People v. Woods
| Decision Date | 17 February 1958 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 5919 |
| Citation | 321 P.2d 477,157 Cal.App.2d 617 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Don Kenneth WOODS and Bruce Thomas Smith, Defendants, Bruce Thomas Smith, Defendant and Appellant. |
Gladys Towles Root, Eugene V. McPherson, and Joseph A. Armstrong, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., and Elizabeth Miller, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Defendants Smith and Woods were convicted, in a jury trial, of the crime of malicious burning of personal property in violation of section 449a of the Penal Code in that they maliciously set fire to vegetable crates which were of a value in excess of $25 and were the property of Safeway Stores, Inc. Smith admitted an allegation of the information that he had been convicted of robbery. Smith appeals from the judgment.
Appellant contends that there was no competent evidence of the value of the personal property burned; that the court erred in sustaining an objection to a question asked by appellant regarding intoxication of appellant; and that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.
On June 8, 1956, approximately 318 boxes, crates, and cases of various kinds (such as apple boxes, cantaloupe crates, and milk cases) were in an alley at the rear of a Safeway store in Lancaster, and they were stacked in rows against the rear brick wall of the store. The stack was about 25 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 7 feet high.
On said June 8, and prior thereto, there was an excavation in the alley at a place about 100 feet from the rear of the store. Flarepots, which produce light by burning oil or kerosene through a wick, had been placed around the excavation.
In the evening of June 8, the defendants Smith and Woods, and other men by the names of Bakman, Meyers, and Zink, attended a motion picture theater in Lancaster. About 11:30 p. m. they left the theater, entered Bakman's automobile and rode around for awhile in Lancaster. Then Bakman, who was driving the automobile, stopped the automobile behind the theater at a place about 300 feet from the Safeway store.
Bakman, called as a witness by the People, testified that when the automobile stopped behind the theater the defendants Smith and Woods said they were going to get out of the automobile and go to the bathroom; then Smith and Woods got out of the automobile and walked toward the Safeway store; he (witness) saw Woods pick up a lighted flarepot, which was near the excavation, and throw or drop it in the general area of the Safeway store; then Smith and Woods trotted back to the automobile; before they arrived at the automobile, he (witness) saw a fire blaze 'all at once' in back of the store where the flarepot had been thrown or dropped; when they entered the automobile he (witness) drove away.
About 12:30 a. m. on June 9, firemen from the fire department in Lancaster went to the rear of the Safeway store and found that the stack of boxes behind the store was in flames. The firemen extinguished the fire, but the boxes were practically a total loss. The bricks in the rear wall of the store were so deteriorated by the fire that touching the bricks would cause the surface of the bricks to fall off. A flarepot was found in the ashes in the center of the burned area about 6 feet from the store, and another flarepot was found in the ashes about 6 feet west of the other flarepot and about 12 feet from the building. Those flarepots were similar to the flarepots which were around the excavation. The fire department captain was of the opinion that the fire was of incendiary origin.
A deputy sheriff, called as a witness by the People, testified that he was an investigating officer in this case; he had a conversation with Woods on June 10 about 1 p. m. wherein Woods said, among other things, that he had thrown a flare into the boxes. The deputy testified further that shortly after that conversation he had a conversation with Smith wherein the deputy said that he was investigating the fire that occurred at the Safeway store, and he had information that Smith had thrown a flare 'with Kenny Woods'; that Smith said he had been drinking and he did not remember anything and he did not remember at all that he had thrown it; the deputy asked Smith if he could have thrown a flare; Smith replied,
Defendant Woods testified that at times while he, Smith, Bakman, Meyers and Zink were in the theater, all of them except Bakman drank some whisky from a bottle; after leaving the theater, they drove around town, went to a drive-in restaurant, and later stopped in the vicinity of the Safeway store; he (Woods) walked to the excavation and picked up a burning flarepot; some coal oil dropped on his hand and burned him; then he dropped the flarepot and the fire started fast; he became scared and went back to the automobile; he did not pick up any other flarepot at that time. On cross-examination he said that the deputy sheriff told him that he (deputy) had information as to who had thrown the other flarepot; he (Woods) replied to the effect that he was not going to tell; he did not know that anyone was 'out of the car' with him; he did not drop the flarepot as soon as he picked it up, but he was carrying it and trying to take it to the car when he dropped it; he carried it 30 or 40 feet, going in a direction toward the back of the store; the car was in the opposite direction; he 'was just going to go around back into the car'; he did not see Smith until he (Woods) returned to the car; when he returned there he saw Smith standing outside the car near the car door.
Defendant Smith did not testify.
Appellant contends that there was no competent evidence that the value of the personal property burned was in excess of $25. Section 449a of the Penal Code provides: 'Any person who wilfully and maliciously sets fire to or burns * * * or who aids * * * the burning of * * * any pile of planks, boards * * * or other lumber * * * or any other personal property not herein specifically named; (such property being of the value of twenty-five dollars and the property of another person) shall * * * be sentenced * * *.' Mr. Moulds, a produce clerk at the Safeway store in Lancaster, testified that on the night of June 8 he stacked the crates back of the store; he counted them and made an entry of the number of each kind on a tally form; there were 12 orange boxes, 52 lugs, 6 corn crates, 16 cantaloupe crates, i avacado flats, 30 apple boxes, 54 potato crates, 16 egg crates, and 104 milk cases. He testified...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Atkins
...at p. 930, 102 Cal.Rptr. 266; People v. Williams, supra, 19 Cal.App.3d at pp. 345-346, 96 Cal.Rptr. 848; People v. Woods (1958) 157 Cal.App.2d 617, 621-623, 321 P.2d 477 [voluntary intoxication not a defense to malicious burning under former § 449a]; People v. Mooney, supra, 127 Cal. at p. ......
-
People v. Glover
...925, 930-931, 102 Cal.Rptr. 266; People v. Bowman (1966) 240 Cal.App.2d 358, 386-387, 49 Cal.Rptr. 772; People v. Woods (1958) 157 Cal.App.2d 617, 622-623, 321 P.2d 477.) Other jurisdictions have without exception concluded that there is no specific intent requirement in order to commit the......
-
People v. Foster
...or intent actuated the accused. (See People v. Hood, supra, 1 Cal.3d 444, 458--459, 82 Cal.Rptr. 618, 462 P.2d 370; People v. Woods, 157 Cal.App.2d 617, 622, 321 P.2d 477; People v. Avanzi, 25 Cal.App.2d 301, 302, 77 P.2d 237; People v. Murphy, 1 Cal.2d 37, 40, 32 P.2d 635; People v. Burkha......
-
State v. Nelson
...does not require a specific mental state which would permit assertion of the defense of diminished capacity.' People v. Woods, 157 Cal.App.2d 617, 321 P.2d 477, 481 (1958) was a prosecution for willful and malicious burning of personal property. Defendant Woods attempted to interpose proof ......