People v. Linson

CARTER, J. Defendant Charles Linson appeals, after a trial by jury, from a judgment of conviction of second degree burglary, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial. Defendant’s application for augmentation of the record to include the closing argument of the district attorney was granted by this court.

On Saturday, August 20, 1955, at about 5:15 p. m., Mrs. Fuller, an employee of the Volunteers of America, closed and locked the doors of the building housing that establishment which was located at 50th and Central Avenue in the city of Los Angeles. She testified that there was a front door, an inner door leading into a small back room, and a door leading from the back room into a sort of parking lot in the rear. The parking lot was enclosed by a solid metal fence which had a metal gate which opened onto 50th Street. On Monday morning when Mrs. Fuller returned to work she'found that the back door, and the door opening into the main shop from the small back room, had been tampered with, and broken into, and that an electric fan, three clocks, a hot plate, a bicycle, and about $40 in money were missing.

A gas station owner whose business was located directly across the street from the Volunteers of America building testified that on Saturday, August 20th, he saw the defendant who was driving a green panel truck in the immediate vicinity of the shop from about 3:30 or 4 p. m. until between 5 and 6 p. m.; that defendant had his truck parked in three different places, but between 5 and 6 p. m. had it parked by the gate of the parking lot in the rear of the Volunteers of America building; that he saw him go in and out of the gate three or four times; that he telephoned the owner of [382]a beauty shop situated on the same parking lot and told her what he had seen; that he saw the defendant drive his panel truck away. Mrs. Bush, the owner of the beauty shop, testified that after the telephone call, she wrote down the license number of the panel truck; that she saw the defendant come out of the back door of the Volunteers of America building with a fan and a hot plate in his hands; that he took the articles to, and put them, in the truck; that she gave the truck license number to a police officer; that all of this took place sometime between 5 and 6 p. m.; that she had seen the truck and the defendant in the immediate vicinity from around two or three that afternoon until between 5 and 6 p. m.; that she did not see the defendant leave in his truck. A police officer testified that he found defendant by tracing the license number given him by Mrs. Bush; that defendant denied having been in the vicinity of 50th and Central on Saturday, August 20th. A Mr. Care testified that defendant had been at his used car lot between 4 and 5 p. m., Saturday, August 20th.