People v. Allen

• Decision Date: 03 March 1961
• Docket Number: Cr. 1470
• Citation: 11 Cal.Rptr. 440,189 Cal.App.2d 706
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Robert ALLEN and Roland Gus Finney, Defendants and Appellants.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 440

11 Cal.Rptr. 440

189 Cal.App.2d 706

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Robert ALLEN and Roland Gus Finney, Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 1470.

District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, California.

March 3, 1961.

Edgar G. Langford and J. Perry Langford, San Diego, for appellants.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., and William E. James, Asst. Atty, Gen., for respondent.

GRIFFIN, Presiding Justice.

Defendants appeal from judgments of conviction of conspiracy to commit theft and attempted grand theft. They also appeal from orders denying their motion for a new trial.

The evidence discloses that defendants attempted to steal money from Lewis Compton by means of a confidence scheme known as the 'Jamaican switch.' According to the testimony of a police officer who qualified as an expert on the subject, the Jamaican switch is a method by which two or more Negro confidence men induce a victim, who is also a Negro, to withdraw money from a bank and then deprive him of it by switching envelopes or by some other trick. In perpetrating this scheme, one of the confidence men assumes the role of a 'Jamaican sailor' and the other swindler poses as the 'helpful stranger,' also known as the 'cat man.' In the course of the swindle, the Jamaican sailor usually displays a roll of paper 'play' money covered with a genuine five-or ten-dollar bill, which roll is known as a 'Michigan bankroll' or a 'Chicago roll.'

On April 22, 1960, Mr. Compton deposited some money at the Logan Branch of the Bank of America in San Diego. As he left the bank with his bankbook visible in his shirt pocket, the defendant Allen approached him and, speaking in a dialect, asked for information. At this time, the defendant Finney arrived at the scene and, pretending not to be acquainted with Allen, he entered into the conversation. During the conversation, Allen displayed a roll of what appeared to be paper money and stated that it contained $300. At one point in the discussion, Allen and Finney feigned an argument as to whether Negroes could withdraw money from a bank. Finney removed Compton's bankbook from his shirt pocket and, noting that it contained a balance of $600, stated that Compton could draw the money out at any time. Allen, in the Jamaican sailor role, continued to insist that this was not true and offered to bet Compton a sum of money that he could not withdraw $500 from his bank. Finney encouraged Compton to accept the bet but Compton refused, saying that he had to buy some baseball equipment. Compton left and attended to this errand. On his way, he again passed by the bank and observed defendants standing near the bank talking to an unidentified person. Compton immediately reported the incident to the police and they arrested Allen near the bank a short time later. Compton's testimony that the defendants had accosted him near the bank was corroborated in part by a housewife who lived near the bank who testified that she had observed the defendants off and on for about six hours, commencing about 10:00 a. m. on the day in question, during which time they intermittently walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the bank. Occasionally they paused to talk to each other and then resumed their pacing.

Evidence was introduced that defendants on numerous occasions had obtained money from other victims by using the Jamaican switch confidence game. Other testimony disclosed that six days before the commission of the offense here charged, defendant Allen admitted to a police officer of the city of Compton that he was deriving his livelihood from bunco operations. This same officer testified that on April 21, 1960, the day before the instant offenses occurred, defnedant Finney admitted to him that he was engaged in Jamaican switch operations and that he, defendant Allen, and another person were making $60,000 to $80,000 a year by such operations. Another Compton police officer testified that previously, on September 17, 1959, Finney told him that he was working the Jamaican switch. Officer Wise of the Los Angeles Police Department testified that on July 28, 1960, about two weeks before the trial of the instant case, he conversed with Finney in the presence of Allen and a third person, who were sitting with Finney in his car which was parked near the intersection of 53rd and Duarte Streets in Los Angeles. Officer Wise said he asked Finney where he worked and Finney replied that he had not worked in a long time and that he played at bunco. The officer said, 'What, the Jamaican switch?' Finney replied, 'Yes. I am on bail now in San Diego for it. We pulled two capers down there and got caught on one.'

Allen's defense was that he had met Compton, known to him as 'Four-trey Slim,' in the company of one 'Hip-walking Jimmy' and that they had discussed playing dice, but that no attempt was made to perpetrate anything like the Jamaican switch. Finney's defense was an alibi that he was in Los Angeles at the time of the alleged offense. This alibi was corroborated by the testimony of his girl friend, who claimed to have seen him in Los Angeles on the day in question, and by the testimony of Allen that he had not seen Finney on the day of the alleged offense.

During the cross-examination of Allen, he was asked if he had ever been convicted of a felony and he replied that he had not. The district attorney asked him if he knew what a felony was and he responded, 'It means going to the penitentiary, doesn't it?' A further query was put to him and Allen replied that he had never been to the penitentiary. Again he was asked if he had been convicted of a felony and defense counsel said that the witness had asked to have a felony defined for him. The court stated, 'Any crime that you may be sentenced to the penitentiary for, that is a felony,' and then Allen said, 'Yes,...