People v. Baker

231 Cal. App. 2d 301, 41 Cal. Rptr. 696, 11 A.L.R. 3d 1046, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 806
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 16, 1964
DocketCrim. 9342
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 231 Cal. App. 2d 301 (People v. Baker) 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. Baker, 231 Cal. App. 2d 301, 41 Cal. Rptr. 696, 11 A.L.R. 3d 1046, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 806 (Cal. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

ROTH, P. J.

Appellant was convicted in a non jury trial of violating Penal Code, sections 211 (robbery) and 209 (kidnaping for purposes of robbery), and on June 21, 1963, sentenced to imprisonment for the term of his natural life. On August 26, 1963, the judgment was amended nunc pro tuno to read “life imprisonment without possibility of parole. ” This appeal is from the amended judgment.

On November 28, 1962, Wallace Beinsmith loaded his truck with 129 eases of whiskey at berth 189, Wilmington Harbor. Appellant accosted Beinsmith, the victim, and pointing a gun at him, asserted it was a “hi-jack” and ordered Beinsmith to drive up the dock approximately 100 yards at which point a second man joined them. The truck was parked and Beinsmith was ordered by appellant into the back of the truck and told if he cooperated, he wouldn’t be hurt, and that he would be released further down the road.

Approximately one hour later, while the truck was progressing eastward on the San Bernardino freeway, Beinsmith succeeded in opening the rear door of the truck and sought to attract the attention of passing motorists, first by waving to the traffic and then by throwing eases of whiskey out of the truck.

Appellant’s accomplice, the second man who joined appellant as previously mentioned, was following the truck in a station wagon and was recognized by Beinsmith as Beinsmith performed the maneuvers above described. The accomplice thereupon pulled alongside of the front of the truck and advised appellant what Beinsmith was doing. Appellant concurrently with the receipt of said information, slowed down to 20 miles per hour, whereupon Beinsmith jumped from the truck onto the freeway, and as a consequence injured his shoulder and knee.

The truck was abandoned by appellant. Inspection thereof uncovered a jacket identified as appellant’s. The jacket contained several pieces of paper, one of which had appellant’s name and address. The station wagon driven by appellant’s accomplice was traced through its license number to appellant’s brother who had loaned it to appellant that morning.

Appellant contends that the bodily harm suffered by Bein *303 smith as a result of the jump from the truck is, as a matter of law, not the type of bodily harm which, under section 209 of the Penal Code, aggravates the crime of kidnaping so as to require the imposition of the additional penalty which eliminates the possibility of parole.

Appellant asserts that it was the bodily injury suffered by the victim as a consequence of his escape which prompted the trial court to sentence him to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, and that the judgment therefore should be modified to eliminate this additional penalty.

Respondent argues that the injuries received were the proximate cause of the threats of harm made by appellant; and relies on People v. Monk, 56 Cal.2d 288 [14 Cal.Rptr. 633, 363 P.2d 865].

In Monk, supra, at page 296, the victim jumped from a moving car, into which she had been forced, after Monk threatened to criminally attack her. The court held; “Although the defendant did not touch [the victim], it is apparent that his conduct in threatening her with serious bodily harm put her in fear and was the proximate cause of her jumping out of the automobile and of her consequent injuries. While no cases have been found involving kidnaping for the purpose of robbery where the bodily harm was not directly inflicted by the accused upon his victim, we are persuaded that the doctrine of proximate causation is applicable in a case such as the present one where the defendant’s threats of bodily harm cause his victim to receive injuries in an attempt to escape therefrom.”

In Monk there were two kidnapings. In the first treated by the opinion, bodily harm was suffered by one of the victims in the manner hereinabove indicated. In respect of the second victim discussed in Monk, the facts are so shocking, that it is obvious why the Legislature provided a penalty of death or life without possibility of parole in situations where “. . . the person . . . subjected to such kidnaping suffers . . . bodily harm . . . .” (Penal Code, § 209.)

Assuming that the added penalty in Monk was proper even in respect of the first victim, that case must be read in light of People v. Jackson, 44 Cal.2d 511 [282 P.2d 898], wherein the court pointed out that the Legislature intended a stricter penalty only where the kidnaper inflicted bodily harm unnecessarily. It appears that there was an attempt to draw a distinction between those injuries that are inherent in a forcible kidnaping and those injuries not inherent in the *304 crime itself, but which are gratuitously added by the kidnaper to abuse and terrorize his victim.

In Jackson, supra, at page 515, the court says: " Section 209 of the Penal Code, which prescribes the punishment for the crime of kidnaping [for ransom, reward, extortion or robbery], was amended in 1933 to provide that one convicted of that crime ‘shall suffer death or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole, at the discretion of the jury trying the same, in cases in which the person or persons subjected to such kidnaping suffers or suffer bodily harm or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with possibility of parole in eases where such person or persons do not suffer bodily harm.’ The 1933 amendment (stats. 1933, p. 2617) was patterned after the federal Lindbergh Law, which authorizes the imposition of the death penalty for kidnaping except when the victim has been liberated ‘unharmed.’

“The uncertainties of the federal statute were the subject of comment in Robinson v. United States, 324 U.S. 282 [65 S.Ct. 666, 89 L.Ed. 944], involving a prosecution under that act. There the evidence showed that the victim had suffered injuries from two violent blows on the head with an iron bar and abrasions to the lips from repeated applications of tape. Reading the word ‘unharmed’ as meaning ‘uninjured,’ the Supreme Court stated: ‘Two possible reasons suggest themselves ... as to the motivation of Congress in making the severity of a kidnapper’s punishment depend upon whether his victim has been injured. The first reason is the old belief that the severity of the injury should measure the rigor of the punishment. If this be the reasoning implicit in the statute, it would appear that Congress intended that for a kidnapper to obtain the benefit of the proviso he must both liberate and refrain from injuring his victim. Congress may equally have intended this provision as a deterrent, on the theory that kidnappers would be less likely to inflict violence upon their victims if they knew that such abstention would save them from the death penalty. This assumption finds some slight support in the legislative history, is not contested by the government, [and] has been accepted in one case. [United States v. Parker, 19 F.Supp.

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Bluebook (online)
231 Cal. App. 2d 301, 41 Cal. Rptr. 696, 11 A.L.R. 3d 1046, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-baker-calctapp-1964.