People v. Plummer

FINCH, P. J.

The defendant was charged with the crime of burglary and with a prior conviction of the crime of rape. He entered a plea of not guilty but admitted the prior conviction. He was convicted of burglary in the second degree. This is an appeal from the judgment and the order denying a new trial.

The appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to justify his conviction. He resided with his mother in the town of Columbia, Tuolumne County. George Wilson, whose wife is a sister of the defendant, resided in the same town. Leo Pense, also a resident of the town, is an acquaintance of the defendant of long standing. Pietro Sanguinetti owns a two-room house about three-fourths of a mile from the town. The house contained some clothing, canned goods and other articles, but was unoccupied by any person. February 17, 1929, some person broke into this house and stole the canned goods, some clothing and other property stored therein. February 19th the defendant went to Murphys, - in Cala

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veras County, looking for work. He walked a part of the way and was then given a ride for the remainder of the trip by Wilson, with whom were Pense and others. If the testimony of Wilson and Pense is true, the defendant told Pense, during the forenoon of February 19th, that if Wilson would take him to Murphys, he, the defendant, would give Wilson some canned goods; that on their arrival at Murphys the defendant drew a diagram showing where the canned goods were hidden in an out-of-the-way place near Columbia and stated that they were covered with leaves; that on their return to Columbia during the evening of the same day Wilson and Pense, between

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and 11 o ’clock at night, went on foot to the place designated by the defendant, found the goods hidden there as described by him, placed them in two sacks and started back to Wilson’s home, intending to leave the goods there; that before they reached Wilson’s home a man accosted them and asked what they had in the sacks; that this question convinced them that the goods had been stolen and that as soon as they reached the Wilson home they placed the goods in an automobile, took them away some distance and hid them in a hole in the ground; covering them with rocks. On their return again to Wilson’s home they were arrested and later, during the same night, they informed the sheriff where the goods were hidden.