People v. Reese

STONE, J.

*

Appellant was convicted after trial by jury of three counts of robbery and a fourth count of kidnaping. He has appealed from the judgment of conviction as to all four counts.

Two bandits carrying guns robbed a market in Riverside the night of January 19, 1962. Wearing paper sacks over their heads, the robbers forced employees and customers to lie behind the counter and then tied and robbed them. One of the bandits who went to the parking lot at the rear of the store to commandeer a get-away car, came upon a man sitting at the wheel of his car. At gunpoint the robber ordered the

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man to get out of the car and go into the market. The man, later a witness, could see the robber’s face as he was not then wearing his mask and there was light in the area where the car was parked. Also, the dome light illuminated the area when the car door opened, and gave the car owner a good look at the bandit’s features. On their way into the market they passed through a lighted storeroom, where the ear owner again got a view of the robber. This witness was the only victim able to positively identify appellant. The other victims could testify only as to certain similar characteristics, between the robber and appellant because of the paper-sack mask that obscured his face.

Appellant alibied that at the time the robbery occurred he was in Long Beach, where he lived. Five witnesses corroborated his alibi to some degree. They included his wife, a sister, a brother, a neighbor woman, and a part-time employer.

Appellant’s first contention that the evidence of identification was insufficient to justify his conviction, is untenable. Even though only one witness made a positive identification, that witness observed defendant at close range without the mask; his testimony alone is sufficient to sustain the conviction.

(People

v.

Whitson, 25

Cal.2d 593, 604 [154 P.2d 867];

People