People v. Thomas

DORAN, J. — Defendant, Clarence Thomas, was charged by information with the crime of robbery committed on January 20, 1939. A jury returned a verdict of robbery of the second degree. The appeal is from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying the motion for a new trial.

The facts as revealed by the record are as follows: On January 20, 1939, at about 11:00 o’clock in the evening, three negroes appeared at the liquor store of the complaining witness, Vito Balenzano, in Los Angeles, and requested a pint [208]of wine. There was some discussion among the men as to the kind of wine desired. The store was well lighted and Balenzano saw the three men plainly. He testified that the defendant, Clarence Thomas, was standing on the side, watching where the money was being placed. The men left the store, returning about 10 or 15 minutes later, at which time they requested another pint of wine. Balenzano recognized the men as the ones who had been there previously. While filling the pint bottle, he turned his head and again saw defendant Thomas facing toward the money box. One of the other men (who was not present at the trial) at this time “caught” Balenzano from the back, pulled him to the rear of the store and told him to lie down. All three of the men were by then in the back of the store; the complaining witness was “banged down” and his pockets were searched, at which time a watch of the value of $65 and a knife were taken from him. The money box containing about $35 was also stolen. Balenzano was then struck in the face, and the three men ran out of the store.

■ Balenzano further testified that some eight or ten days later while he was on his way to the bank he saw defendant Thomas on the street and recognized him aS one of the three men who had been in the store on the night of the robbery; that he called the police but by the time they were able to arrive the defendant Thomas was gone; that some ten days thereafter he again saw the defendant Thomas, who was walking on a downtown street in Los Angeles, and at this time he had the defendant arrested for robbery.

One Bert Thomas, a witness for the People, testified that he had arrived at the liquor store at around 11 o’clock on the evening of January 20, 1939; that the defendant and his co-defendant, Tommie Williams, were standing in front of the wine barrels; that Williams dealt him a blow in the stomach and shoved him out into the street, and that he saw three men run out of the store.