People v. Harris

18 Cal. App. 3d 1, 95 Cal. Rptr. 468, 1971 Cal. App. LEXIS 1353
California Court of Appeal·Decided June 8, 1971·No. Crim. 5925·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Opinion

BRAY, J. *

Defendant appeals from a judgment, after jury verdict, convicting him of second degree robbery.

Questions Presented

1. The lineup was not unnecessarily suggestive.

2. No immaterial or irrelevant evidence was introduced.

3. The court’s ruling as to examination of defendant if he took the stand was proper.

Record

Defendant was charged with violation of Penal Code section 211 (robbery). At the trial a hearing was had outside the presence of the jury and defendant’s motion to have the identification evidence excluded because he claimed the lineup was unfair was denied. It was stipulated that defendant had waived his right to have an attorney present at the lineup. The jury found defendant guilty of second degree robbery and sentenced him to state prison for the term prescribed by law.

Facts

On March 25, 1970, about 9:45 p.m., three black men walked into the Handy Pantry store in Sacramento. Working in the store were Rodney Ramsey, the owner’s son, age 14, and Randy Pimm. One of the men was wearing a white scarf on his head, a jacket and bright yellow pants. He told Rodney that it was a holdup. Rodney later identified defendant as the man who did all the talking. Pursuant to directions from defendant Rodney put *5 the contents of the cash register in a bag and turned over to defendant a bundle of money orders from a drawer. Rodney and Randy were ordered into a back room and told to lie on the floor for five minutes. When they reached the front of the store, the robbers were gone. Rodney gave a description of defendant to a passing policeman.

The day after the robbery Rodney was shown photographs of possible suspects. He picked out one as showing a man who looked like the robber. It was not a picture of defendant.

Two days after the robbery William Smart was at a home where defendant and Janice Wright were present. Defendant asked Smart to give them a ride to the store so Janice could cash a check. Failing to cash it at Safeway, Smart took defendant and the girl to the Handy Pantry market. A clerk there testified that on that day a black female attempted to cash a Handy Pantry money order made out to Stella Wilson. (That girl was Janice Wright.) She said her name was Stella Wilson and used a medical identification card with that name on it. The store manager decided there was something wrong with the money order and refused to cash it. When Janice left the store, the manager checked the license number of the car in which she was riding. It was a Chevrolet and had two males and Janice in it. He called the police. Later at a different location Officer Davis spotted the car from the description given over the air. Occupying the car were Janice, defendant and William Smart, all of whom were taken into custody. Defendant had to be forcibly restrained after he struck one of the police officers. Defendant was then wearing a yellow jacket and some bright yellow pants. A medical identification card made out to Stella Wilson was found in Janice Wright’s coat pocket.

Stella Wilson testified that the identification card found on Janice Wright was Stella’s medical card. She thought until she came to court that she had it with her. She mentioned that the day she visited defendant’s sister both Janice and defendant were there.

At the trial Rodney positively identified defendant as the robber.

Defendant did not testify.

The Lineup

Defendant’s main contention that the lineup was unfair is based upon the fact that he was the only one in it wearing bright yellow pants. The color photographs of the lineup were before the court and jury. Defendant wore a long coat that covered, the upper portion of the pants. There were three other black men standing with defendant, two of whom bore a resemblance *6 to him. The man standing next to defendant wore tan or gold pants. The mere fact that defendant was wearing the same color pants worn by the robber did not make the lineup unfair. At the scene of the robbery de-' fendant was not wearing any type of mask, and the victim in a well-lighted store had ample opportunity to observe defendant’s features during the 5 to 10 minutes the robbery lasted. Rodney immediately thereafter described defendant to the police as being a tall Negro, about 21, relatively slim, wéaring a white scarf over his head, some kind of jacket and bright yellow pants. When asked what he noticed about defendant when he was in the lineup that was distinctive, Rodney answered, “His looks” and then “he was wearing the same yellow pants.” Before the lineup the victim was not told that the police had arrested a suspect. At the lineup, which took place two days after the robbery when the victim’s memory was fresh, Rodney immediately identified defendant, and his identification was based solely on defendant’s facial characteristics even though he noticed that defendant was wearing the same type of yellow pants he had seen on the robber. Rodney testified, that he would have been able to identify defendant had he met him on the street. The fact that Rodney picked out the photograph of another person as a man who looked like defendant did not detract from his later identification of defendant. This photograph was introduced at the trial and the jury had an opportunity to decide if there was any resemblance. The record supports Rodney’s testimony that his in-court identification of defendant was based upon his observation of defendant at the scene during the course of the commission of the crime and because of defendant’s facial characteristics and not upon the lineup identification, although there was nothing wrong with the latter identification. Rodney’s remembrance of the yellow pants served only to reinforce the credibility of his description of defendant. Whether a lineup is unnecessarily suggestive depends upon “the totality of the circumstances.” (People v. Harris (1969) 274 Cal. App.2d 826, 832 [79 Cal.Rptr. 352].) This lineup was not unnecessarily suggestive or conducive to mistaken identification.

Applicable here is the following from People v. Brown (1969) 273 Cal.App.2d 109, 112 [77 Cal.Rptr. 863]: “The overriding consideration here is that the record establishes without any doubt that . . . [the victim’s] in-court identification of defendant was based solely on a source independent of any pretrial identification either by photograph or lineup. [Citations.]”

Waiver of Counsel and Competency

Before the lineup defendant signed a waiver of counsel in which he expressly acknowledged that he had’been advised of his right to counsel and that an attorney would be appointed for him if desired. Defendant con *7 tends that he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to counsel at the lineup, and, in any event, the court made no express determination of his competency in that respect.

Out of the presence of the jury a hearing was held on defendant’s motion to exclude the identification evidence because he claimed that the lineup procedure was unfair.

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People v. Harris, 18 Cal. App. 3d 1, 95 Cal. Rptr. 468, 1971 Cal. App. LEXIS 1353 (Cal. Ct. App. 1971).

18 Cal. App. 3d 1 (People v. Harris) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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