People v. Zuniga

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged with burglary and with two prior convictions, one for burglary and one for possession of a narcotic. He pleaded not guilty but admitted the prior convictions. A jury found him guilty of burglary in the second degree and he was sentenced to prison. He has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The defendant was seen by a witness in a café at Chino on November 11, 1956. On November 14, 1956, a men’s store in Chino, with a cleaning establishment in connection called

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the “Chino Cleaners & Dyers,” was burglarized and a considerable quantity of clothing was taken. At 10 p.m. on that day a police officer checked the doors of this store and found them locked. At 4:15 a.m. on November 15, two officers found a door open. They found clothing disarranged and stacked on the floor and marks on the floor indicating that something made of cloth had been dragged, these marks extending out of the door and into a nearby alley. A broken window indicated the point of entry and on the glass from the broken window they found smudges which appeared to have been made by gloves. Below the window they found a crowbar. A dusty footprint was found on a pair of slacks lying on the floor. This footprint was of a left shoe and an officer measured it and saw definite lines thereon constituting a certain pattern. A shoe later removed from the appellant’s foot had a similar pattern and measurements. Suits, slacks, shirts, sweaters, topcoats and luggage were missing from the store.

The officers called the Los Angeles police department describing the

modus operandi

of the burglary, and the Los Angeles officers said they would investigate certain suspects who operated in a similar manner. At 6:30 p.m. on November 15, two Los Angeles officers went to the appellant’s home and placed him under arrest. While they were there the phone rang and the appellant picked up the receiver and said “Hello.” An officer seated beside the appellant heard someone on the other end of the line say “Where are my clothes.” The appellant and the other party then talked in Spanish and although the officer could hear all of the conversation he did not understand Spanish. The officers took appellant to the police station and booked him. Among his papers they found a card on which two phone numbers were written. These phone numbers were those of one Bico, who was well known as a receiver of stolen property. The appellant stated that he did not know how he happened to have Bico's numbers and that he had not seen Bico for a long time. Also, a telephone bill for, a Gloria Quesada and marked “Paid” was found among appellant’s papers. The officers went to the apartment of Gloria Quesada and in a cupboard of her kitchen found two large canvas bags. They took these bags to the station and the appellant first said that he had never seen the bags, later said that he had left the bags in her apartment but that she knew nothing about them, and still later said that she had asked him to obtain the bags for use as laundry bags. Subsequently, he told a Chino police officer that an