People v. Conerly

LILLIE, J.

Appellant Conerly and codefendant, George Henry Hilton, were jointly charged by amended information with burglary in violation of section 459, Penal Code, in that on or about May 2,1957, they entered the Ewart Clothing Store with intent to commit theft. In addition, it alleged two prior felony convictions, to wit, burglary, which he admitted to be true. A jury found them guilty of burglary and fixed the crime in the first degree. Appellant’s motion for new trial was denied, the offense was reduced to second degree and he was sentenced to the state prison. He appeals from the judgment and order denying his motion for a new trial.

The evidence viewed most favorably in support of the verdict of guilt discloses that the Ewart Clothing Store in Pomona, securely locked on the evening of May 1, 1957, was broken into and robbed of men’s suits valued at $10,572.43, wholesale. The next morning, May 2d, about 8 a. m. the back door of the store was found unfastened, the bar of the lock having been chipped in two, and 400 suits from the racks and two stacks placed near the back door were missing. A hole had been chopped through the roof making an opening into the storage room.

In the early morning of May 2, 1957, Officers Julian and Burke, patrolling an alley in the rear of Ewart’s store, observed a 1947 Chevrolet two-door sedan turn into it, proceed past Ewart’s and turn north. They stopped it and found appellant driving the car with Hilton as his passenger. Appellant was wearing a light brown cheeked sports jacket and sport trousers, Officer Julian requested his operator’s

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license and asked him why he was in the alley, to which appellant replied they were looking for a friend but had apparently gotten lost. The officer noted the rear seat had been removed from the car, and asked him if he would open the trunk which he observed to be quite clean. Officer Burke asked codefendant Hilton where they were going, to which he responded that they were looking for a place called “Cookie’s.” The officers directed them to “Cookie’s,” drove behind them, waited, and later followed them until they left town.

About 2 p. m. on May 3, Harvey D. King, operating a dry cleaning business in Los Angeles under the name of Kay Dry Cleaners, had a conversation with Hilton at the shop regarding the purchase of suits. Hilton told him he had a “bunch” of suits, and King promised he would look at them that night. Thereafter, between 10 and 11 p. m. on the same day, appellant and Hilton, accompanied by a- woman who remained in the car, brought the suits into the shop an arm load at a time. King checked the suits and found “they had Ewart’s label, Ewarts, Pomona.” The next morning appellant and Hilton returned to the shop and King paid them $2,550, which they both accepted and counted out together.