People v. Shelton, Cr. 3335
| Decision Date | 10 June 1957 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 3335 |
| Citation | 151 Cal.App.2d 587,311 P.2d 859 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Robert A. SHELTON, Defendant and Appellant. |
Benjamin M. Davis, San Francisco, Don Wilson, Oakland, of counsel, for appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., Clarence A. Linn, Asst. Atty. Gen., William M. Bennett, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Appellant was convicted by the court sitting without a jury of violating section 337a(2) Penal Code, occupying a building with books, papers and other paraphernalia for recording bets on horse races. He was sentenced to the county jail for one year, execution was suspended, and he was placed on three years probation on certain conditions.
Police officers went to the home occupied by appellant and his wife armed with a search warrant. They rang the bell, waited for one-half minute and then forced an entrance with a sledgehammer. The door was secured by a lock and had a timber braced against it on the inside.
The officers found the appellant burning papers in the kitchen. They extinguished the flames and the charred papers were later treated to bring out the writing. An officer testified that the writing on the charred papers showed them to be records of bets on horse races. Other papers commonly found in betting establishments were discovered elsewhere in the house and on appellant's person.
The officers before breaking down the door did not comply with that portion of section 844 Penal Code which reads: 'after having demanded admittance and explained the purpose for which admittance is desired.'
The cases hold that where compliance with this provision would probably frustrate the arrest or permit the destruction of incriminating evidence compliance is not required. People v. Maddox, 46 Cal.2d 301, 294 P.2d 6; People v. King, 140 Cal.App.2d 1, 294 P.2d 972; People v. Sayles, 140 Cal.App.2d 657, 295 P.2d 579. In view of the ease with which guilty persons may destroy records of bets (as appellant in fact was doing when the officers forced an entry into his home) we cannot say that the officers' conduct in this case was not justified under the authorities cited.
Appellant at first denied any criminal activity and said that he was not the occupant. The officers suggested that if he had no right to be on the premises they might have to arrest him for burglary. Later appellant's wife arrived...
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People v. De Santiago
...the Maddox opinion. This court denied a hearing less than two months after the Maddox decision. A year later, in People v. Shelton (1957) 151 Cal.App.2d 587, 311 P.2d 859, a rationale for King and similar cases was articulated. There officers again went to the residence of one whom they rea......
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...People v. Covan, 178 Cal.App.2d 416, 418, 2 Cal.Rptr. 811; People v. Miller, 162 Cal.App.2d 96, 98, 32, P.2d 506; People v. Shelton, 151 Cal.App.2d 587, 588, 311 P.2d 859; People v. Sayles, 140 Cal.App.2d 657, 661, 295 P.2d 579.) In the Shelton case, the court stated (151 Cal.App.2d, at pag......
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People v. Logan
...station if it were not produced. Then and only then did not defendant produce the revolver. In People of the State of California v. Shelton, 151 Cal.App.2d 587, 588, 311 P.2d 859, 860, the District Court of Appeals in the State of California in a somewhat similar situation (but upon a recor......
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Chapter 5 - §2. Elements for exclusion
...as soon as D confessed), overruled on other grounds, People v. Cahill (1993) 5 Cal.4th 478, and People v. Shelton (1st Dist.1957) 151 Cal.App.2d 587, 588 (D's statement was involuntary because police threatened to arrest his spouse if he did not confess). (b) Actual or implied promises. A s......
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...2005)—Ch. 8, §1.1.2 People v. Shelton, 60 Cal. 2d 740, 36 Cal. Rptr. 433, 388 P.2d 665 (1964)—Ch. 5-A, §3.3.1(3)(h) People v. Shelton, 151 Cal. App. 2d 587, 311 P.2d 859 (1st Dist. 1957)—Ch. 5-B, §2.2.2(3)(a)[3] People v. Shepherd, 23 Cal. App. 4th 825, 28 Cal. Rptr. 2d 458 (3d Dist. 1994)—......