People v. James

GRIFFIN, P. J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict of guilty of grand theft. He was charged with and admitted a prior felony conviction of burglary at night with intent to commit theft in the state of Texas. He was sentenced to state prison.

Shortly after 6 p.m. on January 11, 1959, defendant rented a 1958 G.M.C. half-ton pickup truck having a gray bottom and white top and a long three-quarter-ton bed from a truck rental service in Bakersfield. The truck was equipped with Goodrich tires. On the same night an employee of Rich-field Oil Company at its service yard 3 or 4 miles south of Bakersfield observed a late model half-ton G.M.C. pickup truck near the junk bin in the storage yard. He noticed that the truck was a light color on top and a dark color on the bottom and that it appeared to be loaded. The employee knew that the truck was unauthorized and reported what he had observed to the night watchman.

An investigation revealed that a lock on the gate to the storage yard had been forced open and tracks were found

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in the area where the truck had been first observed. The tire tracks appeared to have been made by a vehicle making two trips to the yard and the tire impressions were made by tires similar in size, shape and design to those on the truck rented by defendant that evening. All trucks used in this yard by Richfield Oil Company have Goodyear tires. On January 12, 1959, a storekeeper for Richfield Oil Company investigated the equipment stored in the yard and estimated that about 3 tons of “thread protectors” were missing and the value of the missing equipment was estimated at $400 to $420. About 3 :30 p.m. on January 12, 1959, appellant, in the company of Roy Wilson, returned the truck he had rented the previous day to the truck rental service. When he returned the truck defendant stated that he had had a fiat tire on the rear and had changed it. At the time the truck was returned by defendant grease was found on the truck bed which had not been there when defendant received the truck.

On the morning of January 13, 1959, defendant and Roy Wilson sold 5,060 pounds of “thread protectors” to a dealer in used equipment in Huntington Beach, California for a total price of $278.30. On February 10, 1959, the storekeeper for Richfield Oil Company identified the thread protectors previously sold to the Huntington Beach equipment dealer by defendant on January 13, 1959, as property of the Richfield Oil Company. This identification was based on the presence of Richfield's patented thread lubricant with which Richfield thread protectors were “doped” at the Richfield yard and by ■ the presence in the lubricant of lint which is blown into the junk bin of the Richfield yard from a cottonseed delinting mill located about 50 yards away. An expert criminologist compared samples of grease taken from thread protectors in the Richfield yard, grease taken from the bed of the truck which appellant rented and grease taken from thread protectors sold to the Huntington Beach equipment dealer by defendant, and testified that in his opinion all three samples were similar.