People v. Cramblit

• Decision Date: 31 July 1978
• Docket Number: Cr. 9216
• Citation: 84 Cal.App.3d 437,148 Cal.Rptr. 440
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Betty Marie CRAMBLIT and Niles Eugene Rawls, Jr., Defendants and Appellants.

Page 440

148 Cal.Rptr. 440

84 Cal.App.3d 437

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Betty Marie CRAMBLIT and Niles Eugene Rawls, Jr., Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 9216.

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

July 31, 1978.

Hearing Denied Sept. 27, 1978.

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., by William G. Prahl, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff-respondent.

Gerald D. Wolcott, Sacramento, for defendants-appellants.

PARAS, Associate Justice.

Defendants appeal from judgments (orders of probation) entered after a jury found them guilty of violating Penal Code section 496a. They were given misdemeanor sentences. Section 496a imposes criminal penalties on junk, metal, and secondhand material dealers or collectors who fail to use due diligence to ascertain the authority of persons seeking to sell metal parts or wire of a sort ordinarily used by public utilities. ¹

I

On October 27, 1975, Officer Jorge Gil-Blanco of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department drove a truck to A-1 Metals (hereinafter A-1), 2600 Elkhorn Boulevard, Rio Linda, California, a business owned by defendant Betty Marie Cramblit's husband. He was working undercover in street clothes. He had 14 water meters, which the Sacramento Sheriff's Department had obtained from a San Francisco police officer, in two cardboard boxes in the back of the truck. The meters all had serial numbers and some had tags on them stating "San Francisco Water Department." Most were used, but one or two were entirely new. The cardboard boxes containing the meters were stamped "City and County of San Francisco."

Gil-Blanco spoke to defendant Niles Eugene Rawls, Jr., an employee of A-1, and stated that he had some metal for sale. Rawls took one of the meters from the truck and walked into the shop with it. He there asked defendant Cramblit how much they were paying for brass. Cramblit told Rawls they would pay 28 cents a pound for the meters. The meters were then taken to the scale where Rawls weighed them. Cramblit prepared a receipt, which noted the weight of the meters, the date, the price per pound, and the amount of money ($37.80) paid to Gil-Blanco.

Cramblit then told Gil-Blanco to "put your name down on the bottom of the receipt." Although there is a signature line on the receipt for the customer's signature, Cramblit did not have Gil-Blanco sign on that line. Gil-Blanco wrote the name "John James" and "1560 Helmit Drive, Citrus Heights" on the receipt, a carbon copy of which was given to him. On the original receipt, the type of vehicle and its license number were inserted into the appropriate spaces, but these spaces were not filled in on Gil-Blanco's carbon copy. Both the original and the copy were introduced into evidence.

Gil-Blanco was not asked by the defendants where he got the meters or if he had authorization to sell them. Neither was he asked for evidence of his identity.

On November 4, 1975, Detective James Monk and several other officers served a search warrant on defendants at A-1, and recovered several of the water meters. Cramblit and Rawls were both arrested following the search.

Larry McNeely, an analyst with the Department of Justice participated in the investigation and was present at A-1 when defendants were arrested. He testified that while there, he looked at the original receipt and noted that it did not then contain a description of Gil-Blanco's vehicle. After qualifying as an expert witness, McNeely testified that a reasonable scrap metal dealer knows or should know that water meters are items which are ordinarily used by or belong to a utility company. He also testified that scrap metal dealers generally are aware that they are required to make diligent inquiry as to the ownership of such items when they are presented for sale. He further testified that among scrap metal dealers, there is a standard of care as to the degree of diligence to be exercised in purchasing public utility items. In response to a hypothetical question essentially setting forth the above facts, McNeely stated that in his expert opinion the defendants had not exercised due diligence in purchasing the meters. He added that he had observed field experiments in which scrap metal dealers in Sacramento County had refused to buy similar water meters.

Cramblit testified in her own behalf. She admitted buying the meters. She said the meter which Rawls brought into the office appeared to be used. She denied seeing any tag indicating that the meters came from San Francisco. Although admitting that she did not ask Gil-Blanco for any identification, she testified that she wrote the vehicle license number and type on the receipt on the day of the sale. Cramblit also said she did not ask Gil-Blanco any questions about his right to sell the meters because she did not think there was anything wrong with buying water meters. She testified that A-1 made various purchases of water meters over the year from the federal government, from the Arden and Rio Linda water companies, and at a public auction advertised in a newspaper.

