People v. Wilson
| Citation | 325 P.2d 106,160 Cal.App.2d 606 |
| Decision Date | 19 May 1958 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 3443 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Hubert WILSON, Defendant and Appellant. |
Philip L. Evans, Oakland, for appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., Clarence A. Linn, Asst. Atty. Gen., Peter T. Kennedy, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Appellant was charged by information with two felonies, burglary and petty theft with a prior conviction for petty theft. Penal Code, § 666, subd. 3. Appellant admitted the prior conviction and entered a plea of not guilty of both charges. A jury trial resulted in a verdict of guilty as charged, on both counts. The trial court denied appellant's motion for a new trial, dismissed the second count, denied probation, and sentenced the appellant to the State prison. This appeal is taken from the judgment of conviction and the order denying the motion for a new trial.
The following facts appear from the evidence: on April 20, 1957, a sales clerk at the J. J. Newbury Company store at 1921 Broadway, Oakland, saw the appellant slip two pairs of blue jeans into a box which he was carrying. He did not pay for them, but asked the sales clerk where he could buy a coping saw and walked toward the hardward counter. The sales clerk called a shop lifting code number. The store manager came and questioned the appellant in a back room. Appellant admitted taking the articles. Upon realizing that the manager was going to turn him in, he struck the manager with the coping saw and struggled until the police arrived. The appellant took the stand on his own behalf and admitted being in the store on the day in question, but could not remember what happened after he entered the store, as he had been drinking for several days, except that he bought a coping saw.
Appellant's chief contention on appeal is that the verdict is contrary to the evidence because he could not harbor the necessary intent to commit burglary due to intoxication. Although appellant testified that he had been drinking, and the store manager and another witness testified that the appellant had a bottle, there was also considerable testimony that the appellant was not 'drunk', and that his actions and speech were coherent. Penal Code, section 22, provides that while voluntary intoxication is no excuse for a crime, the jury may consider the fact of intoxication determining purpose, motive or intent. Under this section intoxication is not a defense to burglary. People v. Ramirez, 101 Cal.App.2d 50, 224 P.2d 878. Any witness may express his opinion as to intoxication. People v. Clark, 106 Cal.App.2d 271, at page 279, 235 P.2d 56, at page 60. The statute clearly leaves to the...
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