People v. Boone

252 Cal. App. 2d 313, 60 Cal. Rptr. 275, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 1506
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1967
DocketCrim. No. 2716
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 252 Cal. App. 2d 313 (People v. Boone) 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. Boone, 252 Cal. App. 2d 313, 60 Cal. Rptr. 275, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 1506 (Cal. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

McCABE, P. J.

Appeal from a judgment of conviction of violation of section 487, Penal Code, entered in the Superior Court in and for the County of San Bernardino.

On September 21, 1963, Mr. Paul Edward Teal, the manager of the Gordon Ayres Camera Shop in Ontario, primarily a retail store for the sale of cameras and supplies, purchased for the store a Hassleblad camera made in Sweden. It remained in the store’s stock until November 20, 1963. It then had a fair market value of either $600 or $650. Mr. Teal saw the camera on that date.

On November 20,1963, defendant came into the store with a tall, fairly well-dressed Negro man at approximately the lunch period. Mr. Teal and Mr. Hugh Paz were handling the trade in the store. Defendant inquired of Mr. Paz about a Polaroid camera, and some photographs were taken in demon[315]*315strating such a camera. Meanwhile, the man who came in with the defendant was at the case in which the Hasslehlad camera was contained. The case containing the camera was closed. The man who came in with the defendant never moved from the area of the case, and the defendant was about 10 feet further into the store, where the Polaroid demonstration was taking place. When this man left the store, the case was open and the camera was missing. Mr. Teal immediately went out the door and looked both ways. He did not observe the defendant or her companion. To Mr. Teal’s knowledge, neither he nor anyone connected with the store gave anyone permission to take the camera. He immediately called the police. Defendant and her companion had stayed in the store not more than 15 minutes. Because there were so few people in the store, Mr. Teal got a very good look at the woman.

Mr. Teal described the defendant to the police as very neatly dressed, wearing a heavy dark coat, and as weighing about one hundred pounds. The store was able to get several pictures from the negative of the picture taken of the defendant during the Polaroid demonstration. Shortly after the camera was taken, one such picture was turned over to the police department. Mr. Teal looked at one of the pictures practically every day until about a month before the trial.

On January 21, 1966, defendant lived with her children and her mother in the City of Los Angeles. On that date, one Arthur Decatur was with defendant in the house. About 9 a.m. on January 21, a sergeant of the Los Angeles Police Department, a fellow officer, and several officers, armed with a federal warrant of arrest for Arthur Decatur, entered defendant’s home and arrested him. After the arrest a search was conducted in the presence of defendant. At this time a camera was found in defendant’s bedroom and taken into the possession of the officers. Defendant upon being questioned as to the ownership of the camera, replied, it was “ours”-—meaning it belonged to Decatur and defendant and that she had had the camera since September 1962 or 1963. She explained she had given Arthur $175 toward the purchase of the camera. The total price was $400 paid to a man whom Decatur had met in an Oakland night club. At the time of the Decatur arrest, the officers knew it was part of the paraphernalia used by Decatur in producing ‘‘ phony ’’ drivers ’ licenses.

At the trial defendant testified she purchased the camera in December 1964 from Harold Smith, a friend from San Fran[316]*316cisco, whom she had met in 1962. The purchase took place in a restaurant in Culver City, California.

After the arrest of Decatur, the officers left defendant’s home taking the camera with them. Shortly afterwards information was received from C.I.I. that the camera had been ta£en, from the camera shop on November 20, 1963. The officers returned to defendant’s home and took defendant into custody. She was “booked” for a violation of section 496, Penal Code (receiving stolen property). Defendant was taken to. ..the federal building where federal officers talked to her but the conversation was never related during the trial.

On January 25, Mr. Teal went to the county jail and saw defendant in the presence of a police officer. At the preliminary hearing Mr. Teal identified defendant as the woman who was in the camera shop just prior to the discovery that the camera yras missing. Also, he identified the camera. On this day or the following day, defendant was released into the custody of the Ontario Police Department, San Bernardino County. She was arraigned on January 26 and the trial took place on May 19,1966.

The testimony of the police officer regarding conversations on January 21 with defendant which were after the arrest of Decatur but before defendant was a suspect or arrested was objected to on the grounds the admission was in violation of Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 [12 L.Ed.2d 977, 84 S.Ct. 1758]; People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361]; and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 Ú.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974].

In People v. Rollins, 65 Cal.2d 681, 691-692 [56 Cal.Rptr. 293, 423.P.2d 221], the Supreme Court stated the doctrines of Espobedo "and Dorado, supra, applied to all cases not final before June 22, 1964. Consequently, Escobedo and Dorado, supra, are to be applied to test whether prejudicial error occurred at defendant’s trial.

In Dorado, supra, at p. 353, the following tests must be met before a statement is admissible: “. . . (1) the investigation was no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but had begun to focus on a particular suspect, (2) the suspect was in custody, (3) the authorities had carried out a process of interrogations that lent itself to eliciting incriminating statements, . . . .”

When the statements were made, the greatest dignity which can attach to the police procedure is that it was at the investigatory stage. The officers were present because of their [317]*317involvement with the Decatur ease not to investigate any criminal activity of defendant. The officers were not aware of defendant’s implication in the camera theft or that it was stolen until after they left defendant’s home.

The questions asked by the officers and directed to defendant were not part of a process of interrogation aimed at eliciting incriminating statements from the defendant. (People v. Stewart, 62 Cal.2d 571, 577 [43 Cal.Rptr. 201, 400 P.2d 97], affirmed 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602]; People v. Dorado, supra.)

It is significant that the officers were in the defendant’s home on a matter related to Decatur’s unlawful possession of mail, i.e., cheeks taken from a post office box in the City of Los Angeles, a federal offense.

The delay in the arraignment of defendant, in violation of section 825, Penal Code, does not require a reversal unless such delay prevented a fair trial, affected the outcome of the trial or defendant suffered prejudice. (People v. Wilson, 60 Cal.2d 139, 154 [32 Cal.Rptr. 44, 383 P.2d 452] ; People v. Combes, 56 Cal.2d 135, 142 [14 Cal.Rptr. 4, 363 P.2d 4] ; People v. Stroble,

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Related

People v. Boone
252 Cal. App. 2d 313 (California Court of Appeal, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
252 Cal. App. 2d 313, 60 Cal. Rptr. 275, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 1506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-boone-calctapp-1967.