People v. Smith

SHINN, J. Defendants Mrs. Arneta Smith, Mrs. Marjorie Wright, Mrs. Willie Lee Sharp, and Miss Johnnie Lee were charged jointly by information with the crime of robbery from the person of one Mike Wolka, by separate count with the crime of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, and by a third count with another offense of [490]robbery committed against Jesse Lee Ford. They were tried by the court. Mrs. Arneta Smith and Mrs. Marjorie Wright were found guilty as charged in count I, Mrs. Arneta Smith, Mrs. Willie Lee Sharp and Miss Johnnie Lee were found guilty as charged in count III, and the crimes of robbery were found to be of the second degree. Mrs. Willie Lee Sharp and Miss Johnnie Lee were acquitted as to count I and Mrs. Marjorie Wright was acquitted as to count III. Count II was dismissed. Defendants have appealed from the judgments and the order denying their motions for a new trial.

The sole contention on the appeal is that the evidence was insufficient to establish guilt. The complaining witness, Mike Wolka, 71 years of age, testified that he resided at 632 Stanford Street in the city of Los Angeles; that he had worked for five years for the Weber Show Case Company as a shipper but was not employed at the time; that on May 21, 1945, in the middle of the day, he bought a pound of cheese at a market at Third and Broadway; that as he was returning home and had reached the vicinity of Towne Avenue and East Fifth Street, he encountered a group of colored women; that defendant Wright jumped on him, put her hand in his pocket, that he held onto his poeketbook and that defendant Arneta Smith took his watch from his pocket, breaking the chain in doing so, and ran away; that defendant Wright slapped him twice in the face and that he slapped her once; that a number of the women then jumped on him, struck him, knocked him down, and kicked him while he was on the ground, breaking four of his ribs. He was confined to the hospital and placed in a plaster cast by reason of his injuries. He identified the defendant Sharp as one of the crowd of women and testified that she kicked him as he lay on the sidewalk. He could not count the number of women in the crowd, but thought there were maybe ten or' fifteen altogether, including some men who were standing around. He testified that he lmew the defendants Smith and Wright and that he did not know the others in the crowd. On cross-examination he stated that the first remark was made by one of the women, who asked him where he had stolen the cheese.

A witness, Eddie Jones, who worked in the vicinity, testified that he was standing 25 to 30 feet from the scene of the altercation; that he saw the women around Wolka; that “it seemed like they were dancing with him or something,” and “this man gets up and starts walking off and looking back.”