People v. Gomez

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J.

Superior Court Case No. A-258118

In 1970, defendant was found guilty of a violation of section 10851 of the Vehicle Code; he was sentenced

to

county jail

for one year;

execution of sentence was suspended and he was granted probation. On October 20, 1971, following his conviction in case No. A-274005, the sentence was ordered into execution.

1

On this appeal, it is argued that the 1970 sentence was ordered into execution only because of defendant’s conviction in case No. A-274005 and that, if that conviction is reversed, the order in the earlier case should not stand.

2

The record does not bear out that contention. The record shows that the trial court was motivated primarily by the fact that defendant, in violation of the terms of his probation, had made several illegal entries into this country. Our reversal of the judgment in case No: A-274005 does not carry with it a reversal of the orders in case No. A-258118.

Superior Court Case No. A-274005

In superior court case No. A-274005, defendant was charged with grand theft, in violation of subdivision 1 of section 487 of the Penal Code.. He pled not guilty and, after a trial by jury, he was found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to state prison, execution of sentence was suspended and he was granted probation, conditional (inter alia) on his serving one year in the county jail, such term to run concurrently with the term in case No.

[489]

A-258118. He has appealed; we affirm, the judgment (order granting probation) .

The victim, Ruiz, testified that, on May 27, 1971, he visited the immigration office in downtown Los Angeles in order to secure a renewal of his visa. Because he spoke only Spanish, he had trouble filling out the necessary forms and asked defendant to help him. Defendant told him that he (defendant) was an attorney at the department and that Ruiz would have to change all his Mexican money into American money before the papers could be filed. According to Ruiz, the two men went to a bank where Ruiz’ 2,700 in Mexican pesos were exchanged for $213. After having a beer at a market, the men returned to the immigration office. There defendant took Ruiz’ papers and all of his money. After waiting in line for a few minutes, defendant gave Ruiz some papers, told him to wait and went away. Thereafter an immigration official returned to Ruiz his passport and visa. Ruiz next saw defendant four days later when he pointed defendant out to the police and defendant was arrested.