People v. Hall

SHINN, P. J. In two informations which were consolidated for trial, Donald Lawrence Hall and Fred Knowles Holzer were charged with the commission of six felonies, consisting of three burglaries (Dervin, Ashton, Anderson), one attempted burglary and two counts of receiving property which had been stolen from Ashton and Anderson. It was also alleged that Hall had suffered a previous felony conviction of burglary. In a court trial, Hall was found guilty of [390]the three burglary counts and not guilty of the others. The court found the prior to be true; Hall’s motion for new trial was denied; probation upon the prior conviction was revoked; and Hall was sentenced to state prison. He appeals from the judgment, the denial of his new trial motion and the order revoking probation.

There was evidence of the following facts. On November 12, 1958, the home of Bobert Anderson was burglarized and numerous items of clothing were stolen, including a red sport shirt and a hand-made tie clasp which were subsequently retrieved from the apartment where appellant testified that he lived with his codefendant Fred Holzer. On January 28, 1959, burglaries were committed in the homes of Mrs. Catherine Dervin and Mrs. Maxine Ashton; a light-colored mink stole and an overnight ease were taken from the Dervin residence; a brown mink stole was taken from the Ashton residence. The fur pieces were recovered by the investigating officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the overnight case was taken to the police station by Mrs. Fred Holzer; all the items we have mentioned were identified by their respective owners at the trial; the tie clasp was also identified by the man who had manufactured and sold it to Mr. Anderson.

Appellant was arrested by Officer Thomas L. Bogers and several other officers on March 12th or 13th. When asked for permission to search his home Hall gave his consent and accompanied the officers to the apartment. Upon their arrival he retracted his consent and began to struggle, whereupon the officers restrained him, forced entry and made a search. They found some sweaters which they did not take from the apartment. Bogers testified that he arrested appellant after receiving information from Holzer that Hall had most of the clothes and other loot from the Anderson burglary in his apartment. The officers later took Holzer to the apartment without Plall’s knowledge and made another search which led to the discovery of Anderson’s shirt and tie clasp. On March 16th Bogers obtained a search warrant and retrieved the shirt and tie clasp from the apartment. When asked whether he obtained the warrant on the basis of what he discovered during the first search, the officer stated: “Not as a whole. I don’t believe so. Possibly.”