People v. Williford

187 P.2d 795, 83 Cal. App. 2d 52, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1367
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1947
DocketCrim. No. 653
StatusPublished

This text of 187 P.2d 795 (People v. Williford) 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. Williford, 187 P.2d 795, 83 Cal. App. 2d 52, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1367 (Cal. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged with the crimes of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, and was found guilty by a jury. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

About 3 a. m. on April 16, 1947, two men, one of them “Whitey” Anderson, broke into a gun shop in Seal Beach and were removing some 25 guns, rifles and pistols, with a quantity of ammunition. Two police officers, hearing the noise, came to investigate. As they approached from the alley, the lights in the gun shop were on and a black Pontiac automobile was standing near the rear door of the gun shop with its engine [54]*54running. Some of the guns were in this car and some were on the ground. As the officers approached, they saw a man standing in the lighted doorway, and another man who was standing in the shadows so they could not identify him. The officers ordered the men to put up their hands and instead of complying, the two men immediately began shooting at the officers, who also began shooting. The two men then ran through the shop, out into the street and escaped.

Both of the officers positively identified the defendant as the man who was standing in the rear doorway of the shop and who first began shooting. They testified that he was standing in the doorway of this well-lighted shop, that they could see distinctly, that they had a good look at him, and that they could not be mistaken. In the glove compartment of the abandoned car there was found a camera with exposed films. These films were developed and produced pictures of Anderson and his wife, and of the defendant and the woman with whom he was living. In the ear was also found a nearly full whiskey bottle, on which were the defendant’s fingerprints. Several shells for a P-38 automatic pistol were found around the spot where the man in the doorway had been standing. All of the guns taken from the shop were found in and around the car, with the exception of three pistols which were later recovered.

Many surrounding circumstances are shown by the evidence. One of the owners of the gun shop testified that ammunition for this P-38 gun was hard to obtain and that on a Sunday shortly before April 15, the defendant, with a man who was one of his alibi witnesses here, came into the shop seeking such ammunition. The abandoned car was one which had been used by Anderson, and the defendant had spent a large part of his time with Anderson for about a month. So far as the record shows, neither had had any gainful occupation other than gambling. During the forenoon of April 16, Anderson was heard telling his wife that he had abandoned the car, and complaining because she had left the camera and films in it. For the ostensible reason that they expected soon to take a trip to Lake Tahoe the Andersons, and the defendant and his companion, moved that day from “Willowbrook" to a motel in Huntington Park, where they were registered under assumed names. A few days later, they went to Lake Tahoe in a Buick car and there the two couples occupied adjoining cabins in a place that contained only three cabins. The next [55]*55day, Anderson and the defendant returned to Los Angeles County in the Buick car, leaving the women at the cabins. On April 22, an officer recognized the defendant riding with another man in this Buick car near Wilmington. He gave chase, running 85 miles an hour, but lost the other car in the traffic. About 15 minutes later, that car was parked in a vacant stall behind an apartment house in Wilmington. A lady, who lived in the apartment house, testified that when the car came in there were two men in it, one of whom she thought was the defendant. This car stayed there the rest of that day and all the next day. The next night, the police broke open the car and found in the glove compartment one of the stolen pistols, Exhibit 6. The defendant admitted on the stand that he saw this pistol while he and Anderson were returning from Lake Tahoe in the Buick, that “It worked out from under the seat, under my seat. ’ ’

Anderson and the defendant returned to Lake Tahoe, apparently in another Buick. On April 25, highway patrol officers questioned Anderson about the ownership of the Buick. Anderson said he would show the papers, and took them into the defendant’s cabin. Anderson then drew a pistol, and one of the officers shot and killed him. In the defendant’s cabin, in a coat belonging to the woman who occupied that cabin with him, was found another of the stolen pistols, Exhibit 7. This woman testified that she did not know how the pistol got there, and the defendant admitted that he had seen it that morning lying on their bed. In Anderson’s adjoining cabin the third stolen pistol, Exhibit 8, was found under the pillow of the bed, and a P-38 pistol was also found in that cabin.

The defendant attempted to establish an alibi. He testified that on the preceding evening of April 15, he and Anderson left his home and went to a certain house in Compton to attend a poker party; that they arrived there about 11 or 11:30 p. m.; that Anderson only stayed a few minutes and he did not see him again until morning; that he, himself, remained at the poker party until after 4 a. m.; and that he arrived home about 5:30 or 6 a. m. When asked whether he remained at the poker party continuously until 4 a. m., he replied that he did “to the best of my knowledge.” The defendant’s brother and several of his friends testified that the defendant arrived at this poker party shortly before midnight and remained there until the party broke up toward morning. [56]*56Plowever, the defendant told two officers when he was first arrested, that he got home about 11:30 p. m. on the night of the 15th; that he and Anderson then went to Long Beach in the Pontiac ear, getting there about 12:30; and that he left Long Beach about 2:30. He refused to tell them what he then did, saying that he was “not going to tell you where I went.” He also told an officer that he arrived home about 6 a. m. and that Anderson was then there, but refused to tell whether Anderson had come with him. This alibi evidence was not only contrary to some of the defendant’s admissions, as well as to reasonable inferences from the statements he made to the officers, but in several respects the alibi witnesses contradicted each other. Moreover, the entire alibi evidence contained inherent weaknesses which must naturally have greatly affected its weight with the jury.

The defendant contends that because the evidence, with respect to his guilt, was extremely close, the errors claimed were especially prejudicial, and that the failure of the jury to believe his alibi witnesses can be explained only by the fact that the jury was prejudiced through certain misconduct on the part of the district attorney and one of his witnesses.

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Related

People v. Willmurth
176 P.2d 102 (California Court of Appeal, 1947)
People v. Muchupoff
249 P. 240 (California Court of Appeal, 1926)

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Bluebook (online)
187 P.2d 795, 83 Cal. App. 2d 52, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-williford-calctapp-1947.