People v. Donnell

52 Cal. App. 3d 762, 125 Cal. Rptr. 310, 1975 Cal. App. LEXIS 1508
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 5, 1975
DocketCrim. 13914
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 52 Cal. App. 3d 762 (People v. Donnell) 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. Donnell, 52 Cal. App. 3d 762, 125 Cal. Rptr. 310, 1975 Cal. App. LEXIS 1508 (Cal. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Opinion

BRAY, J. *

Defendant appeals from judgment, after jury verdict, of conviction by the Santa Clara County Superior Court of certain crimes.

Questions Presented

1) Defendant may not be convicted of both taking and receiving the two Fords.

2) Admission of the fruits of the search of Aqua Fresca’s trailer.

3) Evidence of the Beaverton similar admissible.

4) Defendant used a deadly weapon.

5) Section 3024, subdivision (b), of the Penal Code was improperly invoked.

*767 Record

Defendant was charged by information of violation of Penal Code section 211 (robbery), being armed with and using a shotgun in the course of the robbery (Pen. Code, § 12022.5), two counts of violation of Penal Code section 484 (grand theft), two counts of violation of Vehicle Code section 10851 (unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle) and with two counts of violation of Penal Code section 496 (receiving stolen property). He was also charged with a prior conviction of violation of Vehicle Code section 23110, subdivision (b), (discharging a firearm at a vehicle).

The jury convicted defendant of all counts except the two charging grand theft and found that defendant was armed and used a shotgun in the course of the robbery. Judgment was entered accordingly.

Facts

As defendant does not attack the sufficiency of the evidence, a brief statement of the evidence will suffice, except for elaboration if necessary to explain the question of law raised.

On the morning of March 13, 1974, Jean Esway’s maroon-with-black vinyl top Ford Galaxie, license number YSR-497, was stolen in Sunnyvale.

On either the evening of March 11 or 12, the vinyl-over-blue Ford of Robert Dowen was stolen in Fremont.

Sometime between 10:15 and 10:30 a.m., March 13, the two Fords pulled into the parking lot at the Edenvale substation on the grounds of an I.B.M. plant located approximately one mile from the Santa Teresa Branch, First National Bank of San Jose. Three witnesses saw three men get out of the blue Ford and enter the maroon Ford. None of the witnesses were able to see the driver of the maroon car.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., March 13, the bank was robbed by three men. Defendant was identified as the one who stood with a shotgun by the front door of the bank while two other men armed with handguns robbed it. The Esway maroon Ford Galaxie was identified as the getaway car.

*768 About 11:30 a.m., defendant was arrested in the blue Ford. Defendant told the police he had stolen the car at a different place than that from which it was actually stolen. He later said that three people had come to his apartment and offered to pay him to “dump” the car.

1) Defendant may not be convicted of taking and receiving the two Fords.

The jury convicted defendant of two counts of unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle and also of two counts of receiving stolen property (the automobiles), that is, he was convicted of both taking and receiving the maroon Ford and the blue Ford.

The general rule is that one may not be convicted of stealing (taking), and of receiving the same stolen property. (People v. Briggs (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 1034, 1036 [97 Cal.Rptr. 372]; People v. Tatum (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 179, 183 [25 Cal.Rptr. 832].)

The People contend that this principle does not apply to the situation as to the Dowen car. The People contend that as the evidence shows that defendant was not an actual participant in the physical taking of the car but was liable as an accessory to the taking (because the evidence clearly shows that it was the robber’s pattern to steal two cars to be used in the robbery), he could be found guilty of both taking and receiving the vehicle when he later was found driving it. But such a theory flies directly in the face of the well established principle of law that one cannot be convicted of the crimes of both taking and receiving the same property. Even though the person does not in the first instance physically take the vehicle, if the circumstances are such that in law he is considered to have taken it (as in this case), it would be absurd to separate the taking from the receiving, particularly as Penal Code section 971 abrogates any distinction between an accessory before the fact and a principal. It might just as logically be held that a person who steals a watch may also be convicted of receiving it.

The People rely on the following language in People v. Kot (1959) 171 Cal.App.2d 9, 13-14 [339 P.2d 899], a case in which the defendant was charged and convicted only with receiving stolen property: “But if defendant is a thief in the sense of being liable as a principal when a mere accessory and not an actual participant in the physical taking of the property, he would be culpable under section 496 if he later receives it from the actual perpetrator.” This language is clearly dictum. Moreover, *769 the cases cited for support do not support the dictum. People v. Day (1916) 30 Cal.App. 762 [159 P. 457], held that even if the evidence “would have supported a charge of burglary,” the evidence sufficiently supported the verdict of guilty of receiving stolen property and “therefore he [the defendant] cannot be heard to complain that the people elected to charge him with the [receiving stolen property] . . . offense rather than” the burglary. (At p. 763.) Nowhere in the opinion is any intimation that the defendant could properly be convicted of both offenses. People v. Stoddard (1941) 48 Cal.App.2d 86 [119 P.2d 160], was also an appeal from a conviction of receiving stolen goods. The court pointed out that although the defendant could have been charged with theft upon the theory that he was an accessory thereto, “still he was guilty of receiving stolen property taken and asported by his confederates.” (At p. 90.) Nothing was said to the effect that he could have been convicted of both crimes.

As to the Esway convictions, the People contend that defendant was convicted of “driving” the car rather than “taking” it (Veh. Code, § 10851 makes it unlawful to either drive or take the vehicle of another); and that if a person may not be convicted of both “taking” and “receiving” a vehicle, he may be convicted of both “taking” and “driving” the stolen vehicle. However, there is no evidence to show that defendant was ever the driver of the Esway car. The witnesses at the I.B.M. plant did not see who was driving that car, nor did anyone else ever see defendant driving it. The evidence supports defendant’s conviction of “taking” the car on the basis of his conspiring with the other robbers to obtain it to be, as it was, used in the robbery.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 Cal. App. 3d 762, 125 Cal. Rptr. 310, 1975 Cal. App. LEXIS 1508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-donnell-calctapp-1975.