People v. Johnson

SHINN, P. J.

Melvin Earl Johnson and Roddie Jamison Crooks were charged in two counts with two crimes of robbery, both offenses taking place on the same date. The victim in count I was George A. Simmons, a drugstore owner who was robbed of money and other personal property of a value of $705.30; the victim in count II was Harley Roehlk, a customer in the drugstore, from whom $5.00 was taken. Crooks withdrew his plea of not guilty to count I and pleaded guilty to

that

count. Johnson,

being

represented by counsel, admitted a prior conviction of burglary and the jury found him guilty of robbery in the first degree as to counts I and II and that on each occasion he was armed. His motion for a new trial and probation being denied, Johnson was sentenced to the state prison. He appealed from the judgment and noticed an appeal from the order denying motion for a new trial.

The appeal from the order denying his motion for a new trial is dismissed. (Pen. Code, § 1237.) On appeal from the judgment, appellant first contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdicts. His argument is in vain. It is based on the patently erroneous assumptions that the jury was bound to discredit the testimony of three witnesses, who identified him, for the reason

that they

viewed him for only a short space of time, and that the court was bound, on the other hand, to believe the testimony of Crooks, first given on Johnson’s motion for a new trial, to the effect that the other person who participated in the offenses charged was not the codefendant, but rather was a certain “Johnny Jackson,” of whom little was known save his name.

The robbery took place in the drugstore around 6 :30 p.m. Crooks was arrested before he got away; Johnson was arrested several weeks later. The three witnesses were Mrs. Besark, a clerk, who opened the cash registers while Crooks threatened her with a" grnii She saw Johnson holding a gun on Simmons, the owner of the store. Simmons sold Johnson an article and received payment. Roehlk, a customer, came in and with Mrs. Besark and Simmons was ordered into a rear

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