People v. Powell

256 P. 561, 83 Cal. App. 62, 1927 Cal. App. LEXIS 633
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 12, 1927
DocketDocket No. 1469.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 256 P. 561 (People v. Powell) 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. Powell, 256 P. 561, 83 Cal. App. 62, 1927 Cal. App. LEXIS 633 (Cal. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

MURPHEY, J., pro tem.

The defendant and appellant was accused by an information filed by the district attorney of the county of Los Angeles, of the crime of robbery, a felony. He was tried by a jury and found guilty as charged. From the judgment and order denying his motion for a new trial the defendant appeals. The jury, on November 15, 1926, found the defendant guilty of the crime as charged; sentence was not pronounced until December 6, 1926, following the hearing on the motion for a new trial, and after the time limit for the imposition of sentence prescribed by sections 1191 and 1202 of the Penal Code of the state of California.

The defendant in his opening brief stresses three points as grounds for the reversal of the judgment. First, error *64 of the trial court in refusing motion for a new trial and in pronouncing sentence after the lapse of the statutory time; second, refusal of the court to give certain instructions proposed by him; and third, the giving by the court of confusing and erroneous instructions. In his final brief, and for the first time, the defendant raised the point that the verdict was not sustained by the evidence and quotes rather copiously from the testimony in support of this contention.

Taken in the order of their assignment the defendant, in support of his first contention, cites many cases decided by the supreme and appellate courts before the supreme court had finally passed upon the applicability of section 4% of article VI of the constitution to cases of this character. The law is now definitely settled that a failure to impose sentence within the time prescribed by sections 1191 and 1202 of the Penal Code is an error of procedure fully amenable to the provisions of the above quoted section of the constitution.

In the case of People v. Zuvela, 191 Cal. 223, at page 224 [215 Pac. 907], the supreme court of this state said in referring to this matter: “The failure to impose sentence within the time specified by section 1191 of the Penal Code is clearly an error of procedure. . . . We see no good reason for excepting this particular error from the general provisions of section 4½ of article VI of the Constitution. After an examination of the entire cause, including the evidence, we are satisfied that the error complained of in the instant ease did not result in a miscarriage of justice. It will not, therefore, suffice to warrant a reversal of the judgment for the purpose of having a new trial.” Quoting the language of the district court of appeal in the case of People v. Barr, 55 Cal. App. 321 [203 Pac. 827], which is as follows: “Indeed, if we may concede that its language is broad enough to apply to proceedings taken after verdict, to extend it to cover the error herein as contended for by respondent would be to nullify completely the effect of said sections 1191 and 1202. We must attribute no such purpose to the people in adopting the amendment.” Counsel for appellant calls attention to the fact that the supreme court in the Zuvela case did not take up and consider the language in the Barr case, and had it been considered counsel suggests that a different conclusion may have been reached. With this *65 suggestion we cannot agree. The question of the application of section 4½ of article VI of the constitution to the matter of sentences imposed after the time prescribed by these sections was the very matter before the court, and the very matter upon which they were called upon to decide, and the conclusion is inevitable that the court intended to decide exactly what it did decide. This view is confirmed in the recent case of People v. Haines, 64 Cal. App. 628, at page 630 [222 Pac. 183], where the court quotes the Zuvela case as the settled law on this subject, and with which conclusion we are in entire accord. In the case of People v. Haines, supra, at page 630, where sentence was pronounced three days later than the maximum time allowed by section 1191 of the Penal Code the court said: “It is urged that because of this delay the defendant was entitled to a new trial and that the judgment should be reversed. This contention is met by the recent case of People v. Zuvela, 191 Cal. 223 [215 Pac. 907], wherein it was held that the failure to impose sentence within the time specified by section 1191 of the Penal Code is clearly an error of procedure within the meaning of section 4% of article VI of the Constitution and that a new trial would not be granted because of such error unless an examination of the entire record disclosed that error complained of had resulted in a miscarriage of justice. As pointed out by respondent, the error complained of occurred after the verdict of the jury and could not have changed the verdict in any way.” In the instant case, in view of the law as above stated, there is nothing to indicate or evidence in the slightest degree any suggestion of a miscarriage of justice.

The second point raised by appellant is the refusal of the court to give the following instruction: “You are instructed that where evidence has been offered by the defendant for the proposed purpose of proving an alibi—that is to say, that the defendant was in another place at the time of the alleged crime, and was far distant from the scene of the crime at the time, and therefore, could not have participated in it—if, from the whole case and a consideration of all the testimony, the evidence in his behalf produced belief sufficient to create a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant was present at the time and place of the alleged crime, he must be acquitted.” In view of the instruc *66 tions that were given by the trial court, we are of the opinion that the above instruction was entirely unnecessary. In the case of People v. Perrin, 67 Cal. App. 612, at page 617 [227 Pac. 924, 926], the court said: “The appellant requested the trial court to give certain instructions regarding the evidence which the appellant had introduced in his attempt to prove an alibi. The trial court did not give any one of these instructions and the appellant assigns its refusal as error. However, the trial court did instruct the jury as follows: ‘The court instructs the jury that if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that in the County of Fresno, at about the time mentioned in the information, the defendant knowingly and designedly . . . ’ etc. The trial court also carefully and fully instructed the jury to the effect that the prosecution must prove the allegations of the information beyond a reasonable doubt. The nature of the defense interposed was to the effect that the defendant did not commit the alleged offense on the date charged at Fresno because on that date he was at Tia Juana, Mexico. It is patent that if the jury found that he did commit the act on the date alleged at Fresno,' that he was not on that date at Tia Juana, and the converse is equally true. We find no prejudicial error in the record.” In the instant case the trial court’s instructions to the jury were as follows: “A defendant in a criminal action is presumed to be innocent until the contrary is proved. And in case of a reasonable doubt, whether his guilt is satisfactorily shown, he is entitled to an acquittal. . . . The burden of proof is upon the prosecutor.

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Bluebook (online)
256 P. 561, 83 Cal. App. 62, 1927 Cal. App. LEXIS 633, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-powell-calctapp-1927.