People v. Munton

218 Cal. App. 2d 556, 32 Cal. Rptr. 508, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1814
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 23, 1963
DocketCrim. No. 8323
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 218 Cal. App. 2d 556 (People v. Munton) 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. Munton, 218 Cal. App. 2d 556, 32 Cal. Rptr. 508, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1814 (Cal. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

SHINN, P. J.

Charged in seven counts with violation of section 288a, violation of section 286 (sodomy), and an attempted violation of section 286 of the Penal Code, the defendant, George Theodore Munton, was found guilty in a jury trial on counts I, II and VII. Count I charged a violation of section 288a and count II charged a violation of section 286. The victim in both counts was William Wallace, a boy approximately 17 years of age. Count VII charged an attempted violation of section 286 on Richard Bailey, a boy also approximately 17 years of age. Defendant was found not guilty on counts III, IV, V and VI, which were identical, except as to times, with counts I and II. Defendant’s motion for a new trial was denied. New attorneys were substituted for the trial attorney and they moved for a rehearing of defendant’s motion for a new trial. This motion was denied. Pursuant to section 5500 et seq. of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and upon the reports of doctors under appointment by the court, the defendant was adjudged a probable sexual psychopath and committed to Atascadero State Hospital. Four months later, upon receipt of a report from the superintendent of the hospital, the defendant was returned to the court and found not to be a sexual psychopath. Defendant’s motion for a new trial was renewed and denied. Probation being denied, defendant was sentenced to state prison. He appeals from the judgment and from undescribed “orders” in the ease. The purported appeal from the 1 ‘ orders ’ ’ is dismissed.

Counts I and II charged commissions of the offenses October 20, I960; counts III and IV alleged offenses committed October 21 and counts V and VI alleged commission of the offenses October 23, all against William Wallace and count VII alleged commission of the offense against Richard H. Bailey November 10, 1960.

Defendant operated the Lyric motion picture theater in Huntington Park in Los Angeles County. About a year prior to October 1960 Wallace had worked for defendant at the theater. Early in October he applied for reemployment. Wallace testified that the offenses charged in counts III, IV, V and VI upon which defendant was acquitted occurred either in the office of defendant at the theater or in a motel on Ventura Boulevard and that the offenses charged in counts I and II were committed at the motel. He testified that he was taken by defendant to the motel at about 1:30 am. on October 20th; defendant registered for himself and another and [559]*559obtained a room which he and defendant used and in which the offenses were committed; both remained there until about 11 a.m. when they left together. Defendant was well known to the proprietor of the motel, a Mr. Butler, and had used a room in the motel 18 times during the month of October. Mr. Butler testified to the registration by defendant of himself and another person about 1:30 a.m. and to having seen defendant and Wallace leave the motel together at about 11 a.m.

It is a fair inference that defendant was acquitted upon counts III to VI, inclusive, not because the jury disbelieved the testimony of Wallace but because he was found to be an accomplice and that his testimony was uncorroborated; presumably the convictions on counts I and II were due to the determination of the jury that the testimony of Wallace as to those offenses was sufficiently corroborated.

The contention, first to be considered, that defendant was inadequately represented by counsel and thus deprived of a fair trial, requires a consideration of the showing made by defendant upon his motion for a new trial. Sixteen affidavits were filed in support of the motion. Among them were affidavits by Wallace and Bailey repudiating the testimony they had given at the trial. Upon the hearing of the motion Wallace testified that he had believed it was necessary for him to deny participation in the unlawful acts in order to enlist in the armed services, and he reaffirmed his former testimony. There was no showing that the matters to which the other affidavits related were newly discovered and for this reason, alone, they could not have furnished a ground for granting the motion. (Pen. Code, § 1181.)

The affidavits were filed in support of defendant’s contention that he had been deprived of due process in that he had not been adequately represented at the trial. There was a showing by affidavit that defendant’s attorney was informed before the trial of the testimony that would have been given by the affiants and that he failed to call several of them as witnesses and failed to elicit in his examination of the others all that they knew that would have been helpful to defendant. The affiants were in the main employees of the defendant and their statements were designed to contradict the testimony of Wallace and Bailey in several particulars. Both Wallace and Bailey had testified that defendant induced them to drink considerable quantities of liquor and that he had [560]*560caused them to disrobe and put on only trunks and that they remained in his office for considerable periods of time. The affidavits were generally to the effect that the affiants had never known defendant to use liquor or have it in his office, had never known him to have his office door locked and had never known Wallace to go to defendant’s office and remain for more than a very few minutes. Such negative testimony could have made little impression upon the jury. One of the affiants would have testified to facts indicating that Wallace had upon other occasions indulged in unlawful sexual activities with other persons. It is now urged that although defendant’s attorney was informed as to the testimony these persons would give he was grossly incompetent and negligent in not calling all of them as witnesses and in not developing the testimony of those who were called in greater detail. The contention that defendant was deprived of a fair trial through the incompetence of his attorney merits no extended discussion. Six of the persons who made affidavits had testified in the trial on defendant’s behalf; they testified to the substance of the matters stated in their affidavits. The People’s witnesses were vigorously and adequately cross-examined; such defense as defendant had was adequately presented. The showing made by defendant was manifestly inadequate to furnish support for his claim that he was denied his right to a fair trial. (See People v. Moten, 207 Cal.App.2d 692 [24 Cal.Rptr. 716]; People v. Monk, 56 Cal.2d 288 [14 Cal.Rptr. 633, 363 P.2d 865]; People v. Prado, 190 Cal.App.2d 374 [12 Cal.Rptr. 141].)

Moreover, the testimony which defendant claims was not properly developed related to what might or might not have occurred in defendant’s office and not to the ooccurrences in the motel as charged in counts I and II, upon which defendant was convicted. The statements were relevant to the charge in count VII, which we shall discuss later. If defendant could have benefited to some extent through more detailed testimony by these witnesses, it is clear that he suffered no prejudice if their testimony was somewhat abbreviated.

The jury could not have failed to find that at least as to the offenses charged in counts I and II Wallace was an accomplice and as we have said, it was a reasonable inference that they found him to be an accomplice in the commission of the other charged offenses.

Our question is whether we can hold as a matter of law that the testimony of Wallace as to the events occurring on [561]*561October 20th was insufficiently corroborated.

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220 Cal. App. 2d 831 (California Court of Appeal, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
218 Cal. App. 2d 556, 32 Cal. Rptr. 508, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-munton-calctapp-1963.