People v. Velarde

SHEPARD, J.

This is an appeal by defendant Ray Jesse Velarde from a judgment of conviction following a jury verdict of guilty on two counts of kidnapping for purpose of robbery (Pen. Code, § 209) and two counts of first degree robbery. Appellant’s codefendant, Angel Diaz, was acquitted on all four counts charged in the amended information.

Pacts

Appellant concedes the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict and we will therefore relate only the basic facts.

On September 15, 1960, appellant and another man, using a 38-caliber revolver, robbed Joseph and Roy Worth in the Worth store at San Clemente. At gun point the victims were forced to go from the front of the store to a back room where

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they were compelled to lie face down on the floor and their arms and legs were bound. The robbers then took from the person of one of the victims and from the cash register a total of approximately $134, plus two revolvers. On September 25, 1961, appellant was caught in Los Angeles while attempting to commit another robbery and one of the revolvers taken in the San Clemente robbery was found in his possession. An armed, masked man aided appellant to escape from the Van Nuys jail a few hours later. The same day, appellant was again arrested at the Mexican border. The victims of the Worth robbery positively identified appellant as one of the persons who robbed them on September 15, 1960. On cross-examination appellant indirectly but in essential substance admitted participation in the robbery at San Clemente but denied the presence of codefendant Diaz at that time.

Validity op Penal Code Section 209

Appellant contends, first, that Penal Code section 209 is unconstitutional. There is no merit in this point.

(People

v.

Wein,

50 Cal.2d 383, 400 [16] [326 P.2d 457];

People

v.