People v. Strider

[634]

WORKS, P. J.

The defendants were convicted of the crime of robbery. Defendant Crawford appeals from the judgment.

Evidence was adduced at the trial which tended to prove the following facts: Appellant and his co-defendant, Strider, hailed a taxicab, of which one Bates was the driver. Both entered the vehicle and one of them—the evidence does not show which—directed Bates to drive them to a certain street intersection. When the cab neared the place Bates asked at which corner the defendants desired to alight and “they” told him to turn down a certain street and stop at the third house on the left. When Bates reached the place indicated an automobile, with a man and woman seated in it, was found parked there, and “they”—his passengers—-told him to drive further on. When he had gone 100 or 150 feet beyond the parked car “they” told him to stop. He did so, read his taximeter and remarked to Strider and appellant that the fare was a certain amount. Strider then said, the passengers apparently still being in the cab, “To hell with the fare. We want what you have got.” Strider then pointed what looked like a pistol at Bates, and following this action placed it against his back. Strider then said to the driver, “Keep your back to us,” and rifled his pockets, taking money and papers from them. Strider and Crawford then left the taxicab and walked away in the view of the man and woman in the parked car. These latter saw defendants at the trial and testified that in size—one of them being much taller than the other—and in the appearance of their apparel they resembled the two men seen walking from the taxicab. Appellant testified that at the trial he wore the same suit of clothes in which he was dressed the night the robbery was committed. Bates, when on the witness-stand, identified defendants as the two passengers, one of whom despoiled him of his money and papers. Immediately after the robbery Bates drove away and soon met a police officer. The two then went to the scene of the crime and proceeded on a search for the culprits. At about four blocks from the spot they saw a moving automobile, stopped it and found defendants in it.

It is contended by appellant that the

corpus delicti

was not proven, but the proof was so clearly made that the