People v. Maloney

WOOD (W. J.), J.,

pro

tem.

Defendant was tried by a jury and convicted of the crime of robbery. On the night of December 18, 1927, two men entered the room of one Romolo Leon and aroused him from his sleep. One of them carried a revolver which he held against Leon’s stomach. Leon was robbed of the sum of $74 and a watch and chain,

[373]

a $50 bill being part of the money taken. The next morning Leon recognized the defendant in a barber-shop as one of the robbers and called the police. At the trial he positively identified defendant as the man who had held the revolver. Officer Steventon testified that the defendant admitted to him that he was with a man who “cashed” a $50 bill at a store after the robbery; that defendant stated that he did not know the name of the man who “cashed” the bill.

The defendant was sworn as a witness and on cross-examination was asked whether or not he had been convicted of a felony, to which he replied in the negative. Thereupon the court received in evidence what counsel for defendant terms “a certified copy of action No. 29736, in which the defendant was sentenced to lone.” The document was in fact a certified copy of the commitment of the defendant to the Preston School of Industry, in which it is recited that defendant had “pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles, of an offense of violating section 146 California Vehicle Act, a felony, as charged in the information.” Defendant now contends that the court erred in admitting this document in evidence. The attorney-general has filed a brief in which he concedes that error was committed, but asks this court to refuse a reversal on the ground that defendant was not prejudiced thereby. He insists that the evidence so conclusively established defendant’s guilt that there has been no miscarriage of justice. In conceding error the attorney-general cites the eases of

People

v.

Hoffman,

199 Cal. 155 [248 Pac. 504], and

People