People v. Poole
People v. Poole
Opinion of the Court
Defendant was found guilty, in a trial by the court, of robbery in the first degree (Pen. Code, § 211a), and a prior felony conviction of robbery was found to be true. The ease was submitted to the court on the transcript of the preliminary examination with no additional evidence being offered by either side.
Shortly after 4 a.m. on January 9, 1963, a man wearing a trenchcoat, rubber gloves and a silk stocking pulled over his head, entered the lobby of the Tliunderbird Hotel in El Segundo. At the point of a gun he ordered the four hotel employees on night duty into the manager’s office and forced
At approximately 11 a.m. on the morning of the robbery an investigating officer had a conversation with defendant in an interrogation room of the police station. In this conversation, defendant stated that, upon his return to the hotel from a party early that morning, he decided to hold up the lobby of the hotel; he went to his room, put on a rain-type hat, a trenchcoat and a pair of rubber gloves; he covered his head with a silk stocking; he then went downstairs and held up the lobby.
During the pendency of this appeal, Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 [84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977], and People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361] were decided. In Dorado, supra, it was held that confessions are inadmissible if they were obtained when (at p. 353) “. . . (1) The investigation was no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but had begun to focus on a particular
Although the record does not indicate that defendant was in custody when the confession was made, we must conclude on the basis of the evidence against him and because the confession was made in a police interrogation room, that he was in custody. Nor can there be any doubt that suspicion was focused on him. Furthermore, as stated in the -’ecent case of People v. Stockman, 63 Cal.2d 494, 498-499 [47 Cal.Rptr. 365, 407 P.2d 277] “It may reasonably be assumed, objectively, that an interrogation which does elicit incriminating statements was conducted by the police for that purpose, at least in part, and therefore the burden should be on the prosecution to show that the statements were the result of something other than a ‘process of interrogations that lends itself to eliciting incriminating statements. . . .’ [Citation.]” (See also People v. Luker, 63 Cal.2d 464, 473-474 [47 Cal.Rptr. 209, 407 P.2d 9] ; People v. North, 233 Cal.App.2d 884, 888 [44 Cal.Rptr. 123].) Following the above approach, since the prosecution did not carry its burden here, we must assume that the confession was elicited through such a process of interrogation. Finally, the record fails to show that prior to his confession defendant was advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent. While it is clear that the judge who tried this case would have reached the same decision had the confession been excluded, People v. Dorado, supra, compels a reversal.
Counsel appointed to represent defendant in this appeal raises several contentions which we have examined and find devoid of merit and not warranting discussion.
The judgment of conviction is reversed.
Files, P. J., and Kingsley, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.