People v. Perkins

BROWN (Gerald) J. Defendant appeals from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of burglary in the second degree. Two prior burglaries charged in the information were admitted.

Donald Spain testified that he and defendant went to the Balboa Golf Club on the night of August 30, 1962. Spain entered the clubhouse through a window. Either he or defendant broke the glass door in the manager’s office. Spain took some golf clubs and a pair of binoculars from the office, hiding the clubs in the bushes. Either he or defendant broke a window at the starter’s booth with a chair and Spain took another pair of binoculars and the starter’s blank pistol from this area. The clubhouse was ransacked and the padlock broken off a cabinet door. That same evening a police officer saw defendant in the company of Spain and another. While the officer was parking his police ear in order to talk to the men, defendant disappeared between some buildings.

A Johnny Williamson testified that about 2 a.m. on the morning following the burglary he was awakened by defendant and Spain. Defendant asked him to keep two pairs of binoculars and gave them to him. Spain asked Williamson to keep a blank cartridge pistol for them. Spain reclaimed the gun the next night.

Defendant’s sister testified that she visited defendant in jail about a week after the burglary; he was being held in connection with traffic tickets; he directed her to ask Otis Campbell to pick up some things at the home of Johnny Williamson’s brother; Campbell delivered two sets of binoculars to her; Williamson had given two sets of binoculars to Otis Campbell.

Fingerprints of Spain were found inside the clubhouse, and a latent print found on the chair used to smash the window in the starter’s booth was identified as being of the left index finger of defendant.

Defendant neither testified nor called witnesses in his behalf.

Defendant contends upon appeal that he was denied a fair trial in that (1) his appointed attorney insisted upon a jury trial, whereas he desired a court trial and so indicated to the court; (2) his counsel coerced the plaintiff’s witness and defendant’s accomplice, Donald Spain, into telling a false story which was discredited upon cross-examination and thus prejudiced his case before the jury; (3) his attorney refused him the right to call witnesses in his behalf [22]