People v. Port

WOOD, J. Defendant was charged in count I of an information with grand theft from the person, and in count II thereof with grand theft. Trial by jury was waived. He was adjudged guilty as charged in count I and not guilty as charged in count II. His motion for a new trial was denied. He appeals from the judgment.

The substance of appellant’s contentions is that the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment, and that his alleged confession was not made voluntarily.

On December 8, 1947, Mrs. Whitelock went in a taxicab to a hotel for dinner. Upon leaving the hotel about 8 p. m., a taxicab driver who was standing by a taxicab in front of the hotel said, “Are you ready to go back?” and she replied, “Yes.” He opened the cab door for her, and as she approached the cab two men came from a side street and entered the cab ahead of her. Then appellant, after saying something to them, told her that they were going in the direction she was going, and asked her if she would share the cab with them. She replied in the affirmative, and then entered the cab. After the cab had proceeded a few blocks, one of the men said that he belonged to the Merchant Marine, he had been gone about two years, and he would like to stop and buy a drink for everyone. Thereupon the driver asked her if she would mind if he stopped and let him get a drink. When she replied that she would not mind, the cab was soon stopped and she, [154]the two men, and the driver went into a bar. After answering their question as to the kind of drink she wanted, she went into the rest room. When she returned she drank the liquor that was there for her. She testified that after she drank it she did not know exactly what happened; that she thought she went back to the cab, but she did not have “any recollection after that”; the next thing she remembered was that she was in Elysian Park, fiat on the ground in a ditch at the side of a dirt road, and a park attendant was shining a flashlight in her eyes and was shaking her.

Mrs. Whitelock also testified that when she went to dinner, and when she went into the bar, she was wearing a wedding ring with six diamonds on it of the value of $60; an engagement ring with a diamond on it of the value of $300; another ring with four diamonds on it of the value of $1,500; a “Girard Perego” watch with 12 diamonds on it of the value of $250; a seal jacket of the value of $500; and a hat and gloves. When she was awakened at the park she did not have the articles just mentioned, and also her purse was missing. She did not give anyone permission to take any of said property. She reported the theft to the police the night the theft occurred. Two days thereafter she identified the appellant at the police station as the person who drove the cab. She had two drinks of liquor at noon, and at dinner, on the day of the theft. She also testified that appellant was the taxicab driver referred to.