People v. Perryman

DUNIWAY, J.

Appeal from a judgment of conviction of violation of Penal Code, section 211, robbery. Appellant’s sole contention, made through court appointed counsel, is that the evidence is insufficient. This contention is without merit, as a brief recitation of the salient facts will show.

The crime occurred at approximately 9 :15 p.m. on May 1, 1958, in the city of Oakland. The victim was on the easterly sidewalk of 29th Avenue, walking north from that street’s intersection with East 14th Street, when a man whom she had seen approaching from the north swung around as he passed on her left and threw both of his arms around her. She screamed and her assailant struck her on the cheek, knocking

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her to one knee, wrested her purse from her hand and fled in the direction of Bast 14th Street. She was not dazed by the blow and she saw no one else on the street. When the man was about 50 feet to the south, his victim, still screaming, regained her feet and ran after him. She maintained approximately the 50-foot interval until her quarry cut to the east diagonally across the lot of a gasoline service station located on the northeast corner of Bast 14th Street, at which time she lost sight of him for a couple of seconds.

Police Officer Holmes, while sitting on his motorcycle in the service station lot, heard screams from the north. After a very few seconds, he saw appellant running south on 29th Avenue and then cutting into the lot. Perceiving the policeman, appellant stopped, pointed in the direction of the screams and announced that there was trouble up there, following which he resumed running east on Bast 14th Street. The officer moved his motorcycle several feet preparatory to proceeding north on 29th Avenue, when a screaming woman came into view from that direction, prompting him to “put two and two together” and turn his motorcycle down Bast 14th Street in pursuit of appellant.

Prank Schaefers was walking east on Bast 14th Street, and had just passed the service station, when a woman started screaming. Looking toward 29th Avenue, he saw appellant run out of the shadows. Appellant had just run through the lot and past him when the victim likewise emerged into view and yelled “stop that man.” Schaefers joined in the chase and successfully summoned bystanders further down the street, one of whom tackled appellant.