People v. Brady

275 Cal. App. 2d 984, 80 Cal. Rptr. 418, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2008
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 29, 1969
DocketCrim. No. 3418
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 275 Cal. App. 2d 984 (People v. Brady) 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. Brady, 275 Cal. App. 2d 984, 80 Cal. Rptr. 418, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2008 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

KERRIGAN, J.

Defendant appeals a jury conviction of grand theft (Pen. Code, §§ 484-487) wherein he defrauded the owner of an auto agency of $1,600 by selling him a. stolen ear.

The defendant, John Thomas Brady, rebuilt salvaged automobiles for a living. He frequently used the pseudonym ‘ ‘ Bill Iverson.” On August 29, 1967, someone known as “Bill Iverson” purchased a chassis from a Compton salvage firm which had been removed from a damaged Volkswagen.

On September 26, 1967, a Model 1966 white square-back Volkswagen [station Wagon] was stolen in Long Beach. On September 30, 1967, the defendant offered to sell a Model 1966 white square-back Volkswagen to a Garden Grove auto sales agency. The salesman on duty knew the defendant as “Bill [989]*989Iverson.' ’ The salesman advised the defendant that he could not buy the car then as the owner was not on the lot at the time. The defendant said he would leave the car there.

Within two hours, the car was sold to Robert Seifert. The salesman drew up a conditional sales contract for the vehicle. The vehicle identification number [VIN] of the 1966 Volkswagen station wagon was identical with the VIN appearing on the salvaged Volkswagen chassis.

On October 2, 1967, the defendant returned to the Garden Grove auto agency and presented the owner with certain documents purporting to prove ownership of the car. One of the documents was an official re-registration of a dismantled or wrecked vehicle dated September 28, 1967, which bore the forged signature of a clerk of the Bellflower office of the Department of Motor Vehicles. The auto agency owner gave the defendant a $1,600 check for the ear. The check designated “Bill Iverson” as payee. The check was personally indorsed by “Bill Iverson” and deposited in his account in the East Compton branch of the Bank of America. The defendant had been observed in the East Compton bank on several occasions.

Chemical tests were conducted on the 1966 Volkswagen purchased by Seifert. The chassis on the stolen Volkswagen had been removed and replaced with the salvaged chassis. An attempt was made to obliterate the engine number on the stolen Volkswagen and to substitute a different number. The Volkswagen was identified by the owner as the stolen car.

The defendant maintains that the judgment of conviction should be reversed on the following grounds: (1) The trial court committed constitutional error in instructing the jury that the defendant had a right not to testify (CALJIC 51 [Re-rev.] ) ; (2) the trial court abused its discretion in not granting his motion for a change of counsel and a continuance of the trial date; (3) his motion to dismiss the information was erroneously denied; and (4) the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction.

The trial court instructed the jury in the language of CALJIC 51 (Re-rev.). The instruction was given at the prosecution’s request without objection by the defense, and reads as follows: “It is a constitutional right of a defendant in a criminal trial that he may not be compelled to testify. Thus, the decision as to whether he should testify is left to the defendant, acting with the advice and assistance of his attorney. You must not draw any inference of guilt from the fact [990]*990that he does not testify, nor should this fact he discussed by you or enter into your deliberations in any way. ’ ’

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution forbid either comment by the prosecution on the accused’s silence or instructions by the court that such silence is evidence of guilt. (Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 615 [14 L.Ed.2d 106,110, 85 S.Ct. 1229].)

No contention is made that the prosecutor commented on the defendant’s failure to testify, nor did the court inform the jury that his silence could be construed as evidence of guilt. However, defendant maintains that the instruction is violative of the Griffin rule.

The California authorities a,re not entirely consistent as to whether the giving of the instruction is proper or constitutes error. There are four principal situations where the propriety of the instruction has become a serious issue in California cases: (1) The trial judge fails to give the instruction sua sponte (People v. Elliott, 241 Cal.App.2d 659, 667-668 [50 Cal.Rptr. 757] ; People v. Graham, 251 Cal.App.2d 513, 518-519 [59 Cal.Rptr. 577] ; People v. Horrigan, 253 Cal.App.2d 519, 522-523 [61 Cal.Rptr. 403]) ; (2) the trial judge gives the instruction sua sponte (People v. Brown, 253 Cal.App.2d 820, 830 [61 Cal.Rptr. 368]) ; (3) the prosecution requests the instruction (People v. Molano, 253 Cal.App.2d 841, 846-847 [61 Cal.Rptr. 821, 18 A.L.R.3d 1328] ; People v. Northern, 256 Cal.App.2d 28, 31 [64 Cal.Rptr. 15] ; People v. Hernandez, 264 Cal.App.2d 206 [70 Cal.Rptr. 330]); (4) the defendant requests the instruction (People v. Parker, 253 Cal.App.2d 567, 571-572 [61 Cal.Rptr. 411] ; People v. Giovannini, 260 Cal.App.2d 597, 606 [67 Cal.Rptr. 303] ; People v. McGowan, 269 Cal.App.2d 740, 744 [75 Cal.Rptr. 53].)

In People v. Brown, supra, 253 Cal.App.2d 820, it was held proper for the court to give the instruction sua sponte or at the prosecution’s request; in People v. Horrigan, supra, 253 Cal.App.2d 519, 522-523, the court ruled that it would have been error to give the instruction sua sponte in People v. Elliott, supra, 241 Cal.App.2d 659, the court did not decide the issue whether it was error for the trial court not to instruct the jury sua sponte but merely held that the proof of guilt was strong and, therefore, no miscarriage of justice (see also People v. Graham, supra, 251 Cal.App.2d 513, 518-519); in People v. McGowan, supra, 269 Cal.App.2d 740, held not error when given at defendant’s request; in People v. Parker, supra, 253 Cal.App.2d 567, 571-572, the court did not deter[991]*991mine whether it was error to give the instruction at the defendant’s request, but held that if erroneous, it was not prejudicial (see also People v. Giovannini, supra, 260 Cal. App.2d 597) ; in People v. Molano, supra, 253 Cal.App.2d 841, 846-847, it was deemed error to give the instruction over the defendant’s objection; in People v. Northern, supra, 256 Cal. App.2d 28, it was not decided whether it was error to give the instruction over defendant’s objection, but assuming error, not prejudicial; in People v. Mason, 259 Cal.App.2d 30 [66 Cal.Rptr. 601], held not prejudicial where the prosecution requested the instruction without objection; in People v. Hernandez, supra, 264 Cal.App.2d 206, instruction given at prosecution’s request and held not error to give the instruction even assuming defendant’s objection but, if error, it was nonpre judicial.

Federal law requires that an instruction substantially similar to CALJIC 51 (Re-rev.) be given if defendant requests it. (Bruno v. United States, 308 U.S. 287 [84 L.Ed. 257, 60 S.Ct. 198] ; 18 U.S.C.A.

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Bluebook (online)
275 Cal. App. 2d 984, 80 Cal. Rptr. 418, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-brady-calctapp-1969.