People v. Decker

MUSSELL, J. Defendants were charged with six counts of burglary and one count of conspiracy to commit theft. A jury found defendants Edward B. Decker and Cecil E. Cooper guilty of counts I, II, VI and VII and not guilty as to counts III, IV and V. Defendant Helen Decker was found not guilty on each of the seven counts and the trial court, on motion of defendants, set aside the jury’s verdict as to count VII, in which a conspiracy was alleged. The jury determined the crimes in counts I, II and VI to be burglary of the second degree. Following the denial of motions for a new trial and applications for probation, the court rendered judgments against defendants Edward B. Decker and Cecil E. Cooper and sentenced them to the state prison at Chino. They urge that the judgments and order denying their motions for a new trial should be reversed, on the grounds (1) that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the verdicts and (2) that the jury was guilty of misconduct in that its verdicts were decided by lot and by means other than a fair expression of opinion on the part of all the jurors.

Facts

Count I: On January 5, 1953, between 10 and 10:30 a. m., Mrs. Mary Trytten drove into the Texaco service station at 3638 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. She got out of her ear and asked the attendant, Mr, _Munsterman, to check the oil, gas, battery and tires. While she was talking to him, she happened to look into the service station and saw defendant Decker standing at the door drinking a ‘ ‘ coke. ’ ’ She testified that she then saw defendant Cooper take “a blue box off the shelf, put it in his hand and slip it inside of his coat. And as he did so, Mr. Decker spoke to him or turned his [449]head and I didn’t hear what he said, but it looked as though he spoke to him and he immediately . . . Mr. Cooper came out and engaged me in a conversation and kept me talking.” Mrs. Trytten then left the service station, drove a short distance, stopped her car, and with a pin, scratched the license number of defendants’ car on the back of an envelope. The number was 4A95731. She then telephoned to the station and talked with the attendant. She testified further that a blue box (found in defendants’ ear by the arresting officers and introduced in evidence) was similar to the one she saw Cooper take from the shelf and put under his coat.

Mr. Munsterman testified that the defendants drove up to the station in a green ’41 or ’42 Buick; that Mrs. Trytten was there at the time; that Decker got a “coke” and was standing in the doorway while Cooper was in the station; that after he checked the tires on the Buick, defendants got in the car and drove away; that within 15 or 20 minutes after Mrs. Trytten had gone he received a telephone call from her; that he then noticed that some spark plugs were missing from a shelf in the station; that as soon as he hung up the ’phone, an inventory was taken of the spark plugs and they were “short” 71 plugs.