Court Opinion

ID: 9628758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:31:21.505118+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:51.989190
License: Public Domain

KNIGHT, J.
I dissent upon the following grounds: First, the reversal of the conviction in my opinion is based not only on a misconstruction of material portions of the record, but also on legal theories which are oui of line with the established law of this state as declared in numerous decisions dealing with the question of double jeopardy. Secondly, it will be noted that factually the reversal rests entirely upon the assumption that both counts of the amended information involved but one identical act and that this assumption is based upon the single sentence of a letter written by the attorney general and submitted to this court after the briefs were filed, which the majority opinion interprets to be a concession on the part of the People that both counts of the information involve only one identical act. But when this letter, consisting as it does of two pages, is read as a whole, in the light of the purpose for which it was written, it becomes apparent that the majority opinion has misinterpreted the purport of this single sentence. In any event, the record itself must *606control in the determination of the appeal, and as will hereinafter be demonstrated, the factual assumption upon which the majority opinion is founded is not only clearly negatived by the allegations of the second count of the amended information, but it is directly contrary to the position taken by the prosecution throughout the trial of the case and in opposing appellant’s motions for new trial and arrest of judgment; also contrary to the conclusion reached by the trial court in denying these motions. Moreover, it is directly contrary to the position taken by the appellant himself while testifying at the trial as a witness in his own behalf. Thirdly, section 1041 of the Penal Code declares that a plea of once in jeopardy raises an issue of fact. It becomes an issue of law only when the facts are undisputed. (People v. Wilkison, 30 Cal.App. 473 [158 P. 1067] ; People v. Conson, 72 Cal.App. 509 [237 P. 799].) Here at the trial appellant himself treated the issue as a disputed issue of fact, and it was submitted to the determination of the jury as such pursuant to instructions proposed by appellant; the jury found against appellant on that contested issue, and as will hereinafter be shown, the testimony of the defendant himself supports the jury’s conclusion. However, the majority opinion fails to give any consideration to this aspect of the ease.
Turning to the record itself, the facts and circumstances leading up to the arrest of appellant as they are shown by the evidence of the prosecution, which in view of the verdict must be taken as true, are as follows: At the time of trial the appellant, Gene Krupa, was 34 years old, a musician, and the proprietor and leader of a band which played in night clubs and theatres. Appellant played the drums. Marijuana is a narcotic plant, the growing, possession, transporting, selling or giving away of which constitute separate criminal offenses. (See arts. I and IV, div. 10, chap. 7, Health & Saf. Code.) The plant is dried and smoked in the form of cigarettes, and when inhaled deeply, causes unpredictable results, one of its effects being to distort time. If used by a musician it will cause him to “play faster without feeling the effects of doing it.” At the time of appellant’s arrest, his band was filling an engagement at a theatre in San Francisco, and he was staying at one of the leading hotels. The adjoining room to his was occupied by his manager, there being a connecting door between the two rooms. *607Prior to the opening of his engagement in San Francisco he filled one in Los Angeles, and while doing so hired a boy named John Pateakos as valet and property man, whose chief duty was to take care of appellant’s clothing, particularly the suits he wore; and he brought the boy to San Francisco with him. On the night of January 18, 1943, three agents from the federal bureau of narcotics, named Guibbini, Grady and Polcuch, having been informed that appellant was in the possession of marijuana cigarettes, called at appellant’s dressing room in the theatre in which he was playing, to interview him regarding the information they had received. Pateakos was present at. the beginning of the interview, but the agents requested him. to leave the room, which he did. After identifying themselves as federal narcotic agents, they asked appellant if he had any marijuana on his person or in his room, and he denied having any. They told him they had been informed that he did have a quantity of marijuana in his possession, and he replied that there was nothing to the information. They then asked him if they might search his dressing room, and he told them to “go ahead.” While they were doing so Guibbini asked appellant if he had ever used marijuana, and appellant stated that he had at one time, about 10 years ago, but that lately he had had nothing to do with it. While the search was going on, appellant asked permission to leave the room to go out and wash. He was allowed to do so, but as soon as he left Guibbini followed him and he observed appellant about half way up the stairs leading to the second floor engaged in earnest conversation with Pateakos, Guibbini separated them, and brought appellant back to his dressing room, where he was further questioned. Guibbini thereupon went to a phone and instructed the room clerk at the hotel where appellant was staying to allow no one except appellant to enter the latter’s room. Guibbini then proceeded to the hotel, leaving Polcuch with appellant. As Guibbini got out of the elevator at the hall leading to appellant’s room he saw Pateakos waiting to enter the elevator. He brought Pateakos back to the room adjoining appellant’s, occupied by the manager of the hand, who was there present, and upon searching Pateakos found in his pocket two envelopes, one containing 37 marijuana cigarettes and the other containing two whole ones, and one-half of one partially smoked. Shortly thereafter, Polcuch and Grady arrived with appellant, and Polcuch and Guibbini took him *608to his room, where the officers found some fragments of marijuana in a drawer of a writing desk. Appellant denied having anything to do with the marijuana cigarettes or the fragments found. He was then taken back to the adjoining room, and Pateakos was taken to appellant’s room. Pateakos refused then to make a statement in explanation of his possession of the marijuana cigarettes. He admitted having them in his pocket, but he denied knowing anything about marijuana. He was then returned to the room where appellant was, and appellant stated if the boy had the marijuana cigarettes on him, it was his worry and not his (appellant’s); that he did not have anything to do with it. The agents then took Pateakos to their office, where he made a statement, and appellant was placed under arrest the following day.
