People v. Smith

62 P.2d 436, 17 Cal. App. 2d 468, 1936 Cal. App. LEXIS 598
California Court of Appeal·Decided November 13, 1936·No. Crim. 1520·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

PLUMMER, J.

On the 27th day of May, 1936, the district attorney of the county of Lake filed an information in which he accused the defendant of a felony, to wit, child stealing, based on section 278 of the Penal Code. The information alleges that the defendant, on or about the 10th day of May, 1936, in the county of Lake, state of California, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and maliciously take away a minor child, to wit, Mary Spiers, then and there of the age of thirteen years, with the intent then and there to retain and conceal such child from J. C. Anton who was then and there the probation officer of Lake County, and who was then and there the person having the lawful charge of such child, etc. To this information the defendant pleaded not guilty.

The trial resulted in the conviction of the defendant, and his motion for new trial being denied, an appeal is taken to this court both from the judgment based upon the verdict of the jury and the order denying his motion for a new trial.

The record shows the following facts:

That one D. F. Melntire, the then probation officer of the county of Lake, filed a petition with the clerk of the juvenile court, asking an order of said court declaring Mary Spiers a ward thereof; that thereupon, a hearing was had upon said petition and Mary Spiers, through a purported order of said juvenile court, was adjudged a ward thereof. The order further declared that said ward be placed on probation in the care, custody and control of D. F. Melntire, and to remain in the home of het mother, Estelle Spiers, subject to visitation by D. F. Melntire; thereafter, and on or about the 18th day of April, 1936, J. C. Anton, the successor *470 to D. F. Melntire, as probation officer of the county of Lake, filed a petition seeking modification of the aforesaid order, and thereafter, on the 2d day of May, 1936, the juvenile court made another order modifying said order of June 18, 1935, to the effect that said ward be committed to the care, custody and control of the probation officer, to be by him placed in the Ursuline Academy at St. Helena, or to be by him placed in some other school or proper home he should determine to be fit and proper; and on the same date a further order was made modifying the order just referred to, to the effect that the welfare of said Mary Spiers required that her custody be taken from her parent, Estelle Spiers; that on the 2d day of May, 1936, the probation officer delivered said Mary Spiers to the Ursuline Academy at St. Helena. On the 3d day of May, 1936, Mary Spiers ran away from the academy, and arrived, first, at the town of St. Helena, at which place she visited her aunt’s home, and, thereafter was picked up by another aunt and brought to the town of Middletown, Lake County; that while at St. Helena she sent a telegram to her mother requesting her mother to meet her at St. Helena, and immediately thereafter sent another message to her mother countermanding this telegram. Mary Spiers arrived at Middletown with her aunt at about the hour of 11 o’clock at night, and her mother, in company with a man by the name of Deck, met her; that the mother, Deck and Mary left Middletown and came to Kelseyville, the home of the mother, arriving about midnight; that immediately after arriving in Kelseyville, Mary came up to Findley, a distance of about four miles, where the defendant Tom Smith lived; Mary Spiers got Tom Smith out of bed and asked him to take her away, which he refused to do, but he did go back with her to her home in Kelseyville. The mother, after the arrival of Smith and Mary, said she was going to take Mary down to Buchanan’s cabin, four or five miles from her home, to hide Mary out; that on the same evening Mary Spiers’ mother got blankets and took Mary down to James Buchanan’s cabin, where Mary stayed for one week. It appears that Tom Smith had for several years, along about the first or second week in May, gone down to the town of Chowchilla and worked in the cotton fields, and was contemplating going down there again on or about the 12th day *471 of Hay, 1936; that Mary Spiers and her mother asked the defendant Smith to take Mary Spiers with him. The record shows that the defendant, with knowledge of the court’s action, and Mary Spiers, left the residence of Estelle Spiers in Kelseyville on the evening of May 10, 1936, Mary Spiers driving Smith’s car, Estelle Spiers and Strand Deck going in Mr. Deck’s car. They went to Santa Rosa that night and stopped at the home of Estelle Spiers early on the morning of the next day. It appears that they left the home of Estelle Spiers in Kelseyville at about 9:30 P. M. At Santa Rosa Mary kissed her mother goodbye, and she and Tom Smith proceeded in Smith’s car to Chowehilla, Mary driving the car. Smith rented a room from a family with which he was acquainted by the name of Hooper, where Mary stayed for about a week and a half. Before leaving Kelseyville Mary had dyed her hair black and had changed her name to Jennette Martin. There is some testimony in the record to the effect that Smith told Mary that she would have to change her name' and dye her hair. This testimony is controverted by the defendant, who states that Mary and her mother selected the name of Jennette Martin, by which Mary was to go after she reached Chowchilla. The place where Smith had worked previously, and to which he was going was on a ranch approximately three miles from Chowehilla, the Hooper place being practically the same distance from the town of Chowehilla. After arriving at the Hooper home it appears that the defendant introduced Mary Spiers by the name which she had selected. Her testimony is to the effect that the defendant had nothing to do with the name which she selected; it was found in a magazine by herself. The record also shows that Estelle Spiers and Mary had contemplated going down to Chowehilla but that for some reason or other the mother could not go, and knowing that the defendant was going to Chowehilla, arranged for him to take Mary. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the defendant knew anything about Mary’s contemplated running away from the academy, and had no information thereof until she arrived at her home, as hereinbefore stated. The record shows that the defendant had knowledge of the mother taking Mary to the cabin occupied by the Buchanans, and that she remained there approximately a week, or until such time *472 as he, the defendant, was ready to go to Chowchilla. The fair interpretation of the record is that the defendant consented to take Mary Spiers to Chowchilla for the purpose of aiding in concealing her whereabouts from the probation officer of the county of Lake.

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People v. Smith, 62 P.2d 436, 17 Cal. App. 2d 468, 1936 Cal. App. LEXIS 598 (Cal. Ct. App. 1936).

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