People v. Miller

KNIGHT, J.

The defendant John Miller was convicted by a jury of the crime of first degree burglary and has appealed from the judgment of conviction therein and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

The record discloses the following facts: On the night of August 24, 1923, Bert Richter, a locomotive fireman, while sleeping in one of the bedrooms of a lodging-house situated on Seventh Street, Oakland, was awakened about midnight by the electric light in the hall shining through the doorway leading from said hall into his room. Looking up, he observed the form of a man passing out of his room through said doorway into the hall. He then heard the man proceed

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up the hall toward the rear of the house to the bathroom. Richter immediately reached out to a chair which was standing at the head of his bed, to ascertain if his clothes, which he -had placed there upon retiring, had been disturbed-, finding that his overalls, which contained his watch and other personal belongings had been stolen, he arose from the bed, put on his trousers, and stood at the doorway just inside of his room awaiting the return of this person from the bathroom. The defendant, who was a stranger and not a roomer in the house, soon came down the hall from the bathroom, and opening the door of Richter’s room quietly was just about to enter, when Richter grabbed him, charged him with the theft, and demanded the return of his, Richter ’s watch. The defendant denied having been in the room or having possession of the watch. Richter thereupon took the defendant across the hall, into a room occupied by another locomotive fireman, and in the presence of defendant and the other fireman, again charged defendant with the theft and demanded the return of said watch. Again the defendant denied his guilt or that he had the watch. Richter then told defendant that if the watch was not surrendered he, Richter, would take it away from him; whereupon defendant produced the watch and handed it to Richter. The latter then asked defendant where the overalls were and defendant replied that they were in the bathroom. Richter then accompanied defendant to the bathroom, where Richter’s switch key and the other articles belonging to him were found. Soon afterward the defendant was turned over to the police, to whom he admitted his guilt, and attempted to explain his conduct upon the ground that he was intoxicated. This latter assertion, however, was disputed by other witnesses. When the defendant was searched at the prison, a railroad watch inspector’s card, belonging to Richter, and which had been taken from the overalls, was found in defendant’s pocket. No defense was offered at the trial by the defendant.