People v. Bauer

461 P.2d 637, 1 Cal. 3d 368, 82 Cal. Rptr. 357
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 1969
DocketCrim. 13189
StatusPublished
Cited by231 cases

This text of 461 P.2d 637 (People v. Bauer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bauer, 461 P.2d 637, 1 Cal. 3d 368, 82 Cal. Rptr. 357 (Cal. 1969).

Opinion

1 Cal.3d 368 (1969)
461 P.2d 637
82 Cal. Rptr. 357

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
FRED FRANK BAUER, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. Crim. 13189.

Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

December 11, 1969.

*371 COUNSEL

Fred Frank Bauer, in pro. per., Don Edgar Burris, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Donald F. Roeschke, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Walter E. Wunderlich, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

PETERS, J.

After a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of burglary in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, grand theft and automobile theft. The jury found that he was armed at the time of the commission of each offense. The jury acquitted him on a charge of kidnaping to commit robbery. Defendant was given concurrent sentences of imprisonment for *372 robbery and auto theft. He was not sentenced on the burglary and grand theft counts.

Lorraine Baer, Rose Helbig, and Maybell Cascino, three elderly ladies resided together in a house in Ventura. At approximately 5 in the afternoon of October 3, 1966, defendant and another man rang the doorbell and introduced themselves as gas company maintenance men, who wished to check the stove. Defendant was carrying what appeared to be a diagram or map, and both men were wearing gloves.

After gaining admittance, defendant drew a revolver and his accomplice a knife. Two of the women were forced to lie face down on the floor and their hands were tied with wire. The third was tied to a chair. The three women were blindfolded with pillowcases, which slipped sufficiently to permit the women to observe defendant and his accomplice. When a blindfold slipped from the face of one of the women, defendant struck her.

The three women observed defendant and his accomplice ransack the house and carry the loot to the garage. After about two hours, defendant and his accomplice drove away in the car of Maybell Cascino. Each of the women found that numerous items of her personal property had been taken, and two of them noticed that several credit cards were missing.

That evening police officers brought mug books to the victims' home. The next morning two of the women attended a lineup at the police station but were unable to identify any of the suspects.

Nearly a week later Officer Stoen observed a Chevrolet travelling approximately 40 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone with the right taillight out and a damaged fender. He followed it and observed it cross over the center line six or seven times. He stopped the Chevrolet.

Defendant emerged from the car, gave a fictitious name and said he did not have a driver's license. His manner of speech was slow and slurred. Upon request for identification, he said he had just taken his wife to have a baby and that she had everything. He did not remember where he had taken his wife. After a request for his registration, defendant reached beneath the front seat and pulled out the folder portion of a wallet and extracted an expired, temporary driver's license. The height identification was altered. Noting defendant's general condition and that the pupils of his eyes appeared pinpointed, the officer concluded that he was under the influence of narcotics and arrested him for being in that condition and for being an unlicensed driver. The officer radioed for another police car.

The officer advised defendant that "he had a right to remain silent at all times and that anything he did say could be used against him in a court of *373 law, and that he could at any time have an attorney present and at all times be represented by an attorney if he so desired; that in the event he was unable for any reason to obtain an attorney, one would be provided for him to represent him."

Upon being advised of his rights, defendant said he knew his rights, and in response to a question said: "I shot just before you got me.... I'm a hype and you know it."

The officer searched the automobile and found narcotics equipment, a knife, a box containing gloves, a telephone-type workman's belt with equipment attached, a camera, and a set of blueprints. Beneath the floor mat of the trunk was a license plate and a white bag containing several credit cards bearing the names Helbig and Cascino, and a pink slip to the latter's car.

Each of the victims of the robbery was shown four photographs and, without the other two knowing her selection, each identified defendant's photograph. The victims then went to the police station where they observed defendant through a one-way mirror, and in the presence of each other, each identified defendant.

Defendant denied commission of the robberies and testified that he was in another area of the city when the robbery began and returned to his home at a time which was shortly before the robbery was concluded. As to the time he returned home, he was corroborated by his wife and mother. His mother testified that she remembered the day because her daughter-in-law was expecting a child and she (the mother) had gone to her son's home that evening. Defendant's wife testified that the date was four days before the birth of her child, that her mother and father-in-law came over for dinner as shown by her calendar, that defendant called at 5 p.m., and came home between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and that because her father-in-law did not like to drive at night he and her mother-in-law spent the night. She also testified that it was about a two-hour drive from Montebello, where she lived, to Ventura, where the robbery occurred.

The extrajudicial identification in the instant case occurred prior to United States v. Wade (1967) 388 U.S. 218 [18 L.Ed.2d 1149, 87 S.Ct. 1926], and the rules enunciated in that case have been held inapplicable to lineups occurring prior to that decision. (People v. Feggans, 67 Cal.2d 444, 448 [62 Cal. Rptr. 419, 432 P.2d 21].) (1) The question is whether the extrajudicial identification resulted in a denial of due process in that a lineup was unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification. (Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301-302 [18 L.Ed.2d 1199, 1205-1206, 87 S.Ct. 1967]; People v. Caruso, 68 Cal.2d 183, 187-189 [65 Cal. Rptr. 336, 436 P.2d 336]; People v. Feggans, *374 supra, 67 Cal.2d 444, 449.) Whether a lineup was so unnecessarily suggestive depends on the totality of circumstances. (Stovall v. Denno, supra, 388 U.S. 293, 302 [18 L.Ed.2d 1199, 1206, 87 S.Ct. 1967].)

(2) The "single showup" is not inherently unfair. (Stovall v. Denno, supra, 388 U.S. 302; People v. Burns, 270 Cal. App.2d 238, 246 [75 Cal. Rptr. 688]; People v. Singletary, 268 Cal. App.2d 41, 45 [73 Cal. Rptr. 855]; People v. Irvin, 264 Cal. App.2d 747, 759-760 [70 Cal. Rptr. 892]; People v. Smith, 263 Cal. App.2d 631, 636-637 [69 Cal. Rptr. 670]; People v. Romero, 263 Cal. App.2d 590, 593-594 [69 Cal. Rptr. 748].) Rather we must look to all of the circumstances.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
461 P.2d 637, 1 Cal. 3d 368, 82 Cal. Rptr. 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bauer-cal-1969.