People v. Schubin

SHINN, P. J.

David Sehubin and Barbara Rose Frazier were indicted for and in a jury trial convicted of three offenses of burglary, two offenses of receiving stolen property and of conspiracy to commit burglary and theft and to receive stolen property. They made motions for new trial, which were denied as to the substantive counts and granted as to the count alleging a conspiracy, which was dismissed by the court. Frazier appeals from the judgment and the order denying her a new trial on the charges of burglary and receiving stolen property. Sehubin appealed from the judgment and the denial of his new trial motion but his appeal has heretofore been dismissed for failure to file a brief. (Rule 17a, Rules on Appeal.)

Appellant Frazier did not testify at the trial. It is not contended on the appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdicts. The evidence and the reasonable inferences established that appellant and her confederate Sehubin were engaged extensively in the business of selling stolen

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merchandise at their home in West Los Angeles. A search of their apartment by the investigating officers disclosed $4,000 in cash and 1,100 items of merchandise which still bore the original price tags of various department stores and specialty shops in the Los Angeles area. Over 80 of the items were identified by store employes as having been missing from the stores and were received in evidence as exhibits. Eleven witnesses testified for the People that they bought from defendants at greatly reduced prices household appliances and articles of clothing. It is unnecessary to particularize the evidence of guilt.

The two convictions of receiving stolen property were based in part upon testimony that a beige knit dress belonging to the Bullock’s Wilshire store was found in defendants’ apartment and that a white lace dress belonging to the Saks Fifth Avenue store was shown by appellant to Miss Fletcher, an undercover policewoman. Upon convincing evidence appellant was also convicted of three offenses of burglary.

The first point for discussion is Frazier’s contention that the court erred in permitting a Mrs. Mullinix to relate her observations of defendants’ conduct in two May Company stores in 1953, 1954 and 1955. The witness was one of seven store detectives who testified on behalf of the People that they observed defendants acting suspiciously in various department stores in the Los Angeles area. In "January 1953, Mrs. Mullinix saw defendants loitering in the dress department of the May Company Wilshire store; in April 1954, she followed appellant around through the May Company Crenshaw store. In January 1955, Mrs. Mullinix saw defendants walking away from a suit rack in the men’s suits department of the May Company Crenshaw store; appellant had a lump under her coat. As defendants were leaving the store they turned, saw Mrs. Mullinix and started to run toward a parking lot; the witness retrieved a man’s coat bearing a May Company price tag from some foliage where appellant had dropped it while in flight. The court did not err in the admission of this testimony. In view of the large scale operations of the defendants, evidence of the events of 1953 and 1954 tended to prove the methods defendants had pursued in the accumulation of a great quantity of merchandise and it was admissible for that reason; and if it did not so tend it was not prejudicial. Evidence of the 1955 incident disclosed the existence of defendants' system at that time.