People v. Hoffman, Cr. 4383
| Decision Date | 02 November 1949 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 4383 |
| Citation | 210 P.2d 885,94 Cal.App.2d 379 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. HOFFMAN. |
William Herbert Hall, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Fred N. Howser, Attorney General, Stanford D. Herlick, Deputy Attorney General, for respondent.
Defendant was charged with having received a wager on a horse race (bookmaking) in violation of subdivision 3 of SECTION 337A OF THE PENAL CODE*. He pleaded not guilty. A jury trial having been waived he was tried by the court and found guilty as charged. His motion for a new trial was denied, proceedings were suspended and he was placed on probation for three years, six months to be spent in jail. His notice of appeal recites that he appeals 'from the orders, judgment, and sentence of the Court pronounced and entered against him.' Since there was no judgment or sentence the purported appeals therefrom will be dismissed and we shall consider his appeal as being from the order denying a new trial.
Defendant contends that the corpus delicti was not proved and that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.
Police officer Barnes testified that he entered a pool hall and shortly thereafter saw defendant enter and converse with an unknown man who was looking at a scratch sheet. When the conversation ended the man gave defendant some folded currency which he placed in his pocket. The officer witnessed three or four other such transactions. He then followed defendant to a gasoline station where the latter used a pay telephone. Barnes returned to the pool hall and occupied a seat at the lunch counter next to another unknown man. Defendant returned and the unknown man left his seat and extracted a scratch sheet from beneath a beer case; after examining the scratch sheet he approached defendant who was standing directly in front of the witness; the latter heard the man say, 'Give me two to win on Bomber Knight,' and at the same time handed defendant two one-dollar bills. Defendant nodded his head, placed the bills in his pocket and left the premises. Shortly thereafter the officer went to defendant's home where he, with two other police officers, found defendant, another man and three women. A search of the premises disclosed three scratch sheets on the dining room table, 18 scratch sheets elsewhere in the house covering the period from January 13 to January 24, 1949. At the pool hall the officer found three scratch sheets known as 'National Scratch Sheets' under the same beer case from which the unknown bettor had taken his scratch sheet, all dated January 25, the date on which the above described events took place. A 'Reporter's Scratch Sheet' was found behind the lunch counter in the pool hall. An examination of the scratch sheets disclosed that a horse named Bomber Knight was listed in the sixth race at Santa Anita Race Track on January 25. The scratch sheets found in defendant's home contained notations on races, prices and scratches for the various races listed therein.
The officer had had three years' experience in investigating bookmaking activities in Los Angeles County. A slip of paper recovered from a box in the dining room of defendant's home was identified by the officer as a type of paper commonly called an 'owe sheet' used in recording horserace transactions. At the top of the sheet were the words 'win' and 'lose.' The paper contained the names of several people but no names of horses. The officer testified that in his opinion, based on his experience, the paper is the type used to record the winnings and losses of horserace bettors.
Defendant was arrested and on the trip to the police station officer Barnes, in the presence of two other officers, asked defendant why he did not quit bookmaking. Defendant replied, There was a telephone in the house where the arrest took place and defendant admitted that he lived at that address.
Defendant was the only witness called in his own behalf. He did not deny any of the evidence given by officer Barnes. Only one question was asked him, which with his answer is:
The foregoing evidence establishes the corpus delicti and is ample to sustain the conviction--in fact no conclusion or inference can be drawn other than that defendant received money waged on the result or purported result of a horse race in violation of subdivision 3 of section 337a of the Penal Code. The receipt of currency by defendant from several persons who had scratch sheets in their hands, one of whom indicated he desired to bet on a named horse, the telephone calls, the fact that the scratch sheet for the current date showed that such horse was listed to run at a race track on the same day, the presence of scratch sheets and the 'owe sheet' in defendant's residence, his response to the officer's question, all together unmistakably establish that defendant was engaged in the business of bookmaking.
The code section does not require that racing paraphernalia be found in the possession of one charged with the crime of bookmaking or that such person's handwriting appear on a racing form, scratch sheet or owe sheet. The only requirement is that he...
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People v. Stanley, Cr. 5869
...in count one, the violation of subdivision 3 of section 337a, is committed when money is received as a wager on a race. People v. Hoffman, 94 Cal.App.2d 379, 210 P.2d 885. The testimony of Officer O'Keefe concerning the transaction between defendant and the newsboy, the piece of paper on wh......
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People v. Pollack
...P.2d 818, has been overruled by the Supreme Court in People v. Woods, 35 Cal.2d 504, 509, 218 P.2d 981. (See also People v. Hoffman, 94 Cal.App.2d 379, 382, 210 P.2d 885.) Neither is People v. Coppla, 100 Cal.App.2d 766, 224 P.2d 828, here in point, for, as we indicated above, in such case ......
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People v. Lopez
...The foregoing evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction. People v. Oliverio, 99 Cal.App.2d 743, 222 P.2d 245; People v. Hoffman, 94 Cal.App.2d 379, 382, 210 P.2d 885; People v. Woods, 35 Cal.2d 504, 507, 509, 218 P.2d 981; People v. Newland, 15 Cal.2d 678, 681, 104 P.2d Defendant den......
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People v. Oliverio, Cr. 4472
...conviction, to establish the corpus delicti, and to prove the charge against appellant beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Hoffman, 94 Cal.App.2d 379, 382, 210 P.2d 885 and cases there cited; People v. Woods, 35 Cal.2d 504, 218 P.2d It is not necessary that racing paraphernalia be found in......