People v. Putty

251 Cal. App. 2d 991, 59 Cal. Rptr. 881, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 2063
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 1967
DocketCrim. 11479
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 251 Cal. App. 2d 991 (People v. Putty) 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. Putty, 251 Cal. App. 2d 991, 59 Cal. Rptr. 881, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 2063 (Cal. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

HERNDON, J.

Defendant appeals from the judgment entered following a jury trial that resulted in his conviction of receiving stolen property in violation of Penal Code section 496. His purported appeal from the order denying his motion for new trial must be dismissed. (Pen. Code, § 1237.) Prior convictions of burglary and grand theft were admitted by appellant.

Appellant contends that his oral incriminating statements were improperly received in evidence because (1) there was insufficient evidence aliunde these statements to establish the corpus delicti; and (2) the undercover officers who were negotiating with appellant for the purchase of the stolen items failed to advise him of his constitutional rights as required by People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], Appellant further contends that he was denied his “constitutional right of equal protection” by reason of the trial court’s refusal to order preparation of a full reporter's transcript to assist his substituted counsel in arguing his motion for a new trial.

We have concluded that appellant’s contentions are without merit. Our review of the record has disclosed the absence of error and the presence of overwhelming evidence of appellant’s guilt.

A warehouse owned by the Rochlin Company, an exclusive factory representative for several lines of machine tools, was burglarized on July 9, 1964. The missing merchandise included straight and stagger-tooth key set cutters, center drills and lengths, arbor type cutters, and T-slot cutters. Their value at dealer’s cost was slightly under $15,000.

On November 2, 1964, the premises owned by the Swiss Precision Instruments Company were also burglarized. Among the stolen merchandise were Universal drill jigs, micrometers, a special type of Swiss drill chuck of which the company was the sole importer in the United States, and rare rotary tables of which the company was the sole distributor in the 11 Western states. The wholesale value of the missing goods was approximately $7,500,

*994 Marvin Bell, who operated a Texaco service station in Los Angeles, testified that on February 15, 1965, appellant, whom he had seen on two or three prior occasions, drove into his station in a 1958 Buick and inquired if Bell could “handle or sell” some machine tools for him. Bell asked appellant whether the items were “hot,” i.e., stolen. Appellant replied, “By this time they should be cool, they are approximately seven months old, and there should be no heat behind them.”

Bell told appellant that he might agree to handle the items but that appellant would first have to provide him with a sample of the merchandise to show a prospective buyer. Appellant replied that this was agreeable to him and left, stating that he would return later that day with a sample. Bell then contacted the police. At 3 or 4 p.m. that day, appellant returned to the station bringing numerous small containers, in which there were various sizes of key set cutters and a box of angle drills. Appellant left these items as samples to be shown to a prospective buyer.

Appellant told Bell that he had approximately $6,000 worth of this particular type of cutter and approximately $30,000 worth of various types of machine tools. Bell said that he would obtain as much for the tools as possible and agreed to appellant’s request that he attempt to obtain 35 percent of list price for the merchandise. Bell advised appellant that he was almost positive that he could make a sale and requested appellant to leave the remainder of the merchandise with Bell on ‘ ‘ consignment. ’ ’

Later the same day appellant returned to the station and showed Bell a crate of tools inside the trunk of appellant’s automobile. It weighed some 150 to 175 pounds and was removed and placed in Bell’s car in accordance with their ‘ ‘ consignment” agreement. Appellant indicated that Bell should attempt to sell them for $600 and accepted a $20 advance payment on the sale from Bell when the latter indicated that he did not have the $200 requested by appellant. Thereafter, Bell showed these tools to Officer Richard Olson of the Los Angeles Police Department.

On February 17, 1965, Officer Olson, representing himself as a “reliable businessman,” met with Bell and appellant and informed appellant that while he wished to purchase such equipment, he was hesitant to make such a small purchase of stolen merchandise. Although Bell told appellant that he knew Olson and that he was “all right” appellant indicated that while he had additional merchandise, it was in the City of Oakland and he preferred to sell it to Bell rather than to *995 Olson directly. However, after further negotiations in which appellant indicated that he would require payment for the merchandise already delivered to pay for the expenses of his trip to pick up the remainder of the property, appellant accepted $250 as part payment and gave Olson a written receipt signed “Mr. Davis. ’’ Appellant told Olson that when he knew him better he would put him in contact with a friend who would sell him $40,000 worth of merchandise “at the right price. ’ ’ In the interim, appellant said that he would go to Oakland, pick up $12,000 worth of tools, and let Bell know on the following day where Olson and appellant could meet to arrange the sale of these additional items.

Thereafter, other officers kept appellant’s car under surveillance and followed it after it left Los Angeles as far as Indio, California. They broke off surveillance after appellant continued on in the direction of Blythe and Arizona. On the following day law enforcement officers at Blythe informed the Los Angeles police that appellant’s car had re-entered the state. The Los Angeles police resumed their surveillance when appellant’s car, driven by appellant, was observed entering the Los Angeles area on the San Bernardino Freeway near Covina, Contrary to its appearance when it left the city, the vehicle now appeared to be riding low because of a heavy weight in the trunk.

On instructions received over the radio, the trailing officers stopped appellant’s car and placed him under arrest. One of the officers knew appellant and had arrested him in 1964 on a charge involving burglary and theft of precision machinery tools. He advised appellant of his constitutional rights in accordance with the rule enunciated in People v. Dorado, supra, 62 Cal.2d 338, and appellant indicated that he understood these rights. Appellant thereafter stated that he had driven up to Oakland and obtained a load of tools from a man named James Jefferson. A search of the trunk of appellant’s ear revealed numerous tools subsequently established as among those stolen in the Boehlin Company and Swiss Precision Instruments Company burglaries. Appellant related that James Jefferson and other men would commit burglaries and obtain the tools and that he “was merely selling them for them.” Appellant claimed to have paid Jefferson $100 for the tools found in his car at the time of his arrest.

By way of defense appellant testified that he had purchased the stolen equipment in good faith from a person named Leon Wagner in Burbank. He had never asked Wagner if the tools *996

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Bluebook (online)
251 Cal. App. 2d 991, 59 Cal. Rptr. 881, 1967 Cal. App. LEXIS 2063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-putty-calctapp-1967.