People v. Dowell

LORIGAN, J.—

The appellant was convicted of burglary in the first degree, and from the judgment and an order denying his motion for a new trial appeals.

[494]

The burglary charged was the felonious entry of a room in the Doty Block, in the city of Pasadena, occupied by several young men employed at the Hotel Green in that city. The result of the entry was the abstraction from said room of a large amount of wearing-apparel belonging to its occupants.

Several alleged errors are relied upon for reversal.

One P. A. Smith had been jointly informed against with the appellant for the offense, and had pleaded guilty. Both he and appellant were arrested in Peoria, Illinois, where they had gone immediately following the alleged burglary. Smith was called as a witness on behalf of appellant and testified, among other things, that he alone had committed the burglary, that although he and appellant had been together all the afternoon, and the latter had gone with him to the block where the burglary was committed, and remained'with him during the night after the burglary was accomplished, yet appellant had nothing to do with it; that they separated the next morning, and he did not see the appellant again until he met him in Peoria.-

On cross-examination the witness was 'shown a small memorandum book kept by him as a diary, and was asked by the district attorney if an entry appearing therein was in his handwriting, to which he responded in the negative. He was again asked the same question, to which he answered that he did not think it was. He was then asked the direct question whether such entry appearing therein, “Left Los Angeles with Jiggers February 4th” (Jiggers was a nickname for the appellant), was not made by him. To this last question he replied that he did not remember ever making it, and did not think any of it was in his handwriting.

Appellant complains that the inquiry, in the manner it was made, and after the denial of the witness that the entry was in his handwriting, was prejudicial to him. We do not think so. It was proper in cross-examination for the people to contradict the witness’s statement on direct examination, that he did not see appellant after the night of the burglary until he met him at Peoria, by calling his attention to an entry found in a diary in all other respects confessedly kept by the witness, tending to show that they had left Los Angeles together. It is true that the witness denied that the entry was