People v. Bowman

SIMS, J.

Defendant has appealed from a judgment sentencing him to state prison following his conviction by jury verdict of arson in violation of section 447a of the Penal Code.

He contends that evidence of his conversations with alleged accomplices was unlawfully obtained and improperly received in evidence; that there was error in receiving in evidence a witness’ opinion as to the location at which the fire started; that the trial judge showed bias and partiality in conducting the proceedings; that the prosecutor’s comments violated defendant’s constitutional privilege against self-incrimination; that the prosecutor committed other prejudicial misconduct in his argument to the jury; and that the court erred in instructing the jury. An examination of the record and the foregoing contentions, in the light of the principles of law applicable thereto, reveals no prejudicial error which would warrant a reversal and the judgment must be affirmed.

In July 1963 defendant and his wife apparently held title to a house on what is referred to as Justice Lane just off Soquel Drive, or 5229 Soquel Drive, in the area of Santa Cruz County serviced by the Soquel volunteer fire department. The property was subject to a first deed of trust which secured an obligation in the sum of $11,500, on which no more than $100 had been paid on the principal, and a second deed of trust which secured an obligation of $1,500, upon which nothing had been paid.

One Cole, a thrice-convicted felon, first revealed his part in the offense under review, after discussing the matter with his attorney, when arrested on a forgery charge in November 1963. He sought and was granted leniency on the latter charge, and he never was prosecuted for his participation in the burning of defendant’s house, or for admittedly setting a fire at another house. He testified as follows: that he had known defendant since I960; that he had traded pick-up trucks with him in 1962 and received a truck which defendant represented had a trade-in value greatly in excess of that which the witness was able to obtain a month later; that he

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was working for defendant in July 1963 doing carpenter work for which defendant owed him a little better than $200; that around the 8th or 10th of July, defendant, in the middle of the day, asked him to leave the job he was working on to go to the Soquel Drive premises; that he accompanied defendant in the latter’s vehicle; that in the conversation in the car and at the premises, which they entered through a door from the carport to the kitchen after opening it with a key kept in a can in the carport, defendant told him: that he had put several thousand dollars into remodeling the house; that it had been sitting there for 15 or 18 months and he was unable to move it; that he had $18,000 worth of insurance on the house, as was evidenced by a policy which he took from a drawer in the kitchen and exhibited to Cole; and that he would pay Cole to have it burned down—$500 cash if the insurance paid him less than $12,500, or anything over and above $12,000; and that Cole should be sure defendant was out of town when it happened.