Pateakos appeared as a witness against appellant at the preliminary examination, but shortly afterwards disappeared, and was unavailable at the trial. The substance of the testimony given by him at the preliminary examination was as follows: He was 20 years of age, and his home was in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He had been employed at the Paladium at Hollywood, where appellant employed him as his valet and property man. Part of his duties were to “carry” all of appellant’s “clothes along,” and “assist him at his room.” After leaving appellant’s dressing room at the theatre at the time of the visit of the federal agents, appellant came out and overtook him about half way up the stairs; and appellant told him to go to his room and get an envelope in his coat pocket. In obedience to this request he ran to the hotel and went to the clerk’s office to get the key to appellant’s room, but was told they were not supposed to give out the key. He then went to a “bell hop” he knew, who let him into appellant’s room, where he got the envelope from a pocket of appellant’s coat. It was in the closet. The envelope was open, and contained marijuana cigarettes. After leaving the room he recalled that one day while in the room the drawer to the writing desk was open and he had noticed two and a half marijuana cigarettes in the drawer, so he told the bell boy he had forgotten something and returned to the room, where he took these two and a half cigarettes and placed them in an envelope and took them with him. At the elevator he met Guibbini, who took him to the band manager’s room, searched him, and found the two envelopes containing the marijuana cigarettes in the clothing he wore.
*609The bellboy corroborated Pateakos’ testimony. He testified that he let Pateakos into the room at the time indicated and saw him remove the envelope from the clothes in the closet and put it in his pocket; that he let him into the room the second time when Pateakos stated in the hall he had forgotten something; that he saw Pateakos take another envelope from the writing desk; that when he let Pateakos in the room he was unaware of the instructions to the clerk to permit no one but appellant to enter his room.
Section 11712 of the Health and Safety Code deals with the possession of narcotics. It provides that any person convicted of having possession of any narcotic is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail or the state prison. Section 11713 of the same code deals with the act of transportation of narcotics. It provides that any person convicted of transporting, selling, or giving away any narcotics is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail or the state prison. The element of transportation is not included in the former section, nor is the element of possession included in the latter. They constitute separate offenses under the different sections. Section 11714 of said code declares that every person who hires, employs or uses a minor in unlawfully transporting or carrying any narcotic is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. This section makes no mention of possession.
The juvenile law has been made a part of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and section 702 thereof provides among other things that any person who commits an act which causes or tends to cause or encourage a minor to come within the provisions of the juvenile law as specified in section 700 thereof is guilty of a misdemeanor, and among the acts specified in section 700 is the violation of any law of this state.
