People v. Pollock

HERNDON, J. Defendant appeals from the judgment entered against him following a nonjury trial resulting in his conviction of the crime of grand theft, four counts, in violation of section 487, subdivision 1, of the Penal Code. He also appeals from the order determining that, as the result of the instant conviction, he had violated the terms of the probation theretofore granted him in a prior proceeding and the judgment entered therein following said revocation.

No point would be served by a lengthy recital of the evidence (which portrays an all-too-prevalent and distressing scene), since it is apparent that the judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial and redetermination in the light of the recent decision of our Supreme Court in People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], Suffice it to say that the evidence demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that appellant perpetrated a bunco scheme whereby he defrauded one Benjamin Kaplan of several thousand dollars.

However, this matter was tried under a stipulation that the People’s case in chief might be submitted upon the transcript of the testimony taken at the preliminary hearing. No further testimony was introduced on behalf of the People. Therefore, the testimony of the appellant regarding the alleged deprivation of his right to counsel is undisputed in the record before us. During the preliminary examination, Officer Dwight Stevens, one of the arresting officers, testified to statements made to him by appellant following his arrest that were tantamount to a confession. That testimony included the following:

“Q. Please tell us what he told you about this case. A. I had three preliminary conversations with the defendant at the time of his arrest en route to the police station and in the police station on March the 11th of this year. Then on March the 13th of this year, en route to the Hall of Justice from Wilshire Station in a police vehicle, in the presence of the defendant, myself, and my partner, Sergeant Sullivan, I told the defendant that we had checked the handwriting on these receipts, where it was initialed, ‘A. L. C.,’ and, ‘R. S. Lewis,’ and had determined that this was his handwriting; that we had checked the license numbers on all of the vehicles listed; that the license numbers did not belong to those vehicles; and in some cases the license numbers actually did not even exist.

“I asked him if he’d tell us about it. He stated, well, actually all of the license numbers and the vehicles listed were [144]