People v. Smallfield

DRAPEAU, J. Defendant, Arthur Frederick Smallfield, was a professional appraiser of the contents of dwelling houses, generally for insurance purposes. His employer sent him to appraise the furnishings of the home of the complaining witnesses in this case, Mr. and Mrs. Norman B. Herman. Mr. Herman had made arrangements with defendant’s employer to do this work.

Defendant was admitted to the Herman home in Beverly Hills, and given free run of the house, with no one to watch him. After he had been working there for three or four days, Mrs. Herman missed a sable scarf, valued at $4,500, a 5.6 carat, Marquise-cut diamond, some bird-of-paradise feathers, and a lady’s handbag.

[325]Complaint was made to the police department of Beverly Hills, and defendant was arrested as he left the Herman house at the end of his day’s work. He was searched at the police station, and the officers found on his person an electric razor. At the preliminary examination Mr. Herman positively identified this razor as one he bought in Germany.

The police officers accused defendant of stealing the fur, the diamond, and the other articles. He denied the accusation, gave the officers the keys to his room, and told them they could look there but they wouldn’t find any of the stolen property.

The officers went to defendant’s room, and found the fur, the diamond, the feathers, and the handbag. When confronted with them, defendant told the officers he had taken the fur and the diamond from the Herman home.

After an extensive trial defendant was convicted by the trial judge of two counts of grand theft—the fur and the diamond. As to one count the court suspended proceedings, and put defendant on probation. As to the other count the court pronounced judgment, and put the defendant on probation. Terms of probation were the same as to each count: five years, concurrently, with the first six months in the county jail.

Defendant appeals from the judgments, and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

Defendant’s argument that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the judgment is without merit. He labors the point that the diamond was an heirloom in his family, that the fur belonged to his mother, and that the identification of them as property of the Hermans was not good enough.