People v. Massie
| Decision Date | 04 May 1965 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 9967 |
| Citation | 44 Cal.Rptr. 297 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Cecil MASSIE, Defendant and Appellant. |
Eugene V. McPherson, Canoga Park, under appointment by the District Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant.
Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Gilbert F. Nelson, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.
In an amended information the defendant was accused of burglary in that he willfully entered a vehicle, to wit, a semitrailer used in conjunction with a motor vehicle, to wit, a motor truck and semitrailer combination, the property of John M. Collier, the doors of said vehicle being locked, and with the intent then and there to commit theft.
In a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of burglary in the first degree. Probation was denied, and he was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison.
Appellant contends that the court erred in giving certain jury instructions, and in granting permission to amend the information. He also contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment.
On December 3, 1963, about 10 p.m., Mr. Collier, a truck driver in the employ of the Thrifty Drug Company, drove a trucktractor, to which were attached two 22-foot semitrailers, containing drug store merchandise, to a place at the rear of a Thrifty Drug Store in Compton and parked the vehicle there. He had driven the vehicle from the Thrifty Drug Company's warehouse in Los Angeles to that store for the purpose of delivering some of the merchandise there.
The first trailer (the one next to the tractor) had a double-door at the rear end and a single door on each side. Each of the doors on this trailer was sealed by a metal clip, which is a piece or strip of pliable metal about six inches long, and one-fourth inch wide, which 'goes around the hasp over the handle of the door'--and one end of the strip is placed through a clip at the other end of the strip, and then the clip locks itself. When the doors are sealed with a clip, it is necessary to use force to break the metal seal in order to open the doors.
The second or rear trailer had a rear door and a side door, which doors were locked with devices or padlocks which could be opened only by using a key.
When the driver left the warehouse the doors of the trailers were sealed or locked and he did not stop the vehicle, except for traffic requirements, until he arrived at the Compton store. After parking the vehicle there, he went into the store to ask the manager to unlock the trailers so that he could make the deliveries. When he left the vehicle to enter the store, the doors of the trailers were sealed or locked in the manner above described, but the doors of the tractor were not locked. The assistant manager Mr. Banks, after obtaining the key to the trailer, proceeded with Mr. Collier and another employee, Mr. Collado, to the trailers. As they approached the trailers, they saw the defendant Massie standing inside the first trailer and they saw another man, who was outside that trailer, holding the side door of the trailer open. The metal seal on that door had been broken. Then the man who was holding the door ran away. The defendant jumped out of the trailer and started walking away. The employees asked him to stop, but he kept walking and then he ran across the street. During this time the employees were following him. When they were within a few feet of him, he pulled out a knife and began swinging it. Mr. Collado went to the store and returned in his automobile to the other employees, who entered the automobile, and then they followed defendant to a street corner, where they again approached him. At that time Mr. Collado had a tire iron in his hand and the two other employees had similar weapons. They compelled the defendant to put the knife on the ground, and to drop a pair of leather gloves which he was wearing and which had been in the tractor cab when Mr. Collier went into the store. Then two police officers, who were on patrol duty, arrived there in a police car and arrested defendant.
Officer Parker testified that about five minutes after the arrest, while he and the defendant were in the back seat of the police car, he asked the defendant to relate what had occurred just prior to the arrest. Defendant said that he and Henry Eberhardt had been in the drug store where Eberhardt shoplifted a quart of whiskey, and then they went outside near the truck; Eberhardt found leather gloves in the cab of the truck; they agreed to break into the truck and that Eberhardt would get inside, pitch things out to defendant, and then they would leave; both of them entered the truck, after Eberhardt broke the seal; soon thereafter the employees came and chased them from the truck.
Officer Morrison testified that on December 5 (two days after the arrest), in a conversation with defendant at the police station, the defendant said that he and Henry Eberhardt were in the drug store and Henry took a bottle of whiskey, and they left the store; Henry took a pair of gloves from the cab of the parked truck and handed them to defendant; Henry broke the seal on the trailer door and got into the trailer, but defendant did not enter it; when the employees came out, Henry ran from the scene, but defendant walked away; he was intoxicated when this incident occurred; and he had swung a knife at the employees in a threatening manner.
Defendant testified that Eberhardt took the gloves from the cab of the truck and handed them to defendant, who returned then to Eberhardt; defendant did not know whether Eberhardt broke the seal on the truck, but Eberhardt went into the truck; defendant did not go inside the truck; when the employees came there, Eberhardt jumped out of the truck and ran away, but defendant walked down the street; the employees asked whether he was burglarizing the truck; he said he did not know anything about the truck or burglarizing; the employees wanted to hold him, but he said, 'No, you are not going to hold me.'; he ran across the street because some cars were coming; when the employees were first following him, they did not have any weapons, but later they had 'hook blade knives'; one of the employees flashed a light on him and asked whether he had a knife; then defendant threw a knife in the grass; at this time, the officers came and put him in the police car; he did not have a conversation with Officer Parker in the car; he did not tell Officer Morrison that he was inside the truck. On cross-examination, he said that when he was arrested he had the gloves in his hand; that he knew that Eberhardt was inside the truck to do some stealing; that he did talk to Officer Parker while they...
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People v. Massie
...was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison. He appeals from the judgment. The judgment was affirmed by this court. (People v. Massie, Cal.App., 44 Cal.Rptr. 297.) The Dorado-case rule was not raised by appellant prior to the time that opinion was filed. The Supreme Court granted a he......