People v. Colón Rivera

93 P.R. 831
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJanuary 23, 1967
DocketNo. CR-65-331
StatusPublished

This text of 93 P.R. 831 (People v. Colón Rivera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Colón Rivera, 93 P.R. 831 (prsupreme 1967).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Pérez Pimentel

delivered the opinion of the Court.

[833]*833Appellant was convicted by a jury of the crime of embezzlement and ordered to serve a suspended sentence of 2 to 7 years in the penitentiary. Said crime consisted, according to the information, in that while appellant was an employee of the firm Joyería Santurce, Inc., property of J. Tormes, and as such depositary of moneys belonging to that firm, during the period between March 17, 1959 and March 17, 1962, “with the intent to defraud, as she did defraud, the above-mentioned corporation and J. Tormes, unlawfully, wilfully, and maliciously, took possession of the amount' of $3,717.19, in legal currency of the United States of America, which she received in her capacity of depositary of said moneys of the aforesaid corporation and which amount of money she was bound to deposit in the accounts of Joyería Santurce, Inc., taking possession thereof without the consent nor the authorization of Joyería Santurce, Inc., or Julio Tormes.”

As first error it is alleged that the Superior Court left appellant without defense in permitting Joyería Santurce, Inc., “to make mockery of her rights by concealing documents absolutely necessary for the defense, the introduction of which had been timely requested.”

The trial court, granting defendant a right of discovery of evidence broader than that authorized by the Rules of Criminal Procedure, entered an order prior to the trial directing Tormes, owner of Joyería Santurce, Inc., to put at the disposal of the defense all the books and other documents of the transactions performed by the referred firm during the period of three years covered by the information. We say this because neither Rule 95 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, nor any other rule, authorizes the court to enter an order like the one entered in this case. Pursuant to the aforesaid Rule 95, on motion of the defendant, the court “may order the prosecution to permit the inspection and copying [834]*834or photographing by the defendant or his attorney, of any designated objects, books, documents and papers, not affidavits, with the exception of the testimony of the defendant himself, that. The People might have obtained from the defendant or from other persons, by means of a judicial order or otherwise and which might be necessary for the.preparation of his defense, irrespective of whether The People proposes to offer them in evidence or whether they are admissible in evidence.”

In this case the books and other documents, the examination of which was, requested by the defendant, had not been obtained by the People from said defendant nor from other persons, since they were not in the possession of the prosecuting attorney but of the owner of the documents, Joyería Santurce, Inc. The right of the defendant to the discovery of evidence prior to the trial is limited by Rule 95, to the evidence indicated in the rule itself, and which might have been obtained by the People from the defendant or from other persons in the manner provided therein.

In any .event, in compliance with the cited order of the court, Tormes put at the disposal of the defense the documents which the latter had requested, but the defense did not use them for want of an accountant. On this incident the trial judge expressed himself as follows:

“Judge: First, there are two situations to be decided. First, the defense moves for the striking out of the testimonies of Juanita Folch and Julio C, Tormes. They allege, it is adduced, that ‘corpus delicti’ has not been established; therefore, all the statements made by these two witnesses should be stricken out. The contention is that the defense was not in a condition to continue' because yesterday, or during this week, certain documents were. not introduced, which according to the defense, could have served as ground for them to continue or establish their defense, an adequate cross-examination. As to the court, I request' that it bé • established that the evidence does not contradict, it was in the sense that- the sale or credit tickets to [835]*835which the ■ defense refers were at their disposal. It does hot contradict because Miss Folch and Tormes’ testimony is in the sense that the documents were at the disposal of. the defense and that once said documents were put at the disposal of the defense and the latter was unable to use them for want of an accountant, they were returned, and he, in the operation of his business, believed that it was no longer necessary to keep them and got rid thereof. There was, despite the time elapsed, no motion from the defense to keep the documents under the custody and jurisdiction of the court, so that nobody, nor even Tormes, could dispose of them, so that they could be used by the defense whenever the case came to court. If there was any lapsus of the defense, it cannot be attributed to the State. It cannot be concluded from an action which they believed was the most appropriate.” (Report of the Solicitor General, pp. 3, 4.)

On the other hand, as pointed out by the Solicitor General, the court granted all the petitions of the defense for the introduction of documents and entered the corresponding orders. If the documents were not available because they had been destroyed or because of any other reason, the truth is that the defense, although it had ample opportunity to do so, it did not take the pertinent steps to insure the timely use of the aforesaid documents. The error was not committed.

The second error challenges the action of the Superior Court in ordering that defendant’s statement, in the form of a letter, pass to the jury.

It is a letter written by the defendant to Tormes, in which she binds herself to reimburse him all the money which was missing.1 The court ordered, over defendant’s objection, that [836]*836said letter pass to the jury when the latter retired to deliberate.

There is no doubt that said letter contains incriminatory statements and, as in the case of a confession, the jury should not have taken it with them upon retiring to deliberate. However, it does not entail the reversal of the judgment, in view of the circumstances which concurred in this case and in the absence of a showing that the action of the court was prejudicial to defendant. People v. Martinez Diaz, 90 P.R.R. 456 (1964).

The text of the letter had reached the jury through the statements made by the defendant to two witnesses for the People. Juana Maria Folch testified:

“A. She begins the conversation by giving me the note asking me to tell the boss to continue investigating, that she was willing to cover any deficiency. I suggested that she make the investigation herself, that she herself prove to the boss what the deficiency was. The conversation was not long. She merely said that she had to go because she was nervous and that she would come again Saturday morning.” (Tr. Ev., Piece I, pp. 103-104.)
“Q. That Monday, the 26th, that you say she called you at about 7:30 a.m., what did she say?
[837]*837“A. She told me she had been unable to go because her doctor ... to tell the boss that she would not come again, that he should continue searching and revising accounts, that she would answer for any amount which might appear in the deficiency.” (Tr. Ev., Piece I, p. 104.)
“Prosecuting Attorney: What is this I am showing you?

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Related

Jackson v. Denno
378 U.S. 368 (Supreme Court, 1964)
People v. Huntley
204 N.E.2d 179 (New York Court of Appeals, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 P.R. 831, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-colon-rivera-prsupreme-1967.