People v. Deptula

GIBSON, C. J.

Defendant was charged by information with the murder of Roger Allen Mosser, and after a psychiatrist appointed by the court had reported that defendant was legally sane, he entered a plea of guilty, and waived a jury trial. The court determined that the murder was committed in the perpetration of both burglary and robbery and was therefore murder of the first degree.

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The issue of penalty was then tried, and the court fixed defendant’s punishment at death. His motion for a new trial was denied, and the appeal comes to us automatically under the provisions of subdivision (b) of section 1239 of the Penal Code.

Defendant was employed by Donald Godard as a manager in connection with the operation of a bowling alley, café and bar, located in Los Angeles. His usual working hours were from 9 a. m. to 6 or 7 p. m. He was given keys to the bowling alley and was furnished with combinations to the safes. His duties included obtaining change from the “change safe” and placing “change bags” and “his deposit bag” in the safes at night, but he did not have permission to remove money from the premises.

Mosser worked at the bowling alley between 1 a. m. and 9 a. m., doing janitorial and maintenance work, taking care of any customers who were present after 1 a. m., and closing the

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doors and locking up after they had left. On July 16, 1961, about 9 a. m., defendant telephoned Godard from the bowling alley, telling him that the safes were open, the money was gone, and Mosser was not there. Godard went to investigate and found that approximately $1,760 was missing. Defendant informed Godard that he had called the police, and when they arrived defendant and Godard reported that it was their theory that Mosser had opened the safe, taken the money, and disappeared.

About two weeks later a forest ranger discovered a dismembered body, subsequently identified as Mosser’s, in a pit toilet in a recreational area in San Gabriel Canyon. Moneybags found with the body were identified as those used in the operation of the bowling alley. In the opinion of the doctor who performed an autopsy death was caused by “a blunt-force injury to the head with skull fractures and intracerebral hemorrhage.