People v. Azbill

PULLEN, P. J.

The defendant was charged, tried and convicted of the crime of burglary and now appeals from that judgment. Counsel for appellant did not represent the defendant at the trial of the case.

From the evidence on the part of the prosecution it appeared that about 2 o’clock A. M. of April 25, 1933, a police officer of the city of Chico saw an automobile parked near an alleyway in one of the residential sections of that city, and recalling that earlier in the evening he had seen the defendant riding about the city with that particular car, concealed himself near by. 'Shortly thereafter defendant approached the car, carrying a can of gasoline and some tubing. The

[618]

officer flashed his light in defendant’s face, saying, “Hello, Johnnie”; to which the defendant replied, “Hello, Roy, you sure got me this time,” and offered the officer some money to release him. The officer refused; whereupon defendant struck the officer over the head with a flashlight and started to run. As he ran he threw away various articles, consisting of an overcoat, two twenty-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill, a remittance slip payable to A. R. Schluer, several handkerchiefs and other small articles.

He was captured and taken to the^police station. There he was searched, and among the articles found in his possession was a hunting license made out to A. R. Schluer and a small pocket-knife.

An officer was sent to the home of Mr. Schluer and certain articles were found to be missing. Upon the trial, Schluer identified the remittance slip and hunting license, which, together with a considerable amount of currency, were missing on the morning following the arrest of the defendant, and which had been in the possession of the complaining witness in his home the night of the arrest of the accused. Likewise, a son of the complaining witness identified certain handkerchiefs dropped by the defendant in his flight as belonging to the witness, which were in a dresser drawer in the Schluer home on the night of the arrest but were missing the following morning.

No one saw the defendant enter or leave the premises, but a board was removed from the basement window, from which it was possible to enter the upper portion of the house. The morning following the arrest of the defendant, the chief of police attempted to interrogate him. Defendant claimed the handkerchiefs and knife belonged to him, but when confronted with the hunting license and remittance slip, refused to answer further questions, and stated he preferred to rest on his rights and consult counsel before answering. When asked why he struck the officer, he replied, “Well, if I got caught pulling the job I would get a pretty heavy rap.” In his own defense, the defendant denied the burglary, denied that the articles were found in his possession and claimed that he entered the alleyway to get gasoline which he had cached there earlier in the evening. He also called a witness, who testified that he had on that day paid to the