People v. Abbott

SHINN, P. J.

James William Arthur Nichols and James Frederick Abbott were accused by information of grand theft in unlawfully taking from the person of Ardith Bell a canvas bag containing $4,528 in money on October 22, 1956. Abbott pleaded guilty and was sentenced to state prison. Nichols pleaded not guilty and the cause was submitted to the court on the transcript of the preliminary hearing. The court found defendant guilty as charged in the information. Nichols made a motion for a new trial, which was denied. Probation was likewise denied and defendant was sentenced to state prison. He appeals from the judgment and the order denying him a new trial.

The conviction of Nichols was based upon evidence of the following facts. Ardith Bell was employed as a cashier and hostess at McDonnell’s Rancho, a restaurant located on San Fernando Road in the city of Glendale. Miss Bell lived with defendant in a trailer court not far from McDonnell’s. One of her duties at the restaurant was to deposit its daily receipts at the bank. She testified that she was apprehensive about carrying money to the bank and that upon confiding her fears to defendant he agreed that it would be easy to take it from her. She told Nichols that she hoped nobody would get any ideas about it.

At approximately 11 a. m. on October 22, 1956, Miss Bell walked to the bank in the company of Robert Joblin, a bus boy at McDonnell’s who usually accompanied her in making deposits; she was carrying about $5,000 in currency in a white canvas bag. As Joblin and Miss Bell approached the bank, a man whom neither was able subsequently to identify

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or describe suddenly snatched the bag from her hand and ran around the side of the bank building to an alley behind the bank. Miss Bell screamed. Joblin chased the thief and saw him enter a car which was parked in the alley; another person he could not describe was also in the car, which began to move as the thief was entering it and before the ear door closed. Joblin then shouted to the driver of a second car in the alley to stop the thieves.

Harrison Tellakson testified that as he was driving along San Fernando Road he heard a woman scream and saw a man run behind the bank with a bag in his hand. He drove into the alley to investigate and backed up in order to let a Ford sedan leave the alley. Upon hearing the bus boy shout he turned around, pursued the Ford for four or five blocks, and forced it to the curb. A man carrying a canvas bag jumped from the Ford and began to run down the street. The witness identified him as Nichols’ codefendant Abbott. Tellakson followed on foot for several blocks whereupon Abbott threw the bag underneath a parked car. Tellakson retrieved the bag and took it to the bank, where it was found to contain some work clothes and $4,528 in currency. Abbot was arrested shortly thereafter and taken to the police station. He confessed to the robbery and implicated Nichols, who was arrested at the trailer court where he lived in sin with Ardith Bell. He was taken to the police station and was interrogated several times that day and the next. Miss Bell was also taken into custody on October 22nd and remained in custody until the afternoon of October 24th. On the morning of October 24th, defendant made a statement in the presence of Officer Perry and Officer Hesse, who were the investigating officers in the case. The statement was in question and answer form and it was subsequently transcribed by a police stenographer and signed by defendant. The statement amounted to a full confession of his part in the theft. In reply to the officers’ questions, Nichols said that he arranged the robbery with Abbott. Miss Bell had no knowledge of their plan. After the robbery, when they were pursued by a man in another car, Nichols, who was driving, stopped and let Abbott out of the car with the canvas bag and then drove back to the trailer court.