People v. Leyvas

[864]

YORK, P. J.

By information, defendants were jointly charged with the crime of robbery, to wit: that on or about May 23, 1945, they forcibly took from the person and immediate presence of Arthur Sage

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assorted gas ration stamps authorizing 4066 gallons of gasoline, of the approximate value of $800.00. ’ ’ At the conclusion of a jury-waived trial, defendants were found guilty, as charged, and the court found the crime to be robbery of the first degree. Defendant Leyvas has perfected this appeal from the judgment of conviction and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears from the record that about 4:30 p. m. of May 23, 1945, Arthur Sage, an employee of the Wilshire Oil Company, was driving a tank truck along Washington Boulevard in the city of Los

Angeles;

that when he stopped at the boulevard stop at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Telegraph Road, an automobile drove up on the left side of the

truck;

that defendant Obregon alighted from the automobile and stepped on the running board of the truck, holding a .32 revolver in his hand. He put the gun across the window in front of the driver Sage and said:

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Okay, Bud, let’s have the gas stamps. . . . Let’s have them, or I will blow your head off. ’ ’ Sage then unlocked a box on the truck in which he was carrying several sheets, furnished by the government, to which had been pasted O.P.A. gasoline ration stamps of all types, fifty stamps to a sheet, and turned them over to said defendant. Mr. Sage estimated that the stamps had a value of 4,066 gallons of gasoline. He was taking them to the company’s plant, to be accounted for and turned into the bank for credit to the account of the company. While defendant Obregon was taking the stamps from the driver of the truck, appellant Leyvas remained sitting behind the steering wheel of the automobile from which Obregon had alighted; as soon as the latter accomplished his purpose, he jumped into the automobile which speeded away in an easterly direction.