People v. Armenta

Opinion

WHELAN, J.

Robert Cordova Armenia (defendant) appeals from a judgment imposing sentence to prison after a jury found him guilty of a violation of Penal Code section 4532, subdivision (b), escape from custody.

Defendant was charged by an information in Mo counts, on one of which he was convicted; the second charged a violation of Penal Code section 148, obstructing an officer in the performance of his duty, of which he was found not guilty.

The evidence upon which defendant was convicted was a certified copy of a prison record showing he had been received at the state prison on August 9, 1961, for a term of six months to 15 years, and the testimony of Charles Paschal, a parole officer under the Adult Authority, whose area of supervision was Imperial County.

Paschal testified he was such an officer; that in 1967 he had received an official file assigning to him the case of defendant, then on parole, the

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earliest termination date of which was April 1970; that in April 1968 defendant’s supervision had been removed from Imperial County because defendant had been returned to a prison facility; that on January 9, 1969, Paschal saw defendant in a detention room at the Calexico port of entry; that he asked defendant if the latter was still on parole and was told he was. Paschal then told defendant he was under arrest . . for violating his parole, for leaving the county of residency, ... for leaving the United States; suspect on usage of narcotics.” Defendant was handcuffed; after, leaving the immigration facility in Paschal’s custody defendant took to his heels and was at large for several hours before he was taken into custody by the Calexico police. Paschal said it was usual practice when a parolee was permitted by an agent in the county where he was under supervision to go to another county, for the agent in the county of supervision to send notice to the supervising agent in the county of visitation that such visitation had been permitted, which notice would be received within a day or two of the commencement of the visitation; that he had not received any such notice regarding defendant.

Defendant’s contentions are largely concerned with the character of the evidence intended to show he was on parole and in violation of his parole. He also asserts the trial judge influenced the jury to reach a verdict by telling them, when it was reported they had not reached a verdict after 114 hours deliberation, that the case was a simple one; thereafter the verdicts were returned in an additional 314 hours.