People v. Mize

GRIFFIN, J. Defendant was charged, by information, that on August 31,1949, he robbed one W. A. Wiley of $112.67, by force and fear. After conviction by a jury of first degree robbery, he appealed. It was ordered that' judgment run consecutively with the judgment pronounced in 4 Crim. No. 688 (People v. Mize, ante, p. 578 [224 P.2d 448]), this day affirmed on appeal.

Wiley, a ticket agent at the Santa Fe depot in Riverside, testified that on August 31, 1949, at about 9:25 p. m., he was at his office; that two men walked by the window; that one, who had a revolver in his hand and who pointed it at Wiley, said: “Let me have your receipts for the day”; that he subsequently opened the safe after one of the men started to [586]scuffle with him; that one man picked up the cash drawer and ordered the complaining witness to “Lie down on the floor”; that the two men left with the drawer and $112.67. The complaining witness testified that it was defendant Mize who did the talking and used the gun; that defendant wore a peculiar bronze tinted set of dark glasses; that he was bareheaded, about 30 years of age, and weighed about 150 pounds; that he was slender and had wavy dark brown hair with high temples; and that the revolver had a groove down each side of the barrel. He then testified that “there is no question in my mind as to the identity of the defendant as being the man” who held him up on August 31. He testified that during the following week several men were brought to him for identification but they were not the ones implicated.

Defendant was apprehended in Sacramento about 10 weeks later. An old revolver was found in his suitcase with five loaded shells. A pair of dark-colored glasses was found in his property.

On his return to San Bernardino by the arresting officers, one Shockley, a former deputy sheriff, testified that he interviewed defendant about a San Bernardino robbery and after confessing facts pertaining to it, defendant asked him if he (Shockley) knew anything about the Santa Fe depot job in Riverside; that Shockley said: “No, why?—was that one of your jobs?” and that defendant said: “Yes.”

Some time after defendant’s arrival in San Bernardino, the complaining witness was taken to the San Bernardino County Jail by Officer Vecchio, of Riverside. The complaining witness identified defendant from several pictures shown to him. Thereafter, defendant was identified in person by the complaining witness. The officers, out of the presence of the complaining witness, interviewed the defendant, and both related on the witness stand that defendant at that time, without offer of inducement, said: “Yes, I was in on the job” (Santa Fe depot job); that the eyeglasses found on defendant were the glasses he then wore and that the gun (the 38 caliber H & R revolver) was used by him and that it was his; that defendant refused to tell who else was implicated.