People v. Branch

JEFFERSON, J.

In an information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, defendant was charged with violation of Penal Code section 211, robbery, in three counts. Count IV charged defendant with possession of a revolver in violation of Penal Code section 12021. The information further alleged defendant had suffered a prior felony conviction for robbery. Defendant pleaded not guilty. He denied the prior conviction but later admitted it to be true. After a jury trial defendant was found guilty as charged, and the jury further found the robberies to be of the first degree. Probation was denied, and defendant was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law, with sentences pronounced on each count to run concurrently. This is an appeal from the judgment and order denying motion for new trial.

On January 4, 1961, defendant and codefendant, Leonard Brown (not appealing here) were stopped by a police officer of the City of Compton after the vehicle driven by defendant was observed to have made four consecutive right turns and to have failed to come to a stop at a posted traffic stop sign. Robert W. Coovert, a police officer, testified he arrested defendants and searched the vehicle finding a loaded revolver under the right front seat. The revolver, a dark handkerchief

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in which it was wrapped, a hat on the back seat, a ear coat worn by codefendant Brown, and two receipts from Avalon Farms found in the pocket of the coat worn by Brown were introduced in evidence at the trial.

On January 2, 1961, Alter Zimmerman, owner of B1 Segundo Dairy, testified that he was assaulted and robbed on the dairy premises, and that defendant was the person who had struck him over the head with a revolver and took from his person the sum of $840 of dairy funds, together with $63 of his personal funds. These moneys were in his coat pocket. The witness said the revolver introduced in evidence was similar to the one he saw in defendant’s hand, and he identified the coat as one similar to the coat worn by defendant at the time of the robbery. Zimmerman had previously identified defendant in a police line-up.

Ivory Webb, a clerk at the dairy at the time of the robbery, also identified defendant as the person who had committed the robbery. He further testified defendant had been a previous customer and he observed at the time of the robbery that defendant walked with a limp. Defendant had polio as a child and has a disability in walking or running.