People v. Stuart

WOOD (Parker), J.

Defendant was accused in count 1 of grand theft of an automobile, and in count 2 of violation of section 503 of the Vehicle Code (driving automobile without consent of owner). Defendant waived trial by jury. The court found defendant guilty as charged in count 1, and not guilty as to count 2. Defendant’s application for probation was denied, and he was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison. Defendant appeals from the judgment.

The sole contention on appeal is that the corpus delicti was not established, and it was therefore error to receive evidence of extrajudicial statements of defendant.

George Cary, Jr., a witness called by the People, testified that on July 13, 1951, he owned a blue Jaguar automobile, motor number W23468, which had Nevada license plates on it, and also emblems of two clubs; about 3 p.m. on that date, he parked said automobile across the street from the showroom and offices of the Hornberg Jaguar Distributor on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles County; he left the keys in the ignition switch of the automobile, and gave one Eddie Wright, an employee of Hornberg, permission to take the automobile and do some work on it; he never saw the automobile again; he did not give defendant permission to take the automobile.

Officer Mansell, a witness called by the People, testified that he discussed the charges with the defendant, and that defendant’s statements were made freely and voluntarily. Counsel for defendant then objected “to this line of questioning as to any conversation with the defendant” on the ground that the corpus delicti had not been established. The objection was overruled. The officer then testified that the conversation with defendant took place about 7:30 p.m. on February 1, 1952, in the presence of Officer Brooks and Officer Powers; Officer Brooks asked defendant if he knew why he had been arrested and the defendant said he did not; Officer Brooks asked defendant if he had ever “earned [owned] ” a Jaguar car and he said he had not; Officer Mansell asked defendant when he went to Florida, and defendant said in July, 1951; said officer asked defendant if he remembered how he got to Florida, and defendant smiled

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and stated that he thought the officer knew; the officer then asked defendant if he drove the Jaguar to Florida and defendant said that he had; Officer Brooks asked defendant where he obtained the Jaguar and defendant said he thought the officers knew where he had obtained it; Officer Mansell asked defendant if he got the car on Sunset Boulevard by the foreign car agency, and he said “Yes”; defendant stated that the car was in the street, the keys were in it, and it had Nevada license plates; he stated that he remembered some emblems on the front of the car and he disposed of them; he stated further that he drove the car to Florida the next day, and that nobody gave him permission to take it; Officer Mansell then asked defendant how he obtained title to the vehicle in Georgia, and defendant replied that he went down there and got a bill of sale and a Georgia car report; the officer asked defendant how he got the bill of sale in Georgia and he replied: “I am not going to put someone else in the middle on this. I had the ear and you know I had it. ’ ’ The officer testified further that in answer to questions defendant stated that he sold the car to Waco Motors in Florida for $500 cash and a new M. G. roadster; he drove the M. G. back to California and sold it to a dealer on Ventura Boulevard.