Cramblit's brother, William R. Hite, testified as a defense witness. He said he had been a scrap metal dealer for at least four years; he had purchased scrap metal from military installations and at auction; he acknowledged that his experience as a scrap metal dealer had taught him that a water meter is a public utility item.

Rawls testified in his own behalf. He admitted purchase of the meters. He testified that he remembered that they were in two cardboard boxes in the back of Gil-Blanco's truck but that he did not notice whether the boxes had any printing on them. He admitted personally reaching into one of the boxes and taking one of the meters which he then carried into the A-1 office; he then asked Cramblit how much they were paying for brass; he did not recall that the meter had a tag on it; he later disassembled a majority of the water meters and removed the plastic cores from them; he denied ever seeing any tags on the meters; he did not consider water meters a public utility item.

Several witnesses testified for the defense that water meters are used in various industries such as canneries, refineries, breweries, redi-mix concrete plants, and paper mills. To show that private persons might legally possess water meters, Rawls and two other witnesses testified that they had purchased new water meters from Sacramento plumbing supply houses.

II

This is the second time this case has been before this court. The first occasion (People v. Cramblit (1976) 62 Cal.App.3d 475, 133 Cal.Rptr. 232 (hereinafter Cramblit I )) involved an appeal by the People after the trial court had set aside the information. Defendants made two contentions in that appeal: (1) "that section 496a should be construed to require proof that the property was actually stolen," and (2) "that the statute would be void for vagueness if construed to apply to goods which had not been stolen." (62 Cal.App.3d at p. 479, 133 Cal.Rptr. at p. 233.) We rejected the first contention on the ground that the legislative history demonstrated an intent to punish all failures to exercise due diligence, even where the property was not stolen, in order "to deter fencing in stolen utility fittings." (Id. at p. 480, 133 Cal.Rptr. at p. 234.) We rejected the second on the ground that the statute is not vague, because the essential terms "due diligence" and "legal right" are understood by persons of ordinary intelligence, "particularly when aided by the specific directions in subdivision (b) of the statute." (Id. at p. 482, 133 Cal.Rptr. at p. 235.)

A.

Defendants' first major contention is that the trial court erroneously characterized section 496a as a strict liability offense. We do not find any such characterization in the record. On the contrary, the court correctly determined, in obedience to Cramblit I, that a finding of ordinary civil negligence was required for conviction.

The trial court instructed the jury that ". . . the doing of the act is punishable as a crime. The intent with which the act is committed is immaterial to guilt." Immediately following, the court stated the elements of the 496a offense as follows:

"In order to find the defendants, or either of them, guilty you must find the existence of each element of the crime charged. It must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that:

"1. The defendants were dealers in scrap metal or the agents or employees of such dealer;

"2. The defendants bought or received the water meters in question;

"3. Water meters are ordinarily and predominantly ² used by or belong to water companies or municipalities providing public utility services;

"4. The defendants knew, or reasonably should have known, that water meters are ordinarily and predominantly used by water companies or municipalities providing public utilities;

"5. The defendants failed to exercise the due diligence that the reasonable scrap metal dealer would have exercised in determining that the person selling and delivering the water meters had a legal right to do so."

It is apparent from this listing of the elements of section 496a that the gist of the offense as presented to the jury is the failure to exercise Due diligence before purchasing the water meters. These instructions thus correctly advised the jury of the required mental element for conviction. Defendants' argument that "criminal" negligence was required has been disposed of in Cramblit I (62 Cal.App.3d at pp. 480-481, 133 Cal.Rptr. 232).

For the foregoing reason, we also reject defendants' contentions that they should have been allowed to have witnesses testify as to their good character and that they should have been permitted to argue that they acted under a "mistake of fact." As we discuss Infra, the mere fact that they may have been mistaken as to whether the water meters were utility items is no defense; their mistake must have been a Reasonable one.

B.

Defendants' second...