People v. Thompson

MUSSELL, J.

Defendant was charged with and convicted of the crime of burglary in violation of section 459 of the Penal Code. The jury verdict fixed the degree of the offense as burglary in the first degree. Thereafter a motion for new

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trial was made and denied and judgment was entered declaring the defendant to be an habitual criminal and sentencing him to the state prison. He appeals from the judgment and the order denying the motion for a new trial and his sole contention here is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict of the jury.

Statement of Facts and Evidence

At about 7:30 p. m. on November 27, 1952, Mrs. Odie Thornton left her apartment at 831 Broadway in San Diego and proceeded to a sandwich shop nearby, where she worked and of which she was a coowner. She returned to her apartment at about 8:30 p. m. to “pick up a check” and after remaining there a few moments, again returned to the sandwich shop where she worked until about 4:30 a. m. of November 28th. It was her nightly custom to check the cash register, remove the money therefrom and take it to her apartment. On the night of November 27th she had left approximately $300 in a metal cabinet in the living room of her apartment and upon her return from work on the following morning, at about 4:30 a. m., she found that the apartment had been entered in her absence; that the locks on the filing cabinet had been pushed in and that all the money therein had been stolen, together with a list of the number of rolls of quarters and dimes which she had fastened to some of the currency with a paper clip. The money stolen consisted of currency, a $10 roll of quarters, four $5.00 rolls of dimes, about 10 silver dollars, and some nickels and pennies. Mrs. Thornton, upon discovering her loss, contacted her brother, who was also part owner of the shop, and he in turn called the police. About an hour later the defendant was arrested in his nearby apartment. He was then fully dressed and on his person and on a table in the apartment the officers fonnd a total of $286.74, consisting of $241 in currency, $8.00 in silver dollars, one half dollar, $10 in quarters, $19.60 in dimes, $4.45 in nickels and $3.19 in pennies. The currency consisted of five $20 bills, 10 $10 bills, six $5.00 bills and 11 $1.00 bills.