People v. Beck

MOORE, P. J.

Appellant was accused by the district attorney on two counts of burglary with one prior conviction of a felony. Denial of the prior conviction and a plea of not guilty were entered by defendant on October 25, 1944. On December 6, 1944, the district attorney filed an amended information accusing the defendant on two counts of burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property. He was thereby also charged with a former conviction with respect to each of the four counts. The minutes of the court for December 6 contain no mention of the court’s order allowing the filing of the amended pleading or any objection to the filing thereof. The case had evidently been set for trial on that day for it was then continued to December 18 and the witnesses were instructed to return on that day.

Following the trial the jury returned verdicts of not guilty of the charges of burglary but convicted defendant on both counts of having received stolen property. For count two

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he was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law, the sentence to run consecutively with any sentence that he may have to serve for the violation of his parole under a former conviction. For the crime charged in count four he was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law, the sentence to run concurrently with that pronounced on count two but consecutively with any sentence he may have to serve for violating his parole. From the judgments of conviction and sentence and from the order denying his motion for a new trial defendant appeals.

The facts given in testimony are that defendant was on August 26, 1944, a parolee from the state prison, having been convicted of burglary in 1941. On that date he became a boarder of one Mrs. Besselo on 106th Street in Los Angeles and resided there for one month at the expiration of which he was arrested on the charges of burglary. During the same time one Kenneth Craig, a parolee from the Chino State Prison, visited appellant about twice a week, appellant being steadily employed with a local steel company. On September-13 and 19 respectively the homes of Mrs. Dinino and Mrs. Rhodes in the vicinity of appellant’s abode were burglarized. From the first two pairs of trousers, a wrist watch and a compact were taken and from the latter numerous items of Mr. Rhodes including a gold knife and chain were stolen. Most of the articles taken from the two homes were recovered from pawnshops where they had been pledged by a girl friend of Craig. On September 26 when appellant was arrested he was wearing the wrist watch and in his pocket he carried the gold knife and chain. The knife had been altered in that a “gadget” containing some alphabetical letters had been removed.