People v. Brown

FOURT, J.

In an information the defendant and appellant was charged with the crime of robbery in violation of section 211, Penal Code, a felony, in that he did, on or about January 2, 1956, in the county of Los Angeles, feloniously and by means of force and fear take from the person of Joe N. Williams certain personal property, namely, a wallet valued at $7.00, and $38 in money. It was also alleged that prior to the offense in question the defendant had been convicted of the crime of burglary, a felony, in Los Angeles county, and that he served a term of imprisonment therefor in the state prison.

The defendant was represented by the public defender. At the time of the trial the defendant and all counsel waived a jury trial and it was stipulated that the People’s case might be submitted on the testimony taken at the preliminary examination, subject to the right of either side to offer additional testimony if desired. The prior conviction was admitted.

The transcript of the preliminary examination set forth, among other things, the following: That Joe N. Williams, the victim, was a sailor attached to the U.S.S. Catamont, and on January 2, 1956, about 2 a.m., was in a restroom of a hotel on First Street in Los Angeles, and the defendant hit and knocked the victim down and took his wallet and money. Apparently the defendant had first seen the victim at a bus station and asked him if he wanted a girl, the answer was “Yes,” and the defendant told Williams to follow him. When they reached the hotel the defendant directed Williams to go into the restroom and told him that it would be $5.00, and the victim gave the defendant such amount. The defendant returned and inquired of Williams what kind of a girl he

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wanted, white, colored or Japanese. Williams informed the defendant he would take his pick. The defendant asked Williams how much money he had and Williams would not tell him, and upon Williams turning his head, the defendant struck him and knocked him down and then took the wallet and money.

The defendant called Malvina Salonie as a witness, who testified that she was a prostitute, living with the defendant. Further, that on the night of January 2, 1956, she and the defendant went to a show and got out about midnight and that thereafter she and the defendant went to the vicinity of Sixth and Main Streets, where she “caught a date” or so and went to a hotel close by. She further stated that she and the defendant then went to Fifth Street where she again engaged in her profession at another hotel. On cross-examination, she admitted signing a statement which was prepared by a police office and constituted a résumé of what she had told the police upon her arrest. The statement was received in evidence. This statement set forth in substance that she and the defendant were at Sixth and Main, “trying to catch a trick” and that she did so; that a little after midnight or close to 1 a. m. she went to Bast Fifth Street, got a “bindle of narcotics,” borrowed a friend’s outfit and “fixed the narcotics.” The defendant was left at another hotel about 1 a. m., and she returned to Sixth and Main and was gone about four hours, until about 5 a. m., when she returned to the defendant and they then went home by taxicab.