People v. Jones

197 Cal. App. 2d 503, 17 Cal. Rptr. 252, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 1369
California Court of Appeal·Decided November 30, 1961·No. Crim. 7435·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal by each of the defendants from a judgment of conviction of conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery and of robbery in the first degree.

In an information filed in Los Angeles County on June 2, 1960, the defendants were charged in count 1 with conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery on or about the 21st day of March, 1960. The overt acts were alleged as follows:

*504 Overt Act No. 1
That defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams met with Sanath Kumar on March 21,1960.
Overt Act No. 2
That defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams met with Sanath Kumar on April 5, 1960.
Overt Act No. 3
That on April 8, 1960, defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams rode in a 1960 Lincoln in the vicinity of 34th and Central.
Overt Act No. 4
That on April 8,1960, defendant Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., had a telephone conversation with Sanath Kumar.
Overt Act No. 5
That on April 10, 1960, defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams went to the liquor store at 3040 South Main Street.
Overt Act No. 6
That on April 10, 1960, defendant Horace Lee Williams entered the liquor store at 3040 South Main Street.
Overt Act No. 7
That on April 10, 1960, defendant Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., had a telephone conversation with Sanath Kumar.
Overt Act No. 8
That on April 10,1960, Danny King (deceased) entered the liquor store at 3040 South Main Street.
Overt Act No. 9
That on April 10, 1960, defendant Horace Lee Williams had a telephone conversation with Sanath Kumar.
Overt Act No. 10
That on April 10, 1960, defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams met with Danny King (deceased) and Sanath Kumar, at 2415 West Boulevard.
Overt Act No. 11
That on April 11, 1960, defendants Herbert Thad Jones, Jr., and Horace Lee Williams met with Danny King (deceased) and Sanath Kumar at 2415 West Boulevard.
*505 Overt Act No. 12
That on April 12, 1960, Danny King (deceased) entered the liquor store at 3040 South Main Street.

In count 3 the defendants were charged with the robbery of S. Kumar on April 12, 1960. It was further charged that the defendants were armed with a deadly weapon, namely, a .38 caliber revolver at the time of the robbery. The defendants were found guilty as charged in counts 1 and 3, and overt acts 3, 5, 6 and 8 were found to be true. A motion for a new trial was denied. The defendants were sentenced and this appeal followed. The defendants were found not guilty of a charge of murder, which was set forth in count 2 of the information and not guilty of a burglary charge set forth in count 4 of the information.

A résumé of some of the facts is as follows:

Sanath Kumar was employed as a clerk in a liquor store located at 3040 South Main Street. Kumar was introduced to defendant Jones by defendant Williams on or about March 8, 1960, at or about which time Jones asked Kumar if he would cooperate with them in a holdup of the liquor store. Kumar was questioned by the defendants as to how much money was kept on hand, the hours during which the store was open and when he worked alone. Kumar reported the talks to a policeman friend of his of the Newton police station. After a further talk with the officers Kumar agreed to cooperate with the police in an effort to catch the defendants. Thereafter Kumar talked with the defendants and they frequently came to his home about the matter of robbing the liquor store or the liquor store proprietor. The defendants made suggestions to Kumar as to how he could protect himself and be in the clear if he would but cooperate with them; for example, that he should put the money in a paper bag when no one else was in the store, deliver over to. them the money and then wait several minutes, after which he could turn in an alarm and pretend to have been robbed. Kumar was told how to scream, to act nervous and what to tell the officers; for example, to give a bad description of the person who had come into the store, saying that it was a Mexican with a gun and telling the police the bandit went in the direction opposite to the real one taken by the person who would take the money. Kumar advised the defendants that his employer carried several thousand dollars from the bank on certain days of the week.

*506 It was first agreed that the defendants would rob Kumar’s employer on his way back from the bank on April 8, 1960, but Williams on that date thought the area was staked out with police officers and the robbery was not committed. On the next day Kumar was consulted by the defendants and defendants were told that Kumar would open the store on Sunday morning and would be alone until 11 a. m. when the delivery boy would arrive. Plans were then made to stage a robbery at the store at a few minutes past 6 a. m. of that Sunday. Williams came to Kumar’s home about 2 a. m. on Sunday morning, April 10, 1960, with two women and stated to Kumar in effect that the robbery had to take place because he needed the money and was in bad shape. Kumar opened the store as contemplated on Sunday morning and shortly thereafter Williams entered and said, “There is a truck across the street, cool it, we don’t trust it-.” Williams also indicated that there were police close by whereupon he, Williams, purchased a bottle of wine, made a telephone call and walked out of the store. Williams stated before leaving the store, however, that he would check out the police squad car in the area and if everything checked out the robbery would still take place that morning. Jones called on the telephone later and told Kumar that the truck across the street belonged to an engineering company and not to the police, as they had at first feared. Williams indicated that the plan was “still on.” Jones again called Kumar on the telephone and asked Kumar to cash $1,000 worth of bad checks which he had made out. The telephone rang again and the delivery boy answered. In approximately 10 minutes, after the telephone call just mentioned, Danny King (whom Kumar had not seen before) walked into the store and purchased some cigarettes and candy and then left. Williams then called on the telephone and asked Kumar why Kumar had failed to ‘ ‘ give my man what we had planned?” Kumar explained to Williams that there was some confusion because the previous telephone call had been received by the delivery boy. Williams stated to Kumar, “. . . This man means business, he carries a rod on him all the time.

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People v. Jones, 197 Cal. App. 2d 503, 17 Cal. Rptr. 252, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 1369 (Cal. Ct. App. 1961).

197 Cal. App. 2d 503 (People v. Jones) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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