People v. Carkeek

96 P.2d 132, 35 Cal. App. 2d 499, 1939 Cal. App. LEXIS 452
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 17, 1939
DocketCrim. 1695
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 96 P.2d 132 (People v. Carkeek) 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. Carkeek, 96 P.2d 132, 35 Cal. App. 2d 499, 1939 Cal. App. LEXIS 452 (Cal. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

TUTTLE, J.

This is an appeal from an order denying a motion to set aside a final judgment of conviction of .the crime of burglary in the second degree which carried with it an adjudication that appellant was an habitual criminal under the provisions of section 644 of the Penal Code. The appeal is prosecuted under section 1237, subdivision 3, of the Penal Code, which provides that the defendant may appeal “from any order made after judgment affecting the substantial rights of the party”.

An information was filed against appellant, as follows:

“The District Attorney of the County of Tuolumne, State of California, hereby accuses Martin L. Carkeek and Fred Redenbaugh of a felony, to-wit: burglary, in that on or about the 9th day of October, 1938, in the County of Tuol *501 unme, State of California, they did enter the office of Hales and Symons adjacent to the southerly city limit of the City of Sonora, Tuolumne County, State of California, with intent to commit theft therein. That before the commission of the offense hereinabove set forth in this information, the said Martin L. Carkeek was convicted of a felony, to-wit: forgery, and was received at, and confined in Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado, on the 21st day of January, 1930, and did serve a term in said State Penitentiary for said offense. That before the commission of the offense hereinabove set forth in this information, the said Martin L. Carkeek ivas convicted of a felony, to-wit: grand larceny, and was received at, and confined in Oklahoma State Penitentiary at Macalester, Oklahoma, on June 4th, 1931, and did serve a term in said State Penitentiary for said offense.

“That before the commission of the offense hereinabove set forth in this information, the said Martin L. Carkeek was convicted of a felony, to-wit: burglary, and was received at, and confined in Indiana State Reformatory at Pendleton, Indiana, in February, 1936, and did serve a term in said Reformatory for said offense.

“Dated: October 28th, 1938.”

Thereafter, appellant appeared in court and plead guilty to the charge of burglary, which the court found to be of the second degree, and also plead guilty to the prior convictions. He was adjudged to be an habitual criminal, and sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison on November 9, 1938. On August 5, 1939, appellant filed in the superior court a motion to set aside the judgment of conviction upon the following grounds:

1. The information does not charge a public offense; (2) The two prior convictions are not properly charged; (3) The second prior conviction had no term served therefor.

The motion was regularly heard and denied, and this appeal is taken from the order of denial.

It appears that appellant is not lacking in a sense of humor when he sets forth his first ground of appeal in the following language:

“Respondent Attorney General will contend that everyone knows what an ‘office’ is, and that offices are in buildings. Appellant calls attention to the fact that respondent holds *502 the ‘office’ of Attorney General, and that recent eases in Kansas City and New Orleans indicate that some politicians enter office with intent to commit theft therein, wjiieh entry could certainly not be called burglary. The trial court should have taken judicial notice of the fact that there was nothing before the court to indicate that the ‘office’ in the information was not a political office, or that it was in any one of the enclosures described in the Burglary Statute. (Pen. Code, see. 459, cited supra.)”

It might be observed, however, that an entry into a “room” with the necessary intent, makes out a case of burglary under section 459 of the Penal Code, and it might not be too great a strain upon the vernacular to hold that an “office” is a “room”.

The second ground is that the designation of the particular court in which prior convictions occurred is not given in the information. The statute does not so provide. Also, it is urged that the Habitual Criminal Act (section 644 of the Penal Code), provides not only that the prior conviction must be proved, but that the defendant served a “term” in the state prison of another state. While appellant plead guilty to having been convicted and having served a term upon each of the prior convictions charged, he admitted later, in answer to questions propounded by the trial court, that he escaped from one of the prisons. He urges, therefore, that he did not actually serve a “term”. But the legislature does not require that a full term be served, and a reasonable construction of the word would seem to be any period of time, otherwise, a premium would be placed upon the act of escape.

It is contended by the state that the appeal should be dismissed, for the reason that the record shows that this court has no jurisdiction to entertain it. It therefore becomes necessary to determine whether an appeal will lie from every “order made after final judgment, affecting the substantial rights of the party”, or whether the.legislature intended to restrict the right of appeal to those orders which were not subject to attack under an appeal from the final judgment.

The cases arising in this state appear to be in some confusion, but a close examination of them reveals an attempt to follow a definite rule upon the scope of the code section men *503 tioned. The general rule is thus stated in 8 California Jurisprudence, at page 495:

“Ordinarily a party who has a right to appeal from a judgment or order is not allowed to move to set it aside and then appeal from an order denying his motion.” (Citing People v. Walker, 132 Cal. 137 [64 Pac. 133]; People v. Mayne, 118 Cal. 516 [50 Pac. 654, 62 Am. St. Rep. 256].)

In the case of People v. Walker (above), it is said: “Ordinarily, of course, where a party may appeal from a judgment or order he must appeal direct, and is not allowed to move to set aside and then appeal from the order denying his motion. But this is only a rule of practice, and it does not apply when the case is such that a direct appeal would afford no relief by reason of the impossibility of securing a record showing the error complained of. (Pignaz v. Burnett, 119 Cal. 157, 162 [51 Pac. 48], and cases cited.)”

In People v. Brattingham, 91 Cal. App. 527 [267 Pac. 120], where an appeal was taken from an order denying a motion to modify a final judgment, it was there contended that the trial court was without jurisdiction to include in the sentence a provision that if the fine was not paid, defendant should be imprisoned at the rate of one day for each two dollars of the fine not paid. In dismissing the appeal the court said:

“Appellant contends that an appeal is authorized by subdivision 3 of section 1237 of the Penal Code, which provides that an appeal may be taken from an order after judgment affecting the substantial rights of the defendant. It is also said that the court had inherent power at any time to vacate a void judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
96 P.2d 132, 35 Cal. App. 2d 499, 1939 Cal. App. LEXIS 452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-carkeek-calctapp-1939.