People v. Corsalini

DOOLING, J.,

pro tern.

— The defendant was convicted of grand theft. The witness Tollner was a German sailor from the S. S. Columbus at that time interned at Angel Island. He testified that on the morning of October 13, 1940, at about 4 a. m., he was on a street in San Francisco and inquired of a man standing by an automobile how to get to the Three Musketeers. The man directed him and then started to talk to him about wrestling and began to wrestle with him with one hand between his legs. The man then ran to the car, in which another man was seated, and the car drove away. Tollner found that a black wallet, which he had placed in his left hand hip pocket fifteen to thirty minutes before, after paying for a cup of coffee, was missing. The wallet had contained $10. Tollner went into a hotel in front of which these events had occurred and a man in the hotel called the police. Tollner could not identify the defendant as the man who had wrestled with him.2

[706]

The witness Meldow testified that in the early morning of October 13, 1940, he was standing in the lobby of the Willard Hotel at 161, Ellis Street in San Francisco looking into the street through a plate glass window. He saw the defendant and Tollner in front of the hotel about twenty feet from him. The defendant was patting Tollner on the hips. Then he heard a remark: “I bet I can guess your weight” and the defendant “picked up the German fellow and grabbed him under the legs, and lifted him up, and as his hand slid down, I saw what was apparently a pocket book come out in his hand.” The defendant then walked to the car and drove away. This witness took the license number of the car, a New York license, and the hotel clerk notified the police.

A police officer testified that he located the car about 10 a. m. the same day by the number given the department and through that found and arrested the defendant.

The defendant admitted talking to Tollner in the early morning of October 13 in front of the Willard Hotel, admitted putting an arm around him, admitted leaving in the car, but denied that he wrestled with him or took his wallet.

Appellant claims that these facts are not sufficient to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It is true that Tollner could not identify the defendant but the identification by Meldow was positive and we are satisfied that the facts recited amply support the judgment of conviction.