People v. Schultz

CRAIL, P. J.

The defendant, appellant, was convicted of the crime of offering to a witness a bribe in violation of section 137 of the Penal Cbde, a felony, in that he offered to give to one Nora Mary Morris, who was then and there about to be called as a witness in a civil action then pending, a bribe upon an understanding that the testimony of the said Nora Mary Morris should thereby be influenced. The appeal is from the judgment of conviction and from the order of the court denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

The record discloses that the defendant proposed to one Grace Brickley and one Fern Lewis that together they defraud the Los Angeles Railway Company by having Grace Brickley fall in a street car, appear to be injured, sue the company and procure a judgment. They proceeded with the plan and in April, 1936, the personal injury action entitled

Brickley

v.

Los Angeles Railway Company

was tried in the municipal court, and all three of the above-named persons testified in accordance with their plan. Seven months before the trial and about the time they filed the claim against the company they approached Nora Mary Morris and attempted to induce her to testify for them a story made out of whole cloth. The next day she went to

[487]

the railway company and told them of the conspiracy and at the trial against the company she appeared as a witness and testified and related in full her conversations with the three conspirators, thereby causing them to lose the case, and thereafter the present action was commenced against the defendant and the others.

The first contention of the defendant is that there is an entire lack of evidence to show that Nora Mary Morris was “a witness or a person about to be called as a witness”. The answer is that the record discloses that the defendant first made the proposition in all of its details on July 20, 1935, and again on April 26, 1936, three days before the time set for the trial of the negligence action. At that time Nora Mary Morris was about to become a witness in the case and did in fact become a witness. The defendant contends in this regard that Nora Mary Morris never at any time had any intention of testifying as a witness. But what he really means by this is. that she did not at any time intend to testify as the defendant was urging her to testify. There is nothing in the law which makes the guilt of the defendant depend upon the intention of the witness. The evidence is clear that the offer was made upon the understanding that the testimony of the witness would be influenced by the offered bribe. No acceptance of the offer was necessary.