People v. Maddox

WOOD (Parker), J.

—Defendant was accused of the crime of violation of section 337a, subdivision 2, of the Penal Code, a felony, in that he unlawfully kept and occupied an apartment in Los Angeles with books, papers and paraphernalia for the purpose of recording bets upon the result of ‘ ‘ contest, of skill, speed and power of endurance between beasts, to wit, horses.” He was also accused of violation of subdivision 4 of said section, in that he did unlawfully record a bet or bets upon the result of such a contest. Trial by jury was waived. Defendant was convicted of the charge as to subdivision 2, and was acquitted of the charge as to subdivision 4. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for six months.

Appellant’s first contention is that the evidence was not sufficient to support the judgment of conviction. A police

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officer testified that when he and four other officers entered room 241 of a hotel in Los Angeles on October 21, 1942, about 1 p. m., a lady was standing beside a table in the room upon which table there were two stacks of horse-race betting markers with pencil writing upon them, a filing cabinet in which there were betting markers, two scratch sheets, two telephones, two California Turf Digests, blank paper pads, many pencils, and crayons; that as they entered the room, the lady who was the only person therein, said, “Ralph,” and stepped back from the table with a pencil in her hand; that a racing form sheet dated October 21, 1942, was on a bureau in the room, and about 30 copies of racing form sheets of various dates were in the closet; that after they had been in the room about 5 minutes, the defendant Ralph Maddox entered the room with a leather folder in his hand, which folder (it was later ascertained) contained documents including a scratch sheet bearing the date of October 21,1942; that the testifying officer “was busy answering phones” when defendant entered, and he did not see anyone bring the defendant in, and did not know whether defendant “walked in voluntarily” or whether someone brought him in, but “they might have” brought him in; that after defendant entered the room the witness and another officer went into the hall with defendant, took him to the hotel manager and asked her who rented the room, and she said “that is the man [indicating the defendant] who rented the apartment”; that defendant then said he had rented the room but he didn’t live there; that they stayed in room 241 about one hour and the “phones rang continuously until they were disconnected”; that defendant “stood around the room” while the witness and another officer answered telephones; that the witness made notations of some ‘ ‘ of those telephone calls”; that the “phone rang and people would say, ‘Hello,’ and then they would hang up”; that one person said, “ ‘Hello. This is Mac. I want two across the board on 152,’ and hung up”; that another person said, “ ‘Hello. Ralph? This is W. H. I want the fifth at New York— Jamaica—Alsab, ten and five; fifth at Laurel, Enterprise, one and one; 504, two to win; 156 one and one; 154, six and two,’ and then he hung up”; that another person said, “ ‘Hello. This is Ann. This one is for Ruth. I want five to win on 811. Then I want a parlay, 887 to 906, one to win and one to place; and 887, one to win.’ ”; that another per