People v. Robinson

290 P. 470, 107 Cal. App. 211, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 404
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 12, 1930
DocketDocket No. 1562.
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 290 P. 470 (People v. Robinson) 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. Robinson, 290 P. 470, 107 Cal. App. 211, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 404 (Cal. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

THE COURT.

Appellant Robinson, A. N. Jackson and W. S. Himmelright were jointly charged by an indictment with ten separate offenses of grand theft. Jackson and Himmelright entered pleas of guilty to one of the counts of the indictment and Robinson pleaded not guilty to each count. A jury found the latter guilty as charged upon nine of the counts and upon the other returned a verdict of petty theft. The appeal is from the judgments entered thereon, and the orders denying motions for a new trial.

The counts in the indictment were identical in form except as to the names of the persons whose property was alleged to have been taken and the description of the same, the allegations of the first count being as follows: “The grand jury of the county of Alameda hereby accuses I: W. Robinson, A. N. Jackson, and W. S. Himmelright of a *217 felony, to wit, grand theft, a violation of section 484 of the Penal Code of California, in that on or about the 11th day of June, 1928, at the said county of Alameda, State of California, they, the .said I. W. Robinson, A. N. Jackson, and W. S. Himmelright, unlawfully took the property of one Gabriella Morello consisting of 30 shares of Bank of Italy stock, certificate No. B-34,302, of the reasonable value of Sixty-three Hundred Dollars ($6300.00) more or less lawful money of the United States. ’ ’

A number of grounds for reversal are urged, the first being that sections 484 and 490a, 951 and 952 of the Penal Code, under which appellant was charged and convicted, contravenes certain provisions of section 13 of article I of the Constitution in that the pleading required by the statute is insufficient to inform a defendant of the nature of the crime charged, so that he may be prepared to defend, or, upon an acquittal or conviction, to protect him against being again placed in jeopardy for the same offense.

Section 950 of the Penal Code requires that the indictment contain a statement of the acts constituting the offense in ordinary and concise language and in such manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended, and section 952 of the same code provides that in charging theft it shall be sufficient to allege that the defendant unlawfully took the labor or property of another. Due process of law requires only that the accused be given sufficient notice of the nature of the charge against him (Rogers v. Peck, 199 U. S. 425 [50 L. Ed. 256, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 87]; Garland v. Washington, 232 U. S. 642 [58 L. Ed. 772, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 456] to the end that he may prepare his defense and plead the judgment as a bar' to any subsequent prosecution for the same offense (United States v. Simmons, 96 U. S. 360 [24 L. Ed. 819]). The state, however, has the right to establish forms of pleading to be observed in its own courts, subject only to the provisions of the federal Constitution involving the protection of life, liberty and property in all the states (Ex parte Reggel, 114 U. S. 642, 651 [29 L. Ed. 250, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1148, see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes]), and in People v. Nolan, 144 Cal. 75 [77 Pac. 774], where the defendant, an accomplice, was charged in the information as a principal in conformity with section 971 of the Penal Code, it was held that the *218 pleading was .sufficient notice of the nature of the accusation to satisfy the requirements of the federal Constitution. The same objection to an information which followed the provisions of section 951 of the same code was made and overruled in People v. Burdg, 95 Cal. App. 259 [272 Pac. 816], and it was held in the following eases that an indictment charging grand theft in the statutory form gave the defendant. all the information necessary as to the nature of the accusation and that proof of any one of the species of theft named in section 484 of the Penal Code is sufficient to sustain the charge (People v. Plum, 88 Cal. App. 575 [263 Pac. 862, 265 Pac. 322]; People v. Campbell, 89 Cal. App. 646 [265 Pac. 364]; People v. Lalor, 95 Cal. App. 242 [272 Pac. 794]; People v. Wickersham, 98 Cal. App. 502 [277 Pac. 121]). The amendment to section 484 (Stats. 1927, p. 1046) in connection with other cognate legislation, such as amendments to sections 951 (Stats. 1927, p. 1043) and 952 (Stats. 1927, p. 1043; Stats. 1929, p. 303) of the Penal Code, was designed to simplify procedure (People v. Myers, 206 Cal. 480 [275 Pac. 219]). And the effect of section 484 is to merge the former crimes of larceny, embezzlement, and obtaining property by false pretenses into the one crime of theft (People v. Plum, supra; People v. Palmer, 92 Cal. App. 323 [268 Pac. 417]).

There is nothing in this legislation Avliich deprives the accused of his rights under the section of the article of the Constitution upon which appellant relies, namely, the right to appear and defend, or which supports the contention that a judgment based upon pleadings in the statutory form would be an insufficient protection against another prosecution. Moreover, the identity of the offense involved in the plea of former conviction or acquittal rests ultimately in parol proof and may be thus established even though the pleadings be alike. (People v. Faust, 113 Cal. 172 [45 Pac. 261]; People v. Foster, 198 Cal. 112 [243 Pac. 667].)

The evidence shows that some time previous to March, 1928, appellant, under the name of Colonial Loan and Discount Company, entered upon the business of loaning money on stocks and bonds, the amount loaned being usually about sixty per cent of the security. The facts of the transaction alleged in the first count of the indictment furnish an *219 example of his methods. On June 11, 1928, Gabriella Morello borrowed from appellant $3,780, for which she gave her note. The note was made payable to Colonial Loan and Discount Company, one year after date, with interest, which, with the brokerage charges, was deducted in advance. As security she delivered on the same date thirty shares of Bank of Italy stock, the market value of which on the day of delivery was $6,300. The net amount of the loan to Mrs. Morello, namely, $3,326, was paid to her on June 15, 1928, but in the meantime appellant had sold the stock pledged for the sum of $6,527, which was $227 more than its market value on the date it was deposited. A few days thereafter Mrs. Morello was induced to deliver to appellant as additional security another certificate of twenty-five shares in the same banking corporation. Thereafter she demanded the return of this certificate, but a redelivery was refused unless she deposited other security.

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Bluebook (online)
290 P. 470, 107 Cal. App. 211, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-robinson-calctapp-1930.