People v. Morgan

GRIFFIN, P. J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment entered after a jury verdict finding him guilty of robbery in the second degree (Pen. Code, § 211).

The evidence discloses that on January 24, 1961, at approximately 8 :45 in the evening, the Bakersfield office of Western "Union was robbed of $107. The clerk from whom the money was taken identified the defendant as the robber. There was evidence that shortly before the robbery defendant was without funds and that during the six-hour interval between the robbery and his arrest he lost approximately $102 playing cards. Defendant asked one of the participants in these card games to tell the police that defendant had lost only $10 or $15 during the evening. A coat answering the description of the coat worn by the robber was found under the bed in a hotel room the defendant had rented after using a fictitious name.

Before the trial, the defendant, his counsel and the district attorney entered into a written stipulation which provided that the results of a lie-detector examination of the defendant could be received in evidence at defendant’s trial. At the trial, the polygraph examiner testified that in his opinion the defendant committed the robbery and that he placed his jacket under the bed in his hotel room.

Defendant testified that he was watching television in the lobby of a hotel at the time of the robbery. He claimed to have loaned his coat to a man named Don just before the robbery. Defendant said that he had $100 when he came to Bakersfield and that he received $50 from his sister Hazel in a letter on the day of the robbery. He denied signing the registration at the hotel and admitted a prior conviction for robbery. On cross-examination, he admitted that his sister, Mrs. Burkett, visited him at the jail and that he had asked her if she remembered sending him money six months ago. He denied asking her to testify that she had sent him money at about the date of the robbery.

In rebuttal, Lieutenant Munding of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office produced a recording which was made on March

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14, 1961, the day before the trial began. This recording was of a conversation between the defendant and his sister, Laura Burkett. Defendant objected to the introduction of this recording into evidence and the court edited out several portions which it deemed irrelevant and took testimony regarding the circumstances under which the recording was obtained. Thereupon, the court received in evidence a portion of the recording, in which defendant made several statements which were damaging to his case.