People v. Gilson

NOURSE, P. J. The defendant was tried to a jury on an information charging a violation of subdivision 2 of section 337a of the Penal Code. Upon a verdict of guilty a judgment followed and the defendant’s appeal is taken from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The information charged that on August 16, 1944, defendant kept and occupied a room at 468 Hickory Street with papers and paraphernalia for the purpose of recording and registering bets on horse races. The testimony presented was to the effect that on August 16, 1944, two police sergeants with a police stenographer and an agent of the telephone com[586]pany, went to a flat at 534 Buchanan Street where they remained from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. Previous to that time it had been ascertained that the telephone wires to 530 and 534 Buchanan Street had been tapped, extra wires led off these to the premises at 468 Hickory Street, and hence the latter premises had three telephones. The agent attached two headsets to the wires at 534 Buchanan Street so that the telephone conversations on that line could be intercepted and heard. The stenographer listened on one headset and wrote down the conversation she heard in shorthand, a transcript of which was introduced in evidence. The police officers who listened in identified one of the voices as that of defendant. The conversations related to bets on horse races, showing that defendant was receiving bets on the races by telephone and was giving out certain horse-race results. When the defendant came out of the premises at 5 p. m. one. of the officers arrested him and took from him papers identified as records of bets and run-down sheets. The officer, who has had five years’ experience in such cases, testified that these records were the types used by a person who takes bets from individual bookmakers. Defendant’s admission to the police was introduced in evidence to the effect that he had been in the premises on Hickory Street, that he had been using the three telephones, that the betting markers and run-down sheets were in his handwriting and that he had been operating the book and registering bets for the last three days. During the trial the district attorney stipulated “that there was no actual taking of bets.” Finally, a witness testified that he resided at 468 Hickory Street, that defendant occupied a room there during the day, that he had heard defendant give race results over the three telephones but that he had not heard him take any bets.

Appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict because it does not show that any bets were taken. He was not tried for such a violation of the code section. He was charged with a violation of subdivision 2 under which the offense is complete when it is shown that the accused occupied a room for the purpose of recording bets on the results of horse racing. The foregoing statement of facts discloses evidence clearly sufficient to sustain the verdict raider this section. (People v. Hinkle, 64 Cal.App. 375 [221 P. 693]; People v. Manning, 37 Cal.App.2d 41 [98 P.2d 748]; People v. Steinfeld, 38 Cal.App.2d 280 [101