People v. Jackson

FOURT, J.

Carl Edwin Jackson, who was charged and found guilty of burglary in violation of Penal Code, section 459, appeals his conviction. Jackson contends that he was denied due process of law on the following grounds: the public defender represented him against his wishes; his counsel was not present during one recorded conversation between Jackson, the trial judge, the prosecuting attorney and counsel for the nonappealing codefendant, Johnson; and, the trial court abused its discretion in the conduct óf the trial and thus deprived Jackson of certain rights, including confrontation. These contentions we find uniformly without merit.

Jackson was convicted of burglarizing the Athens Liquor Store. The store was equipped with a silent robbery alarm which could be activated by the opening of a drawer in which the proprietor customarily kept a Bank of America money bag containing fifteen single dollar bills. At approximately 3:20 a.m. on December 22, 1965, the store was entered and the money bag was taken; simultaneously the alarm alerted Officer Holyrod who approached the store in his patrol ear. Officer Holyrod first apprehended Johnson, the codefendant, leaving the store. He searched Johnson, then turned back to the store and observed Jackson looking out of a window. As the officer approached the store, Jackson ran out and escaped down the street.

Officer Holyrod pursued Jackson and ordered him to stop. When he failed to obey, the officer fired a single shot at him, but just then Jackson turned into a motel building out of sight. As the officer arrived at the building, he heard a door slam; he watched the building and saw a curtain move in one

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of the doorway windows. The manager said that the rooms in the area of the moving curtain were unlocked and vacant. Soon thereafter Officer Whitefield arrived to assist Officer Holyrod and together they entered the room where the movement had been observed. Jackson, who had been wounded in his right side, was lying on the bed; a Bank of America money bag containing fifteen single one dollar bills and a pair of leather gloves were under the mattress.

Jackson testified that he and his codefendant were just “riding around” on the night of the burglary when a ear pulled in front of them into the motel where he was later discovered. He asked Johnson, who was driving, to stop and then as Jackson stepped out of the car and walked back to the motel, Officer Holyrod shot him. Jaekson claimed that he then ran into the motel room in fear and that he did not notice the money bag and gloves, which were already there, until the officers arrived.