People v. Alexander

MOORE, P. J.

Contending that the evidence against him is inherently improbable and that the court “applied an improper rule of law,” defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of robbery of the first degree, i. e., one committed while the robber is armed with a deadly weapon. (Pen. Code, § 211a.)

On Friday, March 29, 1946, at 11 a. m. three Negro men entered the jewelry store of Peter Borisoif in the city of Los Angeles. By holding a gun' they forced the proprietor into a back room, took off his clothes, removed certain merchandise including a diamond wrist watch worth $575 from the store and departed. On the following day at a service station where defendant worked he participated in a crap game with some eight or ten persons. While the game was in progress he borrowed $200 from Robert Easley, one of the gamblers, on the same watch that had been taken from Borisoif. When Easley received a call from the police on the day following the crap game he advised them that he had obtained the watch from appellant whose arrest followed. Easley testified that no other participant in the game made any claim to the watch identified by Borisoif as having been one of his possessions stolen on March 29.

The primary contention is that the identity of appellant as one of the thieves was not established. The proof on that issue is abundant. Borisoif testified that appellant and two other men called at his store on Monday, on Tuesday, twice on Thursday and on Friday the 29th of March. He

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conversed with appellant on the occasions of the first four visits and became familiar with his voice. He remembered the hat and clothing worn by the bandit on Friday and described them. Having gazed upon appellant’s face on Friday, he was absolutely “sure he is the man . . . there is no ques-' tion about it.” He testified that appellant and the smaller man who held the gun on the witness wore goggles while in the store. When Borisoff went to court to attend the preliminary hearing he promptly identified appellant as one of his robbers.

The witness Larry Reid about 11 a. m. on March 29, observed appellant with two other men immediately after the robbery as they walked very fast on the east side of Western Avenue about two doors north of the jewelry store. On reaching the corner of Second Street they turned sharply east and “broke into a dead run. ’ ’ Later the witness positively identified appellant’s photograph among four or five shown him by the officers. Also, he identified appellant several days later in the custody of two officers and again at the trial.