People v. Dunn

SHINN, P. J. In a court trial, William Henry Dunn was convicted of a violation of Penal Code, section 667 (petit theft with a prior felony conviction), and was sentenced to state prison for the term prescribed by law. Dunn appeals from the judgment.

The evidence consisted of that received at the preliminary hearing and additional evidence introduced at the trial. Jerry Miller of California is a dress manufacturing firm located on the fifth floor of a building at 722 South Los Angeles Street in the city of Los Angeles. The premises consist of an office, a show room and a factory; the rooms are separated by partitions. On June 25, 1957, Rita Appleby was employed by the firm as a bookkeeper. At about 1 p.m., appellant stepped off the elevator and entered the office, carrying a handful of loose papers. Mrs. Appleby testified that appellant told her he was a minister and asked her for a donation to send boys to camp, which she declined to give, stating that she had no authority to make donations. Mrs. Appleby told him to come back some other time. After talking to the witness for about 10 minutes, appellant left the office and walked across the hall, whereupon Mrs. Appleby went out to lunch.

Shortly thereafter, the proprietor, Jerry Miller, saw appellant enter the elevator; Dunn was carrying a bundle wrapped in newspaper under his left arm. The bundle was about a foot long and looked untidy, as if it had been wrapped in a hurry. An hour or so later, Miller went to the show room to get two new sample dresses for one of his salesmen. The dresses were originals; they sold for $12.75 each at wholesale and $24.95 at retail; Miller had last seen them just before Mrs. Appleby went to lunch. The dresses were missing and Miller had given no one permission to remove them from the show room. The witness identified a strip of fabric shown to him by the deputy district attorney as part of the material from which one of the dresses had been cut; the fabric was received in evidence without objection. No other dresses were made from the remnants.

Several weeks later, appellant returned to the premises and had a conversation with Miller. When the deputy asked Miller to relate the substance of the conversation, appellant’s [337]counsel objected that the corpus delicti of the offense had not been established; the objection was overruled and it was not renewed. Miller testified that he asked appellant if he had been in the place before and appellant replied that he always came there for donations. When asked if he “got anything,” Dunn said: “Well, you gave me things from time to time.” Miller replied: “I never gave you a thing in my life. I never saw you before in my life except I think you are the man who was up here once before and something very peculiar happened.” Miller then asked appellant to stay in order to make sure that he had not taken any dresses; Dunn became very indignant. When Miller told appellant that he intended to call the police, Dunn said “Well, I won’t stay” and promptly left. Miller accompanied him down the elevator and followed him for several blocks, whereupon appellant put his hand in his pocket and said: “Look, you get away from me or I will pull a knife on you.” Appellant then ran across the street against a red traffic signal and Miller was unable to catch up with him.