People v. Thornton
| Decision Date | 27 June 1958 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 6106 |
| Citation | 327 P.2d 161,161 Cal.App.2d 718 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of California. Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James THORNTON, Jr., Defendant and Appellant. |
Joseph T. Forno, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., Carl Boronkay, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
This is an appeal from a judgment wherein the defendant was convicted of violating the provisions of subdivision 1, section 337a, Penal Code (bookmaking), and from an order denying motion for a new trial.
In an information filed in Los Angeles County, the defendant was charged in four counts with violation of section 337a, Penal Code, subdivisions 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The cause was submitted upon the transcript of the preliminary hearing and additional evidence introduced at the time of trial. The defendant was found guilty of the charges set forth in Count 1, and not guilty as to Counts 2, 3 and 4.
A resume of the facts is as follows: Prior to April 2, 1957, Peter Ellena, Jr., a police officer of Pasadena, received information from a reliable confidential informant that wagers on horse races were being accepted at a residence at 269 South De Lacey Street, Pasadena. On April 2, 1957, the house was placed under surveillance and the officers observed many automobiles arriving at the house between the hours of 10:30 o'clock a. m. and 12:30 o'clock p. m. The occupants of the automobiles would enter the house and then return to their cars in three to five minutes, and then leave the area. They observed also a great deal of 'foot traffic.' The house was 'staked out' the next day, and the officers on that day 'observed the same thing.'
On April 4, 1957, the officers secured a search warrant. To secure such a warrant one of the officers set forth in an affidavit that on or about the 3rd day of April, 1957, the crime of bookmaking, a felony, was committed by Thornton, who then and there had in his possession, with the intent to use as a means of committing a public offense, bookmaking records, markers, bookmaking paraphernalia, etc.; further, that the police department had received information in regard to Thornton, and had, through an agent, placed bets with a person at the 269 South De Lacey Street location; that Thornton had a gambling past and had been known to men in the police department for several years; that there was reasonable cause to believe, and that the affiant did believe that the personal goods and property above referred to were then concealed in the house. There then followed a request for a search warrant for the recovery of said goods and property, and that the same be brought before a magistrate and disposed of according to law.
On the date the warrant was issued the officers entered the premises and found several people there with Thornton. During the time the officers were there several telephone calls were received. The calling parties would ask for 'Jimmy' (and it is admitted that the appellant in this case was known as 'Jimmy'). In answering the telephone calls, the officer identified himself to the callers as 'Jimmy.' Five of the telephone callers hung up, but the sixth caller stated, 'Bay Meadows, third, Kid Robin, two to win, this is Jimmy.' One of the officers found a National Daily Reporter, dated April 4, 1957, crumpled into a tight ball and stuffed between some clothes in a closet on the first floor. Another officer found a copy of the same paper dated March 16, near a telephone extension on the second floor, and he also found a book in which was a piece of paper which was identified as a typical bookmaking record or marker. An expert stated that the National Daily Reporter was used in bookmaking activities.
Dr. Robert Heller, a dentist, was among those present in the residence when the officers entered. He was using a part of his noon lunch hour to listen to the race results over the radio, and in talking with Thornton. In answer to a question as to whether he had any business dealings with Thornton on April 4, 1957, he stated that he had 'placed a bet on a horse' with Thornton. At the time of the trial he could not remember the name of the horse or the track where the race in question was being run; however, he did state that he would have remembered such on April 4, 1957, had he been asked the name of the horse and the race track on that date.
Thornton was taken into custody on April 8, 1957, pursuant to a warrant. At the police station he was asked to explain his activities, if he was a bookmaker, and an officer testified that he stated in substance, 'That he accepts the wagers at his location by phone and in person. In other words, people coming to his house. He immediately destroys any evidence and phones them to Los Angeles to the bookmaker.
'He tries his best to keep the bets at least to a five to ten dollar level to make it worth the bookmaker's time in Los Angeles to make the trip over here to collect and pay off and get the money and to pay off the winners.
Appellant contends that the court erred...
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Theodor v. Superior Court
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