People v. Ball

211 Cal. App. 2d 435, 27 Cal. Rptr. 274, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 1524
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 27, 1962
DocketCrim. 8308
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 211 Cal. App. 2d 435 (People v. Ball) 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. Ball, 211 Cal. App. 2d 435, 27 Cal. Rptr. 274, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 1524 (Cal. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

ASHBURN, J.

Defendant, Ervin Leon Ball, was convicted after jury trial of four charges of forgery committed on September 2, 12, 16 and October 3, 1961, respectively. He denied four prior felony convictions—charges of said convictions being erroneously worded, “Ervin Leon Ball, under the name of Cyril Hugh Pipkin, Jr.” The sentences on the four counts were ordered to run concurrently. Defendant was found not guilty as to the one count of burglary. Defendant appeals from the judgment.

Two claims of error are advanced but are not supported by the record, namely, (1) denial of a fair and impartial trial, and (2) insufficiency of the evidence.

Defendant’s first allegation of error is predicated on the fact that three allegations of prior convictions (there were four originally alleged but the third was stricken at the beginning of trial) charged that “Ervin Leon Ball, under the name of Cyril Hugh Pipkin, Jr.,” was convicted of a certain felony. The only part of these three charges of prior conviction that was untrue was the phrase “under the name of Cyril Hugh Pipkin, Jr.” Defendant had in fact been convicted of the crimes charged on the dates and by the counts specified; this, defendant admitted on cross-examination. Defendant denied the prior convictions because of the error of the name in the charge. The charges of the prior convictions were read to the *437 jury in compliance with section 1025 of the Penal Code. At a later stage in the trial, just before final arguments, the Deputy District Attorney moved to amend the first and third prior conviction charges by striking the words, “under the name of Cyril Hugh Pipkin, Jr.” The defense attorney did not object and the motion was granted.

Defendant now argues that he was prejudiced by the above action and relies upon the case of People v. Colombo, 70 Cal. App. 489 [233 P. 413]. In that case the defendant had denied the prior and had objected to the introduction of the record of the prior conviction into evidence on the ground that it showed a conviction of a different offense than that charged in the information. On motion of the district attorney, and over defendant’s objection, the court then ordered the information amended by striking out the words thereof which did not comply with the record of the offense charged. The record of the prior conviction was then admitted in evidence over defendant’s objection, the court then ordered the information amended by striking out the words thereof which did not comply with the record of the offense charged. The record of the prior conviction was then admitted in evidence over defendant’s objection. The opinion says in part: “Section 1008 of the Penal Code provides: ‘An indictment or information may be amended by the district attorney without leave of court, at any time before the defendant pleads. Such amendment may be made at any time thereafter, in the discretion of the court, where it can be done without prejudice to the substantial rights of the defendant. ’ It is clear that the amendment here allowed prejudiced the substantial rights of the defendant. He had properly denied the prior conviction alleged in the information, because the allegation thereof in the original information was not true. When a defendant is arraigned on a charge containing an allegation of a prior conviction he certainly is not called upon to state that he has suffered a prior conviction of an offense other than the one charged. At the beginning of the trial, the information was read to the jury, including the part relating to the prior conviction. ... It must be presumed that the defendant would have admitted the prior conviction at his arraignment if it had been correctly charged. Section 1025 of the Penal Code provides that when a prior conviction is charged, ‘in case the defendant pleads not guilty, and answers that he has suffered the previous conviction, the charge of the previous conviction must not be read to the jury, nor alluded to on the trial.’ ... In People *438 v. Thomas, 110 Cal. 41, 44 [42 P.456], it is said that the violation of the provisions of the foregoing sections of the Penal Code ‘was not only erroneous, but highly prejudicial to the defendant.’ ” (Pp. 492-493.)

There the prior conviction charged in the information was different from the record of conviction. In the case at bar the only deviation between the prior offense charged and the record of conviction was the inclusion in the record of the clause, “under the name of Cyril Hugh Pipkin, Jr.” This would hardly be enough of a variance in the charge to prevent defendant from knowing to which prior conviction the information was referring. In People v. Colombo, supra, at page 493 the court said: “Had the amendment been made before trial, with the opportunity for defendant to admit the previous conviction, his rights would not have been prejudiced thereby, and it will be sufficient to give him such opportunity before the retrial of the case. While the charge of the prior conviction is not well expressed, as the information now reads, there is no doubt as to what is intended. ‘It is not necessary to allege previous convictions with the same particularity as if the party was charged originally with the commission of such offense.’ ”

The defendant knew that he had been convicted of the crimes which were charged as prior convictions. The only error was the name under which he was convicted and this should not be held to constitute an allegation of conviction that was not true in light of the above quoted paragraph of Colombo.

But even if it were to be held that the erroneous material would constitute an allegation of conviction that was not true, defendant here could not bring himself within the ruling of the Colombo case, supra, because the defendant made no timely objection to the striking out of the erroneous words in the information, nor did he object to the introduction of the records of conviction. “Alluding to such conviction may be reversible error, but failure to object is a waiver of the error. (People v. Porter, 123 Cal. App. 618 [11 P.2d 894].) ” (People v. Chapman, 81 Cal.App.2d 857, 862 [185 P.2d 424].) “Appellant, having admitted his conviction of a former felony [on cross-examination] we do not perceive how he was prejudiced by the admission of the record [of the former conviction].” (People v. Siegel, 2 Cal.App.2d 620, 623 [38 P.2d 450].)

A more compelling reason for disregarding defendant’s claim of prejudicial error on this point is the fact that *439 by taking the stand himself and admitting the prior convictions under cross-examination defendant waived all objections to disclosure of his prior convictions. (People v. Raquel, 125 Cal.App .2d 384 [270 P.2d 528] ; People v. Beal, 108 Cal.App.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Spencer
22 Cal. App. 3d 786 (California Court of Appeal, 1972)
In Re Williams
257 Cal. App. 2d 592 (California Court of Appeal, 1968)
People v. Lugo
220 Cal. App. 2d 54 (California Court of Appeal, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
211 Cal. App. 2d 435, 27 Cal. Rptr. 274, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 1524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ball-calctapp-1962.