People v. Finley

344 P.2d 614, 174 Cal. App. 2d 206, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1684
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 2, 1959
DocketCrim. No. 6742
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 344 P.2d 614 (People v. Finley) 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. Finley, 344 P.2d 614, 174 Cal. App. 2d 206, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1684 (Cal. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

LILLIE, J.

Defendant was tried before a jury and convicted of receiving stolen property in violation of section [208]*208496, Penal Code. His motion for a new trial and application for probation were denied; defendant admitted a prior felony conviction; and he was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law. He appeals from judgment.

As his first claim for reversal, appellant urges that the “proceedings in the Courts below were irregular,” but fails to point out where in the record before us any error lies, relying entirely upon his argument that “on appeal every intendment and presumption not inconsistent with the records must be indulged in favor of the appellant.” We pass this matter without further discussion except to comment that the rule on appeal, contrary to his position, that appellant’s failure to meet the burden of pointing out the error complained of showing specifically what action of the lower court he deems error (People v. Daniels, 85 Cal.App.2d 182 [192 P.2d 788]; People v. Morgan, 140 Cal.App.2d 796 [296 P.2d 75]), and the presumption, in the absence of a showing to the contrary, that defendant was accorded a fair trial and the conviction was valid (People v. Chessman, 35 Cal.2d 455 [218 P.2d 769, 19 A.L.R.2d 1084]), justifies our assumption that the judgment is free from error in this regard.

Appellant further contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict; and again we are faced with a bare statement supported neither by a résumé of the material evidence on the point raised, nor by argument or citation of authority to support it. Although it is a cardinal rule that one who asserts that the verdict is not supported by the evidence must set forth the evidence involved and point out wherein it fails to sustain the same or otherwise it will be presumed that it was sufficient to justify the verdict; since appellant appears before us without counsel, we briefly summarize the evidence pertinent to the issue here raised.

David Levin, owner of a pawnshop, discovered some of his stock to be missing between April and August, 1958, and to determine the exact items took an inventory in August. Among the articles taken were a Bulova watch (Exhibit 2), an onyx ring (Exhibit 1) and a Smith and Wesson revolver (Exhibit 3). During that time a number of items including these three were stolen by one Douglas, a porter employed by Levin. On the evening after he took them, in May or June, 1958, Douglas sold the watch and ring to defendant for $7.00, then telling him they were stolen. Very shortly thereafter he again sold defendant approximately 10 watches for about $5.00 each and a few small items including revolvers-—one for [209]*209$8.00 and one for $10. Douglas definitely remembered stealing the Smith and Wesson revolver (Exhibit 3) but couldn’t say that it was the same one he sold to defendant. However, Eddie Brooks, whom defendant had known for a year, testified that in July or August, 1958, defendant gave him the Smith and Wesson revolver as security for $25 he loaned defendant after he lost his money in a “crap game.” The gun came into the hands of the police when Brooks was arrested for its possession. Douglas also testified that on his way to court during the trial the defendant hit him in the head, cutting his right eyebrow. When arrested, defendant had the watch and ring in his possession, but he told police he did not know Douglas and had purchased the items in a pawnshop.

In his defense, defendant testified he had met Douglas only once, but had never received any property from him and had never had any conversation with him concerning the revolver; that he obtained the watch in a dice game and bought the ring from the Los Angeles Loan and Jewelry Company, which he asked to verify the purchase but would not do without looking at the ring and seeing his photograph ; that he did not supply the information or the articles the pawnshop requested and he received no further communication from it; and that he had been convicted of a felony. Defendant denied that on the way to court during the trial he hit Douglas on the head so he would be afraid to testify against him.

The jury, to which was exclusively committed the responsibility of weighing the evidence, determining the credibility of the witnesses and resolving factual conflicts (People v. Flummerfelt, 153 Cal.App.2d 104 [313 P.2d 912]; People v. Hopper, 168 Cal.App.2d 406 [336 P.2d 28]), in finding defendant guilty obviously rejected his testimony as unworthy of belief and accepted the prosecution’s version of how the stolen articles came into defendant’s possession. This court will not reverse the judgment of conviction for insufficiency of the evidence unless it is made clearly to appear that upon no hypothesis whatsoever is there sufficient substantial evidence to support the verdict (People v. Newlamd, 15 Cal.2d 678 [104 P.2d 778]; People v. Jones, 36 Cal.2d 373 [224 P.2d 353]), and a review of the record convinces us that the great weight of the evidence sustains a hypothesis of guilt.

It has been definitely established that the ring and watch were stolen (People v. Rice, 73 Cal. 220 [14 P. 851]) by a specific person who sold them to the defendant telling [210]*210Mm they were stolen (People v. Smith, 26 Cal.2d 854 [161 P.2d 941]), and that both articles were found in defendant’s possession (People v. Willard, 92 Cal. 482 [28 P. 585]); and there is nothing in the record to suggest that the testimony of the People’s witnesses establishing these elements was in itself in any way inherently improbable, false or contradictory, nor has any claim been made that it was.

Appellant also complains that the information was defective in that “particular fact or facts showing that defendant was not entitled to possess said property” should have been included in the charge as alleged in the pleading. We note that although he was represented by counsel in the lower court any such objection was in no way brought to its attention; however, appellant here appearing in propria persona, we briefly point up that the amended information very nearly follows verbatim the wording of section 496, Penal Code, complying with section 952 which permits the pleader to allege the offense in the words of the enactment. The general rule established by statute (Pen. Code, § 952) is that in a criminal case a pleading shall be sufficient if “it contains in substance, a statement that the accused has committed some public offense,” and “ (i)t may be in the words of the enactment describing the offense or declaring the matter to be a public offense, or in any words sufficient to give the accused notice of the offense of which he is accused.” Section 496, Penal Code, under which defendant was charged, provides in subdivision 1 that “ (E)very person who buys or receives any property which has been stolen

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People v. Pollart
208 Cal. App. 2d 793 (California Court of Appeal, 1962)
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200 Cal. App. 2d 905 (California Court of Appeal, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
344 P.2d 614, 174 Cal. App. 2d 206, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-finley-calctapp-1959.