its appointment to represent defendant Houston, and the trial was continued to January 8, 1948.

On January 8,1948, the public defender appeared and made a motion for a continuance on behalf of defendant Houston, which motion was denied.

Subsequently, a jury was waived and the court found defendants ‘'Guilty as charged in Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the amended information.” The court also found that the crimes set forth in counts one, two and three to be robbery of the first degree, having found the allegation to be true that defendants were armed at the time of the commission of the offenses so charged. Defendant Houston’s motion for a new trial having been denied, judgments were pronounced and defendants were sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for the term prescribed by law as to each of said counts. Defendant Houston was adjudged an habitual criminal under section 644a of the Penal Code, and as to him counts one, two and three were ordered to run concurrently; and counts four, five and six were ordered to run concurrently with each other, but consecutively with counts one, two and three.

This appeal is prosecuted by defendant Houston from the judgments of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial, on the following grounds:

(1) “The trial court committed prejudicial error in denying appellant’s motion for a continuance at the time set for trial, this denial constituting a denial of due process of law.”
(2) “ The evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdicts. ’ ’

*124 The events out of which the instant prosecution arose are briefly as follows: Mr. Robert H. Bason testified that on June 16, 1947, he was the assistant manager of the Citizens National Bank located at 8th Street and Vermont Avenue in the city of Los Angeles; that on that date Florence Hansbrough, Mr. Ray B. Northrip and Mr. Richard Sherwood were employees of the bank, and Mr. Jack Liberman was a customer; that he first saw appellant at about 10:20 a. m. when the latter stuck what looked like a .38 caliber revolver in Bason’s back. In court Mr. Bason positively identified appellant as the man who had placed the gun in his back. Mr. Bason denied having seen a white-handled Colt revolver, which was marked plaintiff’s Exhibit 1 for identification, but he identified a .32 caliber revolver of Spanish make, black in color, with a black wooden handle as the gun which had been placed against his ribs by appellant. Mr. Bason first noticed appellant when the latter vaulted over a rail behind his desk, at which time appellant placed a gun in his ribs and exclaimed, “Get the hell back in the vault.” In addition to the gun, appellant carried a paper shopping bag about feet wide and about 1½ feet deep, and wore a black mask which covered his face up to his eyes. His right hand was encased in a canvas glove. At appellant’s command, Bason went back into the vault which was located about 25 or 30 feet from his desk; that as they walked directly behind the tellers’ cages to get to the vault, Bason had noticed that Mr. Northrip, the first teller, had turned in an alarm; that the witness walked into the vault with appellant prodding him in the back with the gun; that when opened, the vault proved to be empty, whereupon appellant inquired where the money was located and Bason declared that the first teller had it; that they then proceeded to the cage of Teller Ray Northrip. While appellant stood holding the gun, Bason stated, “It looks like we’re going to have to give him the money.” That Northrip then proceeded to the cash vault and opened the deposit box, whereupon appellant transferred the gun to his left hand, reached down with his right hand and started to fill the shopping bag with one, five and twenty dollar bills plus those of larger denominations. These bills were banded in $500 packages, and appellant took about 25 or 30 packages, during all of which time appellant held the gun on Bason and Northrip with his left hand.

After getting the currency in the bag, appellant directed the two men to walk to the front of the bank. At that time *125 a customer of the bank, Jack Liberman, came out of the safety-deposit vault carrying a safe deposit box under his arm. When appellant saw that box he ordered Liberman to put it in the shopping bag, but Liberman refused to do so, and appellant took his pistol, hit Liberman across the face from his ear to his chin, grabbed the box and threw it into the shopping bag, and started running toward the front door. The last that Eason saw of appellant was when he observed him walking west on 8th Street with the shopping bag in his hand. Mr. Eason further testified that he had observed a small colored man standing near the door of the bank, with his right hand under his coat and to the side as though he had a gun, but he did not see any gun; that he later learned that this man was defendant Fuller. Within a short time after the holdup, Lieutenant Stromwall of the police came to the bank bearing the stolen money and the safe deposit box. Mr. Eason counted the money in the packages and found it amounted to between $16,000 and $17,000. This witness then accompanied Lieutenant Stromwall to the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital where he saw Fuller sitting on a chair, and defendants Anthony and Houston lying on separate operating tables. He then saw the gun which had been marked as People’s Exhibit 2 for identification and identified the appellant as the man who held him up.

In court Eason identified a black handkerchief as one he had seen tied around appellant’s face during the holdup, but which had kept slipping down onto his neck. On cross-examination, Mr. Eason reiterated he had faced appellant on several occasions in the bank vault, during which time the mask had slipped from appellant’s face; and that appellant made no effort to replace the mask; that “from the time he went into the vault until he left, I don’t think the mask was ever over his face. Q. Do you mean his eyes, nose and features were outside? A. Definitely.”

Miss Florence Hansbrough testified that on June 16, 1947, she was employed as a teller at the bank here involved; that around 10:20 a. m.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 P.2d 776, 90 Cal. App. 2d 122, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 947, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-anthony-calctapp-1949.