People v. Acosta

DRAPEAU, J.

On the evening of May 12, 1952, two adjoining houses in South Pasadena were ransacked by a burglar, one at 175 Monterey Road, the other at 167 Monterey Road.

Mr. and Mrs. Henze, who lived at 175 Monterey Road, were visiting neighbors across the street. Mrs. Henze went home about 9 o’clock to put her baby to bed. When she opened her front door a man who had been inside her house dashed past her and ran away.

Mrs. Henze made an outcry. Her husband heard her and ran out into the street. He saw the man running, chased him, but could not catch him. During his flight the man dropped a suitcase, a clock, and some shirts taken from the Henze residence.

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Then a police car came along. Mr. Henze told the officers in the car what had happened. They all searched the vicinity but could not find the man.

During the search a black Ford sedan was observed, parked directly east of the Henze driveway. On the back seat of the Ford was a radio, wrapped up in an overcoat.

A watch was set on the car by officers “staked out” on the porch of a nearby house. About midnight their vigil was rewarded, for defendant approached the Ford, got into the front seat, and tried to start the motor. It was then that he was arrested. Admittedly the Ford belonged to him.

The other house next door to the Henzes belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Quick. The Quicks were at the beach that evening. On receipt of police notification they came home and found that their house too had been entered, and that Mr. Quick's overcoat and radio were gone. That overcoat and radio were the ones found on the back seat of defendant’s car.

The defendant was charged with two counts of burglary and two prior felony convictions. When arraigned, he admitted the prior convictions and pleaded not guilty to the two counts of burglary. He was tried by a jury, convicted, and sentenced to state’s prison, and now prosecutes this appeal from the judgment.

Defendant elected to defend himself without counsel during his trial, and is without counsel on appeal. While it is the right of a defendant so to do, the results generally demonstrate the folly of such an election. In this case defendant has been in the county jail pending determination of his appeal, when he should have been earning time on his sentence, and when he was advised by the public defender on the day judgment was pronounced that his chances of success on appeal were infinitesimal.