People v. Pauley

KAUS J. A jury convicted defendant of burglarizing the trailer of Mrs. Lovell on January 9, 1964. The victim was not in her trailer from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. of that day. When she returned she discovered that several furs were missing. A chain on one of the doors had been broken.

Evidence pointing to defendant as the burglar consisted in the main of the following:

1. A Mrs. Sherer who lived in the same trailer park, next to Mrs. Lovell, saw a man force the cabana of Mrs. Lovell’s trailer at 12:15 p.m. on January 9. She then saw him leave the trailer with a pink bag. She observed him going east on the sidewalk to a car, get in and drive away. She noted the license number of the car. She identified defendant as the man in question. She did not appear too certain of her identification and it seems apparent that she made a mistake concerning the color of the car she saw, if the car was defendant’s.

2. Fingerprints taken within an hour or so after the burglary were fresh and were later identified as defendant’s.

3. Records of the Department of Motor Vehicles showed that an automobile to which the license number observed by Mrs. Sherer had been issued, was registered to one Ann P. Pauley. On cross-examination of one of the arresting officers it was developed by defendant’s own counsel that the lady was defendant’s wife.

The defense consisted of: an alibi supported by the testimony of five witnesses, including defendant; an attempt to [674]show that fingerprints could have been left on the trailer on an earlier occasion and the testimony from a licensed optometrist, Doctor Kramb, which will be referred to in connection with the second of two assignments of error.

The first assignment relates to the admission of certain statements made by defendant both before and after his arrest.

Defendant’s opening brief was submitted before the second Dorado decision was filed (People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361]) and it is perhaps understandable that his complaints about the admission of his extrajudicial statements are rather general.

The prosecution introduced several groups of statements, given by defendant at various times. In order to understand our holding it is necessary to set forth in some detail the contents of the statements and the circumstances under which they were obtained.