People v. Robinson

271 P.2d 865, 43 Cal. 2d 132, 1954 Cal. LEXIS 234
California Supreme Court·Decided June 25, 1954·No. Crim. 5580·Published·Cited by 71 cases

Opinions

SPENCE, J.

Defendant and one Leon Wayne Schaefer were jointly charged in count one of an information with the crime of conspiracy to violate section 337a of the Penal Code and in count two with the violation of subdivision 3 of said section 337a (bookmaking). Schaefer died before the trial. The jury found defendant Robinson guilty on count one but not guilty on count two. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction entered on count one and from the order denying his motion for a new trial. As ground for reversal, he urges these points: (1) insufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction on the conspiracy charge; (2) error in the admission in evidence of the declarations of the deceased coconspirator Schaefer to a police officer ; (3) inconsistency of the guilty verdict on count one with the not guilty verdict on count two; and (4) error in the court’s failure to give an instruction on its own motion as to the necessity for corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice. (Pen. Code, § 1111.) There is no merit in these objections.

The evidence on behalf of the People consisted of the testimony of Officers Jacobsen and Hermansen of the Long Beach Police Department. It appears that Jacobsen, pursuant to information as to bookmaking activities of Schaefer, met the latter on the street in Long Beach. He told Schaefer that he was operating a “little book”; that his business was getting too large, and that he was looking for a place to “lay off” excessive bets. Schaefer said that he could handle these [135]*135bets through a “big bookmaker.” They agreed to meet the next day, October 23, at 2:30 p. m. Upon meeting as arranged, Jacobsen gave Schaefer $15 along with a slip of paper bearing the names of the horses running at Bay Meadows, telling Schaefer that he wanted to play $5.00 to win on each of the three horses. They agreed to meet the next day if Jacobsen had a “pay-off.” The next day, October 24, they did meet and Schaefer gave Jacobsen $20 as winnings on the previous day’s bets. Jacobsen said that he had more bets for that day, and he gave Schaefer $20 in currency (one 10-dollar bill and 10 one-dollar bills) along with another slip of paper bearing the names of four horses running that day. Jacobsen had recorded the serial numbers of the bills and had treated the bills with a fluorescent powder’ which would rub off on the hands of anyone handling them and would be visible under ultraviolet light. Jacobsen then left Schaefer and proceeded to a café in Long Beach where defendant Robinson was employed as a bartender. Upon arrival there, Jacobsen saw Officer Hermansen with Robinson and Schaefer, and he saw money in the hands of Robinson.

Inspector Hermansen testified that he had worked with Officer Jacobsen on October 24 in preparing the list of four horses which was given to Schaefer that day; that he then followed Schaefer to the café, where Robinson worked behind the bar, and observed Schaefer and Robinson in conversation; that he then saw Schaefer take from his left rear hip pocket and pass to Robinson what appeared to be the money and paper given him by Jacobsen, and that Robinson took the roll—the money with the paper wrapped around it—and thumbed through it; that he recognized the paper in Robinson’s hands as that which Jacobsen had torn from his notebook ; that he then moved to arrest Robinson but due to the presence of several patrons at the bar and the fact that Hermansen also stopped to detain a person leaving the telephone booth, Robinson was out of Hermansen’s sight for a few seconds; that when arrested, Robinson was searched and a roll of bills was disclosed but none was a marked one, and the slip of paper, or betting marker, containing the names of the horses could not be found. Hermansen went to his ear to get the ultraviolet machine, leaving Jacobsen, who had meanwhile arrived at the bar, with Robinson. When Hermansen returned, he saw a glass with some money in it before Robinson, who was sitting at a cocktail table. Jacobsen stated that he saw Robinson place the money in the glass. [136]*136The money was examined and found to contain, in part, the bills with the fluorescent powder on them and bearing the recorded serial numbers. Traces of the fluorescent powder were found on the hands of both Schaefer and Robinson and on the material near Schaefer’s left rear pocket. An “0” sheet (a paper on which were recorded the names of bettors, the amounts to be paid to and collected from them, together with the total “book” made for that day) was found on Robinson’s person. The “0” sheet had the name “Leo” written on it, and Schaefer’s first name was “Leon.”

Robinson testified in his own behalf. He admitted that he had received money from Schaefer on the day in question but claimed that he had not received it for bookmaking purposes. He explained his possession of the “0” sheet by stating that he had picked it up from the floor. He claimed that he did not know what an “0” sheet was, despite the admission of a prior conviction of bookmaking and former work as a bookmaker for several years. Robinson denied having had any conversation that day with Schaefer concerning the placement of bets on the four horses or horse racing. He maintained at the trial, as he had in conversation with the officers following his arrest, that there was no marker or slip of paper around the money when Schaefer gave it to him.

Upon this record appellant Robinson unavailingly argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction on the conspiracy count. A conspiracy can generally be established only by circumstantial evidence. It is not often that the direct fact of a common unlawful design can be proved other than by the establishment of independent facts bearing on such design. (People v. Kulwin, 102 Cal.App.2d 104, 110 [226 P.2d 672].) While mere association or suspicion will not suffice to establish a conspiracy (11 Cal.Jur.2d 252, § 30; Dong Haw v. Superior Court, 81 Cal.App.2d 153, 158 [183 P.2d 724]), here more than that was shown by the evidence to warrant the jury’s inference that a plan and agreement existed between appellant and Schaefer to carry on a bookmaking enterprise, and that the acts performed by them were in accordance with and in furtherance of their unlawful plan and agreement. (People v. Sica, 112 Cal.App.2d 574, 581 [247 P.2d 72].) The decision of the jury, which has been approved by the trial judge in the denial of a motion for a new trial, will not be set aside on appeal unless there is no substantial evidence upon any hypothesis whatsoever to support the verdict of the jury and the conclusion [137]*137of the trial court. (People v. Yant, 26 Cal.App.2d 725, 737 [80 P.2d 506].)

Here it appears that after Schaefer had accepted the fluorescent-powdered $20 on October 24 from Officer Jacobsen, he went directly to the café where appellant worked, and delivered the marked money to appellant. There was evidence that at the time of such delivery, this money was wrapped in a white slip of paper, the betting marker, containing the names of horses upon which the bets were placed for that day. When appellant was arrested and his hands examined, they were found to contain the powder which had been placed on the marked currency.

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People v. Robinson, 271 P.2d 865, 43 Cal. 2d 132, 1954 Cal. LEXIS 234 (Cal. 1954).

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