People v. Cain

[782]

PLUMMER, J.

The appellant was convicted upon an information charging that he did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and forcibly take from the person of one J. A. Olson, lawful money of the United States of the value of $20. That the taking was accomplished by means of force, and at the time of the taking appellant was armed with a deadly "weapon, to wit, an automatic pistol. From the judgment following the conviction, the defendant appeals, and presents for our consideration an alleged error on the part of the court in permitting a certain automatic pistol to be admitted as an exhibit in the cause. No briefs were filed; no other objection was made upon oral argument to any of the rulings of the court, nor to the instructions given by the court to the jury.

The record shows that J. A. Olson was the keeper of a gas filling station at Alhambra Boulevard and 0 Street, in the city of Sacramento. That on or about the eighth day of March, 1932, at about 10 o’clock in the evening, while Olson was sitting in the service station just referred to, reading a story in the “Saturday Evening Post”, the defendant pushed open the door leading into the room where Olson was sitting and commanded him to put up his hands. Olson noticed that the defendant had an automatic pistol which he held in one of his hands. The defendant ordered Olson to open the cash register, which Olson did. While the defendant was taking the money from the cash register, he ordered Olson to lie dovm on the floor. After taking the money the defendant ordered Olson to get up, and asked if there was a telephone in the building, and where it was. Being informed that there was a telephone in an adjoining room, the defendant marched Olson into the room, compelled him to lie down on a cot, and while Olson was lying in this position, the defendant jerked the telephone from the wall and told Olson to lie still for a few minutes until he made his “get-away”. During all of this time the defendant was unmasked and Olson had a clear view of the defendant, and was able to identify him when the defendant was subsequently arrested. Following the robbery just explained, the defendant ran out of the building and Olson sought the services of the police department. The defendant, however, was not arrested until some time the following April.

[783]