People v. Hinson

LILLIE, J.

Defendant was convicted of burglary (§459, Pen. Code); he appeals from the judgment and order denying motion for new trial. The purported appeal from the order is dismissed.

On December 20, 1967, around 12 a.m. as Ann Bray drove by Eddie’s Discount Store on Compton Boulevard, she noticed a man crouching near some broken glass facing the window; he was reaching into the window but she could not see his hand; as she drove by he looked up, then started to run westbound. No one else was in the area. Mrs. Bray proceeded eastbound, made a right-hand turn onto Tamarind Street, drove two blocks to Almond Street and turned right; there she saw a patrol ear in which an officer was talking to a man who had on the same cap and coat and who she identified as the man she saw crouching in front of the broken window; she did not then stop as she feared the man would recognize her ear, but drove back to Compton Boulevard where she

[576]

stopped the patrol ear and reported what she had seen to Officer Smith.

Around 12:30 a.m. Officer Smith saw defendant run across a parking lot behind a taco stand at the corner of Palm and Willowbrook and followed him; defendant told him he had just left a bar and was running because the officer had frightened him and he was in a hurry to get home, and identified himself as Joe Benny Hinson living at the Pride Hotel at Tamarind and Laurel. Officer Smith let defendant go, then drove to Eddie’s Discount Store to check the premises; he observed the broken window and a disarranged display of watch bands, walkie-talkies and transistor radios behind it. With his partner, Officer Kiyasu, the officer drove to the Pride Hotel, went to defendant’s room, knocked and entered; Officer Kiyasu advised defendant of his constitutional rights; defendant said he understood those rights and expressed a willingness to make a statement regarding the burglary. Defendant said he had been in a bar at Magnolia and Willow-brook ; as he was walking home he noticed the broken glass in the store, went over to the window and looked in; he saw someone drive by, became frightened and left. The officers searched his apartment with his consent but found nothing.

Between 12:15 and 1 a.m. on December 20, 1967, Officer Neidhart, in response to a call, went to Eddie’s Discount Store; he found a broken window behind which was a display of jewelry, small radios and other items; on the sidewalk to the west of the store he found a Lucine brand watch, and another Lucine watch a little farther west in the doorway of another store; he searched west to the intersection of Tamarind but found nothing. Officer Kiyasu who was in the vicinity of Palm and Willowbrook around 1 a.m., found four watches, two of which were broken apart, near the corner a walkie-talkie, and behind the taco stand on the comer, two more watches; he tried to take the fingerprints from the walkie-talkie and watch but was unsuccessful. The watches were of the same brand and type as those in the window display at Eddie’s Discount Store.