People v. Williams

WOOD, P. J. In a jury trial defendant was convicted of second degree robbery. He admitted allegations of the information that he had been convicted previously of three felonies.

Appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict; and there were "errors ’’ which amounted to misconduct by the judge, the prosecutor, and appellant’s attorney.

Mrs. Duncanson testified that she had been an employee in the meat department of a food market (at 58th and Vermont [716]Streets, in Los Angeles) for approximately a year before the robbery occurred; during that time she had seen the appellant in and near the market several times; on February 21, 1959, about 6:20 p. m., after she had cashed her pay check at the market and had purchased groceries, she left the market and went to her automobile which was on a side street, “quite a distance” from the market; a boy, who was an employee of the market, carried the two bags of groceries, placed them in the right front seat of the automobile, and went back to the market; then she went to the driver’s side of the automobile, opened the door, and threw her purse into the automobile and against the door on the opposite side; various articles including $100 cash, were in the purse; she jumped into the automobile and started to pull the door shut, but it did not close completely; the appellant yanked the door open, grabbed her left hand, and leaned across her and toward the opposite door, where she had thrown her purse; he said, “This is a holdup”; while he was making that statement three times, he was trying to get her purse; she raised her knee, and then he gave her a “jab” in the area of her chest, which stunned her for a few seconds; he got her purse, and yanked her out of the automobile; she fell to the street; while appellant had the purse and was beside the automobile, the purse opened and some articles fell out; appellant walked away rapidly, and when he was on the opposite side of the street he ran to the end of the block, around the corner, and out of her sight; a lady, in a nearby house, called the police; the witness went into the house, and soon thereafter the police arrived; about five days after the robbery, she saw appellant in the market and called the police, but appellant went out the rear door and disappeared; about a week thereafter she saw appellant walking on the sidewalk at the rear of the market, and she called the police; soon thereafter the police brought appellant to the market and she identified appellant as the person who had robbed her; the appellant is the person who robbed her.