People v. Wilson

[763]

BARNARD, P. J.

The appellant and his wife were charged with armed robbery, alleged to have been committed on July 13, 1953. They pleaded not guilty, and were represented by counsel of their own choosing. A jury found each of them guilty of first degree robbery, and they were sentenced to prison. Mr. Wilson alone has appealed from the judgment, filing his own notice of appeal.

It appears from the evidence that on the evening of July 13, 1953, a Mr. Walworth went into a bar in Avenal and cashed a check, receiving $15 which he put in his wallet. The appellant and his wife watched him write out the cheek and cash it, and then engaged him in conversation. A little later the three of them proceeded to another bar three blocks away. When they left that bar the appellant produced a pistol and compelled Walworth to go with them in their automobile, a 1949 Chevrolet. They took him to a dark spot where Mrs. Wilson held a gun on him while Mr. Wilson, after a scuffle, took the wallet and the money. Shortly thereafter Walworth reported the matter to the officers and a description of the car and the robbers was broadcast over the radio. By mistake the broadcast described the woman as having red hair whereas Walworth had described it as brown with a reddish tint.

About 11:30 that night a highway patrol officer, who had received the broadcast, saw Mr. and Mrs. Wilson leaving a restaurant in Huron and followed them to a gas station, where they stopped. While they and the car otherwise fitted the description given he let them go, because he thought Mrs. Wilson did not have red hair, although he took their address in Coalinga. On the same night an officer went to the scene of the robbery and found some papers there with Walworth’s name on them. On July 15, an officer went to the appellant’s home in Coalinga and asked where he was, but Mrs. Wilson said she did not know. The officer asked her to have her husband come to the police station when he returned. About 9 o’clock that night an officer saw Mrs. Wilson at a service station in Coalinga. Since another officer had asked him to stop Mrs. Wilson, he asked her to wait there. She said she would, but said she wanted to go to the rest room. He called the other officer and when he arrived a few minutes later they found that she had gone, leaving the car. They found three fully packed suitcases in the car, and also found two pistols in appellant’s home. It appears that the appellant and his wife had become alarmed when the officer came