People v. Garwood

SHAW, J.

Defendant was convicted of the crime of robbery and appeals from the judgment and an order of the court denying his motion for a new trial.

Appellant’s chief contention is that the record discloses no evidence tending to connect him with the commission of the crime, other than that of an acknowledged accomplice by the

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name of Pfeifer, who, with defendant and one Gavin, had been jointly charged with the offense. The person robbed conducted a store at the corner of Temple and Olive streets, in the city of Los Angeles. The evidence of the accomplice Pfeifer was to the effect that he, Gavin and defendant, for the purpose of committing the robbery, repaired to the vicinity of this store on the evening of December 23, 1908; that in going to the store they walked north on Olive street to Temple street, at which point and a few feet south of Temple street he and Gavin stopped, while defendant, in accordance with the prearranged plan, walked a short distance east on Temple street, but in view of Pfeifer and Gavin, to whom he waved his hat as a signal to them to proceed, and, after receiving such signal, they did enter the store and robbed the proprietor thereof; that after committing the offense the three met in a room and divided the proceeds of the crime. The robbery occurred about 8:45 P. M. Under section 11X1, Penal -Code, this evidence of Pfeifer is insufficient to justify the conviction of defendant, unless it is corroborated “by other evidence, which in itself, and without the aid of the testimony of the accomplice, tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense.” In our judgment, there is ample ■evidence to satisfy the statute in this regard. Two witnesses called by the people testified that about 8:30 o’clock on the evening of the robbery, while walking east on Temple street, they passed the store where the crime was committed, at which time they saw the defendant sitting upon a curb in front of a yard about one hundred feet east of Olive street; that about one hundred feet from where defendant was sitting they saw two men standing on Olive street, near Temple, toward whom and the store defendant was looking, and which two men they afterward recognized as Gavin and Pfeifer. The active part in the robbery taken by defendant, according to the testimony of the accomplice, was that of a “lookout,” and the independent evidence tends strongly to corroborate Pfeifer’s statement in this respect. The fact that the corroboration does not extend to every detail covered by the .statement of the accomplice is unimportant. It is not necessary that it should.