People v. Brooks

California Court of Appeal Oct 22, 1957 No. Crim. 5999Published

Before: Fox

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Holding. The court held that a defendant's waiver of a jury trial is valid when the defendant expresses the waiver in open court and counsel continues to represent the defendant without objection, and that evidence obtained from a vehicle after a lawful traffic stop is admissible.

Issues

Whether the defendant's waiver of a jury trial was valid when counsel did not expressly state the waiver.
Whether the corpus delicti was established to allow the admission of the defendant's confession.
Whether the evidence was obtained through an unlawful search and seizure.
Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction.

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“Clearly, if the defendant unequivocally expresses his waiver of a jury trial in the presence of his counsel and his counsel thereafter continues to represent him throughout the trial without indicating any objection, then his counsel has in effect joined in the waiver.”

“Proof of the corpus delicti does not require proof of the identity of the perpetrators of the crime, nor proof that the crime was committed by the defendant.”

“Defendant’s voluntary confession was admissible even if he were being unlawfully detained when he made it.”

FOX, J.

Defendant was convicted of petty theft with a prior conviction of petty theft (Pen. Code, § 666) and sentenced to the state prison. He has appealed from the judgment.

On January 16, 1957, employees of the Sav-On Drug Store, located at 3660 West Santa Barbara, in Los Angeles, noticed that two cases of Charter Oak Whiskey were missing. At the

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beginning of the day there were nine eases stacked in front of a cooler in the drug store’s liquor department. The sales records and the testimony of the employees showed that no cases of Charter Oak Whiskey had been sold during the day ; and no one had been given permission to take any of the cases. Nevertheless, it was observed in the late afternoon that only seven cases were still there.

On the same day two police officers observed a car at the intersection of Sixth and Ceres Streets, in Los Angeles, being driven by one Robert Bolden, and in which defendant was the only passenger. It was Officer McCormick’s opinion that the car made an illegal left turn, so he stopped the car. He noticed that the car had one license plate in front and two in the rear, one of the latter being a commercial plate. From outside the vehicle Officer McCormick saw two cases of Charter Oak Whiskey on the back seat of the car. Bolden stated that he had just purchased the liquor. Defendant said nothing at that time. The officer took Bolden and defendant to the police station.

While at the police station the next morning, defendant volunteered a statement to this effect: At approximately noon on January 16, 1957, Bolden picked up defendant and took him to a clinic for treatment of his feet; the two of them left the clinic at about 2 p.m. and drove directly to the Sav-On Drug Store; defendant waited in the ear while Bolden went into the store and returned with a ease of whiskey; defendant then went in, stood at the liquor counter until “the girl with the pony tail” went down to the other end, then picked up a case of whiskey and took it to the car

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Bolden and defendant removed the labels from the two cases, then drove away and tried unsuccessfully to sell the whiskey at three different places; and shortly thereafter they were apprehended.

People v. Brooks

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FOX, J.

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