Under the authority of the provisions of the two statutes above' mentioned and in view of the facts developed at the preliminary examination, the district attorney on February 2, 1943, filed an information against the appellant charging him in separate counts with having violated both the Health and Safety Code and the juvenile law. The first count charged appellant with having violated section 11714 of the Health and Safety Code, to wit, with having employed and used Pateakos “in unlawfully transporting and carrying a quantity of cigarettes containing a narcotic.” By the sec*610ond count he was charged with having committed two acts in violation of the juvenile law: (1) by inducing Pateakos “to keep” a quantity of narcotics in his, Patéateos’, room; and (2) by permitting and allowing Pateakos to “handle and have in the possession of said John Pateakos” cigarettes containing marijuana, all of which it was alleged did cause and contribute to the said Pateakos “becoming and remaining such a person as is described” in section 700 of the juvenile law, to wit, a person “who violates any law of this state.” Appellant moved to dismiss the information and filed a demurrer thereto, but on April 19, 1943, before any ruling was made on his motion or demurrer, he entered a plea of guilty to the second count and asked for probation. The cause was then continued from time to time until Hay 17, 1943, on which date the district attorney filed an amended information. Count 1 as originally filed was not changed, but count 2 was. The charge made in the original count 2 that appellant induced Pateakos “to keep” narcotics in his room was omitted, and it was charged in the amended count 2 (1) that appellant induced and persuaded Pateakos to “obtain and remove and transport” from the pocket of appellant’s coat an envelope containing a quantity of narcotics; and (2) that he permitted and allowed Pateakos “to handle and have in the possession” of Pateakos cigarettes containing marijuana, all of which did encourage and cause and contribute to Pateakos becoming a person such as is described in section 700 of the juvenile law, to wit, a minor who violates any law of this state. In other words, in count 2 as amended appellant was charged with having induced Pateakos to violate two separate sections of the Health and Safety Code, to wit, (1) possession of narcotics (§ 11712) ; and (2) transporting narcotics (§ 117Í3). On the day following the filing •of the information appellant was again arraigned and the minutes of the court as originally entered recited the following: “Thereupon, the defendant, Gene Krupa, pleads that he is not guilty as charged in count one of the amended information, and not guilty by reason of a former holding; and guilty to count two of the amended information”; whereupon appellant interposed a motion for probation. (It should be here stated, however, that after the clerk’s transcript was filed herein the trial court made a nunc pro tunc order correcting the minutes so that as corrected the plea of once in jeopardy was legally sufficient to meet the requirements of *611Pen. Code, § 1017, subd. 4.) On the same day that appellant asked for probation his motion was denied, and he was sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for ninety days and fined $500; thereafter and on June 29, 1943, he was brought to trial before a jury on the second count.
On account of the disappearance of Pateakos the testimony given by him at the preliminary examination was read to the jury. Appellant became a witness in his own behalf, and in contradiction of the denials he had made to the federal agents on the night of January 18th he admitted that all of the marijuana cigarettes which had been taken from his clothes belonged to him. In this connection he testified that he brought them to San Francisco from Los Angeles in the clothing which Pateakos was required to take care of, and that he had smoked part of one of the cigarettes after coming to San Francisco. He further admitted that while in San Francisco the cigarettes were kept in the clothes Pateakos was required to take care of, and that Pateakos “handled the clothes every day in the week.” He denied, however, that he had asked Pateakos on the night in question to remove them from the pockets of his clothes. He was asked why he pleaded guilty to count 2 wherein he had been charged with having done so, and in reply he went on to say that he was advised by his attorney that it was against the “rule” in California to have a minor around where there were marijuana cigarettes, and that Pateakos had taken care of his, appellant’s, room, his laundry, and his clothes. In other words, the purport of his testimony was that he had pleaded guilty to that portion of the charge that he had allowed Pateakos to “handle” and have possession of the cigarettes, but that he was not guilty of the other act charged therein, to wit, that he had induced the boy to transport and carry the cigarettes. In that state of the record the issue of double jeopardy was submitted to the determination of the jury pursuant to two instructions, one of which was proposed by appellant, and was as follows: “It appears from the evidence in this case that Gene Krupa pleaded guilty on the 19th day of May, 1943, in this Superior Court to the charge of contributing to the delinquency of John Pateakos, a minor, committed by allowing said John Pateakos to have and handle the marijuana cigarettes involved in the prosecution now before you and by persuading said John Pateakos to obtain and *612remove and transport said cigarettes from the pocket of a coat, and therefore, if you find the present information charges the same offense the defendant is twice in jeopardy and entitled to an acquittal.” Upon the evidence before it the jury returned a verdict finding appellant guilty, which necessarily carried with it the implied finding that the act of allowing Pateakos to handle and have possession of the marijuana cigarettes was not the same act involved in the charge of inducing Pateakos to transport and carry the cigarettes, on which charge appellant was then on trial; and as stated, the testimony of appellant himself is legally sufficient to support the conclusion reached by the jury.
