People v. Walbeck

138 P.2d 405, 59 Cal. App. 2d 277, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 313
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 19, 1943
DocketCrim. No. 555
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 138 P.2d 405 (People v. Walbeck) 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. Walbeck, 138 P.2d 405, 59 Cal. App. 2d 277, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 313 (Cal. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

A jury convicted the defendant of grand theft in the taking of certain household furniture be[279]*279longing to one Charles Hewins. She has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying her motion for a new trial.

In 1933, Mr. Hewins located a mining claim in the mountains near San Bernardino. He built two cabins and a large house. He lived in the latter, having therein a large amount of furniture including some old family silver and dishes and a few pieces claimed to be antiques. In 1935, Mr. Walbeck came to work for Hewins and lived at his home for some eighteen months, during which time he did some work for Mr. Hewins and also worked elsewhere. He seems to have left the Hewins home in the summer of 1937, but apparently remained in the neighborhood. In May, 1939, he bought eighty acres of land which adjoined the Hewins claim. Sometime later, although the exact time does not appear, a survey was made and it was discovered that Mr. Hewins’ house and two cabins were on the land which Walbeck had purchased. In June, 1939, the defendant, who had lived in the vicinity since 1937, married Walbeck. Thereafter, they lived in a house a few hundred yards from the Hewins home.

In the spring of 1940, Hewins and his wife left their house and after spending a few months in Santa Ana went to Arizona where they remained for some two years. They left their furniture in the house, leaving it in charge of a caretaker, Mr. Martin, who was allowed to live in one of the cabins. On August 1, 1941, Martin left and wrote to Hewins in Arizona informing him of that fact. Before leaving, he nailed the windows of the Hewins house shut and locked all the doors, the front door being locked with a heavy bolt on the inside and the back door with a padlock on the outside. He also locked the front gate with a chain and padlock. About a month later he drove by the property and observed that the chain on the front gate had been cut and that Mr. and Mrs. Walbeck were living in the house.

A few days after August 1, 1941, Mr. and Mrs. Walbeck moved into the Hewins house and took possession of the furniture therein. On August 14, 1941, the defendant secured a loan of $334.56 from a finance company, giving a mortgage on this furniture as partial security. On August 29, 1941, the defendant delivered four pieces of this furniture to a dealer in Ontario for the purpose of having it reupholstered. Later, upon her failure to pay his bill, he repossessed these articles. [280]*280In October, 1941, the defendant applied to the finance company for a larger loan on the furniture. While the finance company then appraised the furniture at about $2,000, for some reason a further loan was refused. In January, 1942, through an auctioneer in Los Angeles, the defendant sold several articles of this furniture, which were claimed to be antiques, for $147. In March, 1942, Mr. Walbeck went to a hospital and the defendant removed to a house in San Bernardino, taking with her a large part of the furniture from the Hewins house. A few days later, Mr. Walbeck gave the defendant a deed to the real property on which the Hewins house was situated and also a bill of sale covering the furniture in question. Mr. and Mrs. Hewins returned to their home in October, 1942, and finding practically all of their furniture gone, complained to the officers. A search warrant was issued and a large part of the furniture was found in the house in San Bernardino occupied by the defendant, and other portions were found in other places.

The main question here presented is whether the evidence is sufficient to support the implied finding of a felonious intent on the part of the defendant. It is conceded that the defendant took possession of this furniture and sold and disposed of portions thereof, and it was stipulated at the trial that its value was more than $200. However, it has been earnestly contended throughout that she honestly believed that she owned it. This contention is based upon the claim that Hewins had either conveyed this furniture to Mr. Walbeck or had pledged it to him as security for a debt, and that Mr. Walbeck had made an oral gift of the furniture to the defendant at the time she took possession thereof in August, 1941, which was followed by a bill of sale in March, 1942. Mr. Walbeck testified that in August, 1937, Mr. Hewins borrowed $65 from him “under the promise if he did not pay it back within three months, I could have everything there was in the house. ’ ’ At another time he testified that he understood this to be a pledge as security for the money thus loaned, that Mr. Hewins then owed him about $1,800 for work he had performed in the preceding eighteen months, and that he considered this pledge as also securing that debt. He admitted, however, that he had neither given any notice nor made any attempt to foreclose any pledge or lien, and that he had done nothing pursuant thereto until he and his wife [281]*281took possession of the furniture four years later and just after the care,taker left.

Hewins admitted having borrowed this $65 but testified that he paid it back in September, 1938. He denied that he owed Mr. Walbeck $1,800, or any other amount, as wages. An attorney who had represented Hewins testified that in the latter part of 1938, Mr. Walbeck had told him that there were no wages due to him from Hewins. This attorney also testified that on September 4, 1941, he wrote a letter to Mr. Walbeck telling him that he had no rights in the furniture. While Mr. Walbeck denied that he had ever received this letter the testimony of the defendant justifies the inference that he did and that she knew of it. In August, 1939, Mr. Walbeck brought a suit against Mr. Hewins for $1,900 covering money alleged to have been loaned to Hewins and wages alleged to be due from him for services from 1936 to 1938. In connection with an attachment which was then levied on certain real property Mr. Walbeck signed an affidavit in which he stated that he had no lien or other security for the indebtedness. This action was later dismissed by reason of the failure of the plaintiff to appear. The defendant testified that she consulted a lawyer, the time of which does not appear, and that, thereafter, she believed that she owned this furniture. She also admitted that she told the officer who came to her home with a search warrant that he would not find the property he was looking for because it was in some eastern state.

The defendant admitted that she took this furniture and treated it as her own, and sought to establish that she in good faith believed that it belonged to her husband and that he had a right to give it to her. Whether she had such an honest belief, or took the furniture with a felonious intent, was the principal issue in the case. The evidence relating to this issue was conflicting and naturally there was no direct evidence of a felonious intent. In such cases proof of the intent of the accused must, of necessity, rest upon inferences which may reasonably be drawn from other facts and from the actions of the party in question. It clearly appears that this defendant took a leading part in taking possession of this furniture and that she immediately and continuously exercised complete control over it. She mortgaged it and tried to increase the loan on it, she had portions of it repaired, she [282]*282sold some of it, and she moved a part of it and stored other portions. Whether she honestly believed she had a right to do this was a question of fact for the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
138 P.2d 405, 59 Cal. App. 2d 277, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-walbeck-calctapp-1943.