People v. McNeese

WHITE, J. Following trial before a jury, defendant was convicted of the crime of robbery committed while armed with a deadly weapon. He also admitted the truth of the allegation contained in the information that he had suffered a prior conviction for the crime of robbery and had served a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary at San Quentin therefor. This appeal is from the judgment and the order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

Following is a brief but fair epitome of the evidence introduced both by the People and the defendant. On the night of June 21, 1939, a man entered the drug store of Guy H. Miller in the city of Los Angeles and at the point of an automatic pistol held up and robbed the druggist of certain narcotic preparations of the value of $18. Both the proprietor and his clerk positively identified the defendant as the man who committed the robbery. With reference to the lighting conditions prevailing in the drug store at the time of the robbery, the evidence indicated that the same was brightly lighted, while the identifying witnesses had an opportunity to observe the robber from distances of from two to four feet. The intruder wore no mask or disguise of any kind, and according to the testimony of the proprietor, “a 200-watt light was right over his head ... his face was well lighted’’. Subsequently the police visited the apartment where defendant resided and found therein a tin box containing an assortment of narcotics. The containers of these nar[99]cotíes found by the officers were exhibited to the druggist at the trial and he identified the same by reason of the cost marks written in his own handwriting upon such containers. Also found in the apartment of defendant were some hypodermic needles, a gun holster, some .32 and .38 caliber cartridges, and an imitation police badge. Defendant admitted at his trial that he was a drug addict.

In opposition to the foregoing, the defendant offered the testimony of a witness that the latter saw him in a bar in the city of San Francisco about 8 o’clock on the evening when the robbery was committed, and which witness also testified he saw the defendant in the northern city the day before and three or four days after June 21st. Another witness testified that he met the defendant in Oakland about a quarter of seven on the evening of June 21st; and there was testimony that defendant was not present at a Father’s Day party tendered his father in Los Angeles June 19th for the reason that he was in the northern part of the state, the last-mentioned testimony coming from members of defendant’s family. Testifying in his own behalf, defendant denied participation in the robbery, claimed he was in San Francisco from June 17th to June 30th, and while admitting he was a narcotic addict, asserted that the drugs found in his apartment, containers of which were identified by one of the victims of the robbery, had been purchased by the defendant from a narcotic peddler in San Francisco.