People v. Givens

182 Cal. App. 2d 75, 5 Cal. Rptr. 648, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 21, 1960
DocketCrim. No. 6888
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 182 Cal. App. 2d 75 (People v. Givens) 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. Givens, 182 Cal. App. 2d 75, 5 Cal. Rptr. 648, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

FORD, J.

The appellant was accused of having committed the crime of assault with a deadly weapon in violation of section 245 of the Penal Code. It was further alleged in the information that he had theretofore been convicted of three felonies for each of which he had served a term of imprisonment in a state prison. He waived his right to trial by jury and was found guilty of the offense charged. The court found the allegations as to the prior felony convictions to be true. The appellant’s motion for a new trial was denied and he was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law. He appeals from the judgment and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.1

[76]*76The contention of the appellant is stated to be that the evidence is insufficient to justify the conviction in that the evidence shows that he acted in self-defense. Keeping in mind that on this appeal the evidence is to be viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution (People v. Newland, 15 Cal.2d 678, 681 [104 P.2d 778]; People v. Carnavacci, 119 Cal.App.2d 14, 16 [258 P.2d 1127] ; People v. Renek, 105 Cal. App.2d 277, 281 [233 P.2d 43]; People v. Von Benson, 38 Cal.App.2d 431, 434 [101 P.2d 527]), a summary of the evidence which is pertinent to the issue thus raised will be given.

Hubbard M. White, the person who is alleged to have been the victim of the assault, testified as follows: On February 10, 1959, at about 10 p.m. he was in front of 235 West 82d Street in Los Angeles in the presence of the appellant and a woman known as Patricia Washington. The appellant and White had a fight over Patricia. The appellant had asked Patricia “which one did she want” and she had answered that she wanted White. The appellant said, “Well, I’m going to get you, anyway,” and the fight ensued. White was stabbed in the back and was cut from his left ear down to the lower part of his chin. He did not see a Imife in the appellant’s hand. White was not confined to a hospital but he received stitches on his ear and in his back. On cross-examination, White said that he had come to the house located at the address above-stated earlier that evening and had gone in and asked for Patricia. The appellant told him that he, the appellant, had obtained and furnished the house for Patricia. He told White not to come around the house. White told him he would be back. White then went over to the home of Patricia’s mother and found Patricia. He and Patricia then returned to the street in front of the 82d Street premises but in separate automobiles. The appellant was standing in the driveway. When White got out of his car, the appellant called to him and to Patricia. There was a discussion in the street. After Patricia stated that she wanted White, the appellant said, “Hubbard, [77]*77you got her,” and White “thought it was all over.” White had a knife on this occasion, “a little old small knife” that he usually kept in his car “to clean battery cables.” It was a straight blade knife about six inches long. It was “sticking” in his outside coat pocket. He described the scuffle as follows: “Q. And during the scuffle, you had your knife out and he had his knife out, isn’t that true? A. No, I didn’t have my knife out. When I got stabbed and cut, I never—my knife wasn’t out. I mean, it happened so—you know, so sudden, see, after he told me, ‘Okay, Hubbard, you got her,’ I figured that was it. Q. Well, you did pull out your knife, didn’t you? A. Yeah, after he had backed me up to my ear. I had backed up to my car. Q. Nobody had been cut at the time that you got your knife out, had they? A. Yeah, I had. Q. Where? A. I was bleeding from the back and the neck. After I pulled out my knife, he went on back there where Patricia was. . . . Q. Now going back to the question that I asked you, you scuffled and went down about twenty or twenty-five feet down the block during the scuffle, did you not? A. My ear was parked twenty-five feet from where we was scuffling and I didn’t go past my car. Q. How far did you go from where the altercation first started until you wound up- A. How far did we go ? Q. Yes. A. I’d say I back [stc] about fifteen feet. Q. All right. And at that time, when you got to that point, fifteen feet away, the defendant broke loose and went back to his house, didn’t he? A. Well, after I pulled my knife, he did. Q. And you had had your knives out during this scuffle this fifteen or twenty feet, hadn’t you? A. It was somewhere between it I pulled my knife out. It was after I got cut and stabbed. Q. All right. Then you got in your car? A. That’s right, and drove off.” On redirect examination, White further testified as follows: “Q. When did you first see a knife in the defendant’s hand? A. Well, when did I first—well, it was at the time we were backing up to my ear, I was backing toward my car. I mean, when he first stabbed me and cut me, I didn’t see it. Q. When he was backing up to the car you saw the knife for the first time, is that right? A. That’s right. Q. Is that when you pulled your knife out? A. That’s right.” On further cross-examination, he said that he had put the knife in his pocket because Patricia said she was afraid.

As a witness, Patricia Washington gave her version of the occurrence. After she made her choice of White, the appellant “pulls this knife” and told White that, in the words of the witness, “he still ought to cut his throat.” White said, [78]*78“Well, all right, go ahead.” The appellant then cut White in the back and on his neck and ear. On cross-examination, she stated that she was presently living with White but she had formerly lived with the appellant. She first saw a knife in the appellant’s hand when he told White that he still “ought to cut” his throat. She did not see a knife in White’s hand at that time. When the two men got farther down the street toward the light, she saw that each had a knife in his hand. On further cross-examination, she testified as follows: “Q. Now, when they started scuffling did you then see a knife in Mr. White’s hand? A. Yes. Q. Did you see a knife in Mr. Givens’ hand? A. Yes.” On redirect examination, she said that she did not see a knife in White’s hand before the altercation started.

Officer Lewis Nall testified to a conversation with the appellant in which he said that both he and White had pulled their knives. He also said, “I blew my top and I pulled my knife and we began slashing at each other in the middle of the street.”

The appellant testified in his own defense. His home was at 235 West 82d Street. He had been living there with Patricia since he was released from the hospital on the 4th of the month (February). On the evening of the 10th, Patricia had taken his car and gone to her mother’s to do some washing. White came to the house thereafter and “walked right on in” when the appellant opened the door. He asked where Pat was. The appellant told him not to come back looking for Pat anymore. When White left, he said he would be back. The appellant telephoned Patricia to come home and he then waited “in front of the driveway.” He further said that when White and Patricia returned, “I observed him putting something in front of his pocket and after he got closer to me I could see it was a paring knife. ” As to the conversation and subsequent scuffle, he testified as follows: “ Q. What was said and by whom? A. At first it was by me.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
182 Cal. App. 2d 75, 5 Cal. Rptr. 648, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-givens-calctapp-1960.