People v. Hamilton

254 Cal. App. 2d 462, 62 Cal. Rptr. 261, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 1417
California Court of Appeal·Decided September 19, 1967·No. Crim. 12367·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ROTH, P. J.

Appellant charged with violating Vehicle Code, section 20001 (felony hit and run), moved under Penal Code, section 995, to set aside the information. The motion was denied and he pleaded not guilty. A jury found appellant guilty as charged. His motion for a new trial was denied and he was placed on probation for five years. He appeals from the judgment and order granting probation (Pen. Code, § 1237.)

On February 13, 1965. at about 6:20 p.m., Barbara Jean Federico and her fiance, Joseph Hart, were walking together in a southerly direction on Woodman Avenue. There was no pavement in the area and they were walking on the shoulder of the road. It was twilight. Miss Federico suddenly heard the sound of shattering glass, felt her fiance strike her, and then she fell to the ground. She did not hear an automobile, but rather saw a “blur” that appeared to be an automobile, travelling towards Van Nuys. No one stopped to identify himself as the driver of what was apparently a motor vehicle.

Officer Volz arrived at the scene 20 minutes later. Hart was lying on his back on Woodman Avenue. The back of his head was badly injured. He appeared to the officer to be dead. Small pieces of glass, resembling particles from the headlight of an automobile, were scattered over a wide area.

On the morning of February 14, appellant at the Van Nuys police station told Officer Higgs that his car had been stolen the night before. He filled out a police report and signed it. Officer Higgs observed an injury “on the face” of appellant.

Appellant’s automobile was found in a parking lot on February 15. The right front fender, including the headlight and the. right side of the windshield were damaged. Blood and hairs were embedded within the molding near the break on the windshield. In addition, blood samples were found on the *465 right front wind-wing post and on the inside of the left front window of the vehicle.

The testimony of criminalist Leroy A. Howe, at the preliminary hearing, was read into the record. Howe testified that samples of hair found on appellant’s automobile and samples taken from the decedent Hart were similar in structure. He could not, however, make a determination as to whether or not they were from the same person. Howe further testified that paint samples taken from the clothing of the victim were identical to paint samples taken from appellant’s automobile. Blood samples taken from the vehicle, he stated, were probably human blood.

Appellant on his own behalf testified that on the evening of February 13 he had been drinking at a bar with his employee, Joe Flores. Shortly after 6 p.m., the two left together and went to the parking lot toward their cars. Flores left in his car. Appellant entered his own automobile and as he began to back out of the parking lot he noticed two men standing behind the vehicle. lie asked the men to move and, when they refused, words were passed and one of the men began fighting with him. As they fought, the other man got into his automobile.

Appellant and his assailant fell to the ground, the former hitting the back of his head on the ground. The assailant of appellant ran to appellant’s car, already occupied by the other man. The two drove away. Appellant, his nose and the back of his head bleeding at the time, chased after his assailant, but the two men already in the car started it and drove away.

Thinking that his attackers would return, appellant waited about 10 minutes and then phoned his wife. He told her to meet him at a relatively distant location. When appellant arrived at the location he saw that his wife had not yet arrived, so he walked to Flores’ house. He said that he reported the assault and theft to the police the following morning.

Flores corroborated appellant’s story up until the time that ho left him at the parking lot of the bar; and testified also, that when appellant arrived at his house, his nose was swollen and he was bleeding from the back of his head.

Dr. Walter J. Peters stated that an examination of appellant on February 17, four days after the alleged assault, revealed that appellant’s scalp showed a hard swelling three inches over the left ear. The doctor testified he removed a *466 stone from the scalp which had been embedded in it over 24 hours. He further stated that appellant told him that he had been kicked by his two assailants while he lay on the ground.

Appellant contends that he was denied due process of law because he was not indicted by a grand jury. He claims that the trial court was without jurisdiction because the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution via the Fourteenth Amendment, requires indictment by grand jury by the states.

Conviction upon information does not deprive a defendant of due process. (Hurtado v. California (1884) 110 U.S. 516, 538 [28 L.Ed. 232, 239, 4 S.Ct. 111]; People v. Raffington, 98 Cal.App.2d 455, 457-458 [220 P.2d 967], cert. den. 340 U.S. 912 [95 L.Ed. 659,71 S.Ct. 292].)

Mr. Justice Stewart points out in his dissent in Griffin v. California (1965) 380 U.S. 609 [14 L.Ed.2d 106, 85 S.Ct. 1229] ; 380 U.S. p. 623 [14 L.Ed.2d p. 114] : “The formulation of procedural rules to govern the administration of criminal justice in the various States is properly a matter of local concern. We are charged with no general supervisory power over such matters; our only legitimate function is to prevent violations of the Constitution’s commands.' ’

Moreover, no case has ever been decided, holding that the entire Fifth Amendment is incorporated into the Fourteenth. The two applicable cases cited by appellant, Malloy v. Hogan (1964) 378 U.S. 1 [12 L.Ed.2d 653, 84 S.Ct. 1489] and Griffin v. California, supra, deal specifically with the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Appellant next contends that the trial judge erred in giving instructions to the jury relating to the duties imposed by section 20001. 1

The trial court did give CALJIC 974 (revised). That instruction was appropriate and completely adequate. No *467 showing, even remote, suggests that the jury could have been confused as to whether appellant owed a duty to Miss Federico or to the decedent Hart. Sufficient evidence was presented to show that the appellant did not fulfill any of the duties imposed upon him by the statute to either of these two people. Furthermore, appellant’s failure to request a clarification of the instructions at the trial court bars him from raising this issue for the first time on appeal. (People v. Mandell, 35 Cal.App.2d 368, 373 [95 P.2d 704]; People

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People v. Hamilton, 254 Cal. App. 2d 462, 62 Cal. Rptr. 261, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 1417 (Cal. Ct. App. 1967).

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