People v. Davis

WHITE, J.

In an information filed by the district attorney defendant was accused in count 1 of a violation of subdivision 2 of section 337a of the Penal Code, which denounces as a crime the keeping or occupancy of a place with books, papers, devices or paraphernalia for the purpose of record

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ing or registering bets or wages upon the result of any horse race. Count 2 charged a violation of subdivision 4 of the same section, which makes it unlawful for any person to record or register a bet or bets upon the outcome of a horse race. A jury trial was waived and the issues submitted by stipulation upon the transcript of the testimony received at the preliminary examination and the testimony given at the trial by the defendant in his own behalf. The defendant was acquitted of the charge contained in count 2 and was adjudged guilty of the crime charged in the first count, whereupon the court sentenced him to a term of nine months in the county jail. This appeal is from the judgment of conviction.

The sole question raised is that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment. Briefly, the facts are that, defendant and his wife for some fifteen years had been conducting a barber and beauty shop on West Sixth Street in the city of Los Angeles. On the afternoon of March 26, 1941, a police officer of said city entered defendant’s place of business. At that time defendant was rendering barber service to a customer in the first chair. The officer testified that he saw defendant leave his customer, go into a telephone booth, come back and start working again. The officer walked over and asked the defendant for a shoe shine, and was informed that the shine boy was out. At that time a radio announced the results of the fifth race at Bay Meadows race track. Defendant wrote the announced winners and the amounts paid by such winners on the sport page of a Los Angeles newspaper. The telephone again rang in the near-by booth, defendant answered it, returned, and taking a paper from the pocket of his barber’s smock, wrote some notations thereon and put the paper back into his pocket. Thereupon the officer placed the defendant under arrest.

After testifying that for approximately two years he had had “experience in arresting numerous persons during that time for bookmaking”; that he had testified in court as to the results of his investigations, and that he was familiar with the manner in which bookmaking was commonly conducted in Los Angeles County, the police officer was permitted, over defendant’s objection, to testify as to what was meant by the notations which appeared on the slip of paper withdrawn by