Even assuming, however, that this court, in the exercise of its reviewing powérs, has the right to disregard the conclusion reached by the jury and the evidence supporting it, and may, contrary thereto and as a matter of law, hold that the handling, transportation, possession and carrying constituted one transaction, the judgment in my opinion should nevertheless be affirmed, for regardless of whatever may be the rule in other jurisdictions, it is the well settled law of this state “that a plea of once in jeopardy ... is not good unless the second prosecution is for the same offense, both in law and in fact, as that for which the first prosecution was instituted.” (7 Cal.Jur. 955.) In other words, the established rule is that a defendant may be convicted on two or more separate offenses arising out of the same transaction where each is stated in a separate count and when the offenses differ in their elements and one is not included in the other. The real test is the identity of the offenses, as distinguished from the identity of the transaction from which they arise. (People v. Hoyt, 20 Cal.2d 306 [125 P.2d 29]; People v. Venable, 25 Cal.App.2d 73 [76 P.2d 523]; People v. Bevans, 19 Cal.App.2d 288 [65 P.2d 92]; People v. Coltrin, 5 Cal.2d 649 [55 P.2d 1161]; People v. Warren, 16 Cal.2d 103 [104 P.2d 1024]; People v. Zimmer, 23 Cal.App.2d 581 [73 P.2d 923].) The same doctrine is stated in 15 American Jurisprudence at page 63 as follows: 1 ‘A single act may constitute two or more distinct and separate offenses, and a person charged therewith may be convicted and punished for both. Prosecutions of a person for separate offenses based upon the same transaction do not involve double jeopardy where there are distinct elements in one offense which are not included in the other. If a single transaction constitutes two or more offenses wherein *613the lesser offense is not necessarily involved in the greater and the facts necessary to convict on the second prosecution would not necessarily have convicted on the first, then the first prosecution is not a bar to the second.” Later on, in the same volume at page 65, it is said: “A putting in jeopardy for one act is no bar to. a prosecution for a separate and distinct act merely because they are so closely connected in point of time that it is impossible to separate the evidence relating to them on the trial for the one of them first had. Consequently, a plea of former jeopardy will not be sustained where it appears that in one transaction two distinct crimes were committed.” And again on page 67 it is stated: “A single act may be an offense against two statutes; and if one statute necessitates proof of a different circumstance or element from that which the other requires, an acquittal or conviction under either statute does not exempt the defendant from prosecution and punishment under the other. . . . Undoubtedly, it is within the power of the legislature to create two or more offenses which may be committed by a single act, each of which is punishable by itself. A conviction or acquittal in such case under either statute would be no bar to a conviction under the other, for the accused would not be twice in jeopardy for one offense, but only once in jeopardy for each offense.”
In applying the foregoing rules in this state it has been held that an acquittal on a charge of rape does not exclude a conviction for incest, since they were not identical offenses (People v. McCollum, 116 Cal.App. 55 [2 P.2d 432].) It has also been held that the conviction of misdemeanors consisting in the unlawful possession and manufacture of intoxicating liquor, does not constitute former jeopardy in a prosecution for possession of a still, notwithstanding the fact that all of the offenses were committed at the same time and place. (People v. Painetti, 210 Cal. 476 [292 P. 965].) In People v. Bevans, supra, the appellant was charged in separate counts with a violation of section 288 of the Penal Code and with violation of the juvenile court law, and he was convicted on both counts. He contended that the offenses were identical, but the court held otherwise, saying in part: ”... the offenses charged, while identical in time, were not the same either in law or in fact. The conviction of the one would not be a bar to the conviction of the other.” In People v. Moon, 7 Cal.App.2d 96 [45 P.2d 384], it was held that in a *614prosecution for robbery and grand theft where the two offenses consisting of different elements but arising from the same acts were charged in two separate counts of the information, the dismissal of the count charging robbery did not bar a conviction upon the second count for grand theft. And in People v. Sheasbey, 82 Cal.App. 459 [255 P. 836], it was held that robbery and kidnapping do not possess the same elements and both may be punished although relating to the same transaction.
In the present case the elements of the two offenses denounced by the separate statutes which form the basis of the two counts were essentially different. In order to establish guilt under the second count, which was based on the juvenile court law, to which appellant pleaded guilty, all that was necessary to prove was that the minor violated section 11712 of the Health and Safety Code by having possession of narcotics, and that appellant contributed to such act of violation by the minor; whereas in order to establish guilt under the first count, which was based on the Health and Safety Code, and upon which appellant was convicted by a jury, it was essential for the prosecution to prove more than mere possession of narcotics by the minor; it was required to establish the additional element that appellant induced the minor to transport and carry the narcotics.
It is my conclusion, therefore, that under the doctrine of the authorities above cited the conviction under the second count did not bar a conviction under the first, and that accordingly the judgment should be affirmed.
Respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied June 26, 1944. Shenk, J., voted for a hearing.