People v. Wilson

238 Cal. App. 2d 447, 48 Cal. Rptr. 55, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1157
California Court of Appeal·Decided November 30, 1965·No. Crim. 4656·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

SIMS, J.

Following a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of burglary in the first degree in violation of section 459 of the Penal Code, he was sentenced to be imprisoned in the state prison for the term prescribed by law. Execution of sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for a period of four years upon terms and conditions which included serving a term of one year in the county jail. Defendant has appealed from the final judgment of conviction, from the sentence imposed, and from an order denying a motion for a new trial. Although the propriety of the order denying a motion for a new trial may be reviewed on the appeal from the judgment, no appeal lies from it as such, so the purported appeal from that order must be dismissed. (Pen. Code, § 1237.) The appeal from the sentence is merged in that from the judgment. (Id., and see People v. Sweeney (1960) 55 Cal.2d 27, 33 [9 Cal.Rptr. 793, 357 P.2d 1049].)

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting testimony of “conversations” had with the defendant. Because there is only one statement of the defendant involved, the question is more properly framed as whether or not the trial court was justified in admitting evidence of questions propounded to the defendant, together with evidence of the lone answer to one and his failure to answer the remaining questions, on the grounds that such evidence either showed acquiescence of the defendant in the truth of the statement, or indicated his consciousness of guilt. For reasons hereinafter set forth the rulings of the trial court are upheld.

The defendant contends that it was error to admit in evidence certain articles found on his person which were not shown to have been actually connected with the burglary which in fact occurred; that it was error for the prosecutor *451 to maintain these articles in view of the jury prior to their introduction in evidence; and that the prosecutor committed prejudicial error in referring in his argument to an article which was not admitted in evidence. A review herein of the circumstances of this case reflects that all of the articles were properly before the jury and no error can be predicated on any of the foregoing propositions.

Defendant does not contend that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. It is, however, necessary to recount it in substance so that the matters complained of can be viewed in proper perspective. This is particularly true insofar as it is contended that certain police action violated defendant’s prearraignment right to be advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent. (See People v. Stewart (1965) 62 Cal.2d 571, 579 [43 Cal.Rptr. 201, 400 P.2d 97].)

The victim, a United States Treasury Agent, testified that he lived in apartment 002 of a three-story apartment building with approximately 20 units at 271 Vernon Street in Oakland; that his apartment was the rear one of two on a floor below the level of Vernon Street, but above the carport area in the back of the apartment.

On Friday, September 13, 1963, at about 7 p.m., he left the apartment for the weekend, turned off the lights, and locked the door. Keys to the apartment were held by himself, the manager and his wife, who was away during all of the period involved. Although the bed was not made up, generally everything was in order in the apartment.

Early the following morning, at 3:30 a.m. on September 14th, pursuant to directions received on the police radio, three officers converged on the premises at 271 Vernon Street. Officer Lusk, the first to arrive, talked to a man coming out of the driveway of the premises and went down the driveway into a garage area under the apartment building. He continued on through a door to the back of the building to another parking area under the apartment and checked the automobiles there. Officer Hoover, who pulled up as Lusk was getting out of his car, walked over and talked to the reporting party in the driveway with Lusk. While he was still there Officer Fiege arrived and joined the conversation. Hoover went down to check ears in the subterranean garage.

Fiege went searching down through the garage and out the same door through which Lusk had exited toward the rear of *452 the building. He descended some stairs which led to a back driveway leading to the carports under the apartment. Just before he entered the driveway he heard a commotion of feet moving in the driveway and around the side of the building. He stepped around the corner, showed his flashlight in the direction from which he had heard the noise, and saw the lower half of a man going in the doorway in the middle of the building. He shouted, “Come out of there,” went to the doorway and observed two men going through a doorway at the top of some stairs at the end of a hall. He got to the top of the stairs in time to see the two men running down another hallway. He observed that they both had on dark clothes and that the rearmost of the two men had black gloves on and some kind of black cloth in his left rear pocket. The man in front seemed to have a suit coat on, and the other a knit-type sweater. Fiege was running and shouting “Halt,” but the men did not halt. They ran out of the building, turned right on Vernon Street, and turned off Vernon Street into a driveway.

Meanwhile Lusk, who was also in the rear of the building, had heard Fiege’s shouts. He turned and saw Fiege starting up the. stairway. He ran over and saw Fiege at the first landing with someone running ahead of him. Lusk doubled back around the side of the building, and by the time he came to the street there was no one there.

Hoover, who was just about to go through the door from the subterranean garage to the rear, heard the shouts and sounds of running to the rear of the building. He ran toward the street and as he came up the stairway saw “people” running south on Vernon with Officer Fiege running after them. He chased them down Vernon Street and saw one turn in the driveway.

Fiege, who was tired, gave up the chase at the point where Hoover overtook him, and returned to his patrol car. Hoover ran into the driveway and stopped momentarily in a parking area. He heard sounds to the south and to the west, and followed those which he believed to be the closer. Upon arriving at a stairway he saw a person descending and yelled, “Stop, police.” The suspect turned north on reaching the street at the foot of the stairs, and Hoover, on arriving at the same street, observed him run northbound and turn to the left between two buildings. At this point Fiege drove by, conversed with Hoover and continued around the block. Hoover again saw the suspect as the latter emerged from *453 between the two buildings and started to run across a traffic island. When the officer again yelled, “Stop, or I will shoot,” he stopped. Hoover held him, now identified as the defendant, at gun point. He was joined by Officer Dorsey who handcuffed the defendant and in less than a minute Piege came on the scene.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

People v. Wilson, 238 Cal. App. 2d 447, 48 Cal. Rptr. 55, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1157 (Cal. Ct. App. 1965).

238 Cal. App. 2d 447 (People v. Wilson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Marsh CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2023
(HC) Joven v. Cates
E.D. California, 2022
People v. Clemente CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Joven CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2021
People v. Hernandez CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. McDaniel
California Court of Appeal, 2019
People v. McDaniel
251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 519 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2019)
People v. Darling
210 Cal. App. 3d 910 (California Court of Appeal, 1989)
People v. Givans
166 Cal. App. 3d 793 (California Court of Appeal, 1985)
People v. Dougherty
138 Cal. App. 3d 278 (California Court of Appeal, 1982)
People v. Free
131 Cal. App. 3d 155 (California Court of Appeal, 1982)
People v. Preston
508 P.2d 300 (California Supreme Court, 1973)
People v. Andrews
14 Cal. App. 3d 40 (California Court of Appeal, 1970)
People v. Walters
264 Cal. App. 2d 834 (California Court of Appeal, 1968)
People v. Woods
260 Cal. App. 2d 728 (California Court of Appeal, 1968)
People v. Adams
259 Cal. App. 2d 109 (California Court of Appeal, 1968)
People v. Singleton
255 Cal. App. 2d 547 (California Court of Appeal, 1967)
Nugent v. Superior Court of San Mateo Cty.
254 Cal. App. 2d 420 (California Court of Appeal, 1967)
People v. Weger
251 Cal. App. 2d 584 (California Court of Appeal, 1967)
People v. Gordon
244 Cal. App. 2d 391 (California Court of Appeal, 1966)