People v. McNamara

TYLER, P. J.

Defendant was charged by information with the crime of burglary. Upon arraignment he pleaded not guilty. He was tried and convicted of the offense in the second degree. Thereafter he presented motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment. These motions were denied, and he was sentenced to imprisonment for the term prescribed by law. This is an appeal from the judgment and from the order denying the motion for a new trial.

The main point relied upon for a reversal is that the evidence is insufficient to justify the verdict. It appears therefrom that Mrs. Agnes Murray, the complaining witness, on the evening of March 3, 1923, at about 7 o’clock P. M., left the flat where she was living at 892 Eddy Street, in the city of San Francisco, and returned shortly after midnight. She then discovered that a ladder had been placed against the house, and upon investigation ascertained that her personal effects had been disturbed and some of her clothing was missing, among which was a certain black dress. It was

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found in the possession of and being worn by one Grace Ford, who was living with the defendant in a room on Ellis Street. Upon being questioned concerning her possession of the stolen garment the Ford woman made a written statement which she signed. The material portions thereof are as follows:

“Statement of Grace Ford, April 2, 1923.

“My true name is Grace Ford, 23 years of age; live in Coronado Hotel, 373 Ellis Street, room 411. Have lived there three or four months with Joseph H. McNamara, now charged with burglary in the city prison. I have lived off and on with McNamara for about a year and a half.

“About March 3d, 1923, McNamara brought a dress to our room; it was a little after 9 o’clock in the evening. This dress was the one which Mrs. Murray identified in the Coronado Hotel lobby as hers, the one I was wearing. When McNamara brought the dress to the room he said, ‘What do you think of the dress?’ I said, ‘Swell. Give it to me.’ He said, ‘Give you hell.’ He hung it up in the clothes closet. One morning some time later he said, ‘Try it on.'

I did. He said, ‘It looks swell on you.’ He said, ‘Take it off.’ I did. He told me if anyone ever asked me when I was wearing it on the street or if it was in the room to tell them that I had bought it.