People v. Coleman

• Decision Date: 07 July 1965
• Docket Number: Cr. 10421
• Citation: 45 Cal.Rptr. 542,235 Cal.App.2d 612
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Leslie COLEMAN and Vera Coleman, Defendants and Appellants.

Page 542

45 Cal.Rptr. 542

235 Cal.App.2d 612

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Leslie COLEMAN and Vera Coleman, Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 10421.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4, California.

July 7, 1965.

Sam Houston Allen, Van Nuys, for defendants and appellants.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., Rose-Marie Gruenwald, wald, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

JEFFERSON, Justice.

In a trial which began before a jury and ended as a trial by the court, appellants Leslie and Vera Coleman were convicted of the charge of receiving stolen property. Proceedings were subsequently suspended and appellants were granted probation.

Appellants, who were husband and wife, together with several codefendants, including one Paul Rollins, ¹ were originally charged with conspiracy to commit the crimes of burglary, receiving stolen property and forgery. Also charged were several substantive counts of burglary. After the case had been partially tried upon the original information, pursuant to proper waivers, the jury was dismissed, and stipulations were entered into preserving objections previously entered and allowing the court to consider all evidence up to that time received. The court then permitted the amendment of the information to include the additional charge of receiving stolen property. Upon the motion of the People the counts charging burglary were dismissed. The court found appellants not guilty of the conspiracy charge. They appeal from the judgments (orders granting probation) entered upon their conviction of receiving stolen property, urging as their principal contention, that the evidence upon which the convictions were based, was obtained by an illegal search and seizure.

It is conceded that the arresting officers had no warrant for arrest or search. The legality of the search and seizure thus depends on whether it has been established that the search was incidental to a valid arrest based on probable cause.

Police Officer Morrill testified that he worked for the Long Beach Police Department and was attached to the commercial burglary detail. He was one of the officers who arrested defendant Vera Coleman and several codefendants. The arrests took place on March 7, 1963, at a 34-unit apartment house owned by Vera and Leslie Coleman, and managed by Paul Rollins. In April 1962, Morrill had been informed by the Culver City Police Department, that five persons (unnamed), taken into custody as burglary suspects, gave the apartment building as their residence. In May 1962, three persons, Bass, Kusmich and Mosee, were arrested as burglary suspects at or in the vicinity of the apartment house. The apartment of Bass was found to contain two bags of tablets which appeared to be benzedrine. (No showing is made of the disposition of any of these cases after the initial arrests.) Also, during the month of May, one Raines was arrested, in one of the apartments of the building, and subsequently confessed to having committed 40 local burglaries.

In December 1962, Police Officer Abraham entered the investigation and worked with Morrill in an undercover capacity. Abraham's part in the investigation lasted approximately three weeks, during which time he spent from one to four hours at the apartment house. Abraham initially went there with one Phillips, a special employee of the police department (not shown to be reliable), and, using police funds, rented a room for Phillips.

Morrill testified that he received a report from Officer Abraham which recounted what the latter saw and heard over the three-week period of his surveillance. The report contained the following observations: Three new transistor radios were seen in the manager's (Rollins) apartment; two of these radios were later taken to apartments of tenants; a large bundle of clothing was moved from the manager's apartment to a rear apartment; three television sets were moved to different locations; one tenant, called 'Larry,' told Abraham that Rollins was an ex-con and that Rollins was teaching him how to 'boost'; Abraham overheard Rollins tell an unidentified person 'I don't have any pills right now, but if I had some I would sell them to you. In fact, I would sell them to anybody, even a cop. It's only a misdemeanor'; several tenants told Abraham that 'Larry' had 'pills' for sale; one Kusmich who was not a tenant, was observed carrying four new Remington razors to apartment 4; Kusmich was friendly with Rollins and Vera Coleman.

Morrill further testified that Phillips personally told him that, on one occasion Rollins had said he might be able to use Phillips to 'pull' a 'rooftop job.'

Officer Abraham also testified on the issue of probable cause. When he first went to the apartment house with Phillips, Vera Coleman rented Phillips an apartment. At that time she brought out a Kodak camera and offered to sell it to Abraham for $85.00 cash, or on terms with a small down payment. She said it was worth $200 and was practically brand new. Abraham did not buy the camera. Approximately two weeks later he purchased a Remington razor from Rollins for $15.00. He overheard a tenant in the building, Ross Monroe Ferguson, attempt to sell Phillips a camera for $65.00. Ferguson made it apparent the camera was worth more than what he was asking.

On February 28, 1963, Officer Morrill interviewed Paul Ferguson in the local misdemeanor jail. Ferguson told him that he had been living in the apartment house with his brother Ross Monroe Ferguson; that Rollins was active in receiving stolen articles and had shoplifters and burglars working for him; all the stolen articles were channeled through his apartment which was Apartment B; in December 1962, members of a group living in the apartment house had committed the burglary of a dress shop located nearby; he had entered into negotiations with Rollins to dispose of the clothing taken from this dress shop, but before they could reach an agreement, he had gone to the Hollywood area to do some shoplifting during the Christmas season.

Paul Ferguson also told Officer Morrill that stolen goods were, while being held, transferred from the apartment house to a 'drop' in the San Fernando Valley. The 'drop' was a business, owned by Leslie Coleman, which was engaged in cleaning airplane and missile parts. He thought there might possibly be some stolen radios and drill motors there at that time.

On March 7, 1963 (the date of the arrests), at approximately 4:00 a. m., Officer Morrill talked to Hersell Painter who had been taken into custody a short time before. Painter told Morrill that twenty-two pairs of ladies' hose, which he had in his possession when arrested, were given to him by Paul Rollins, with instructions to deliver them to a man named Jim at a local bar. Jim, however, had not shown up, and he was on his way back to Rollins' apartment when taken into custody. Painter also told the officer that, besides stolen property, Rollins was also dealing in 'pills'